Great service, great city, great country

As a visitor, I know that your lovely city often gets brickbats for poor service. I have a contrary tale.

Driving from the airport on Friday evening after an 11-hour flight from London, I experienced that huge cloudburst at about 6pm.

At the same moment the windscreen wipers failed on my rental car. It could have been fatal to continue.

I pulled into an Engen garage at Constantia Village and called Avis, the rental company.

Within 40 minutes their employee, Alan, arrived from the airport with a substitute car.

In pelting rain, he transferred all my luggage from one car to the other.

When I asked Alan how he would get home, he said he would wait for the tow truck. “My only job,” he said, “is to get you home without further delay.”

What a star employee! Alan reflects great credit on his company, Cape Town, and on this wonderful land.