After a year of living in Joburg, I have to lodge a complaint against the architects who built most of the residential city: you guys need to get with the game.
My apartment (and most other apartment/townhouse complexes) have decent security: electrified fences, boom gates with retracting tire spikes, 24/7 guard, and a fingerprint-activated entry system. However, what lies behind that security leaves much to be desired.
Where to begin. Joburg gets hot in the summer (reaching 30 C) and cold in the winter (occasional <0 C frosts). However, they use single-pane windows, and the ubiquitous concrete construction doesn’t retain/block heat very well. I have never been in a house, even nice ones, with central AC or heat, though some houses have built-in space heaters (like heated floors in a certain room, or a heating element built into a wall). Ceiling fans are also rare.
Want to have people over? They will probably have to park outside all of that fancy security. You’re lucky if you get 2 parking spots for a 2-bed apartment, and you’re very lucky if they are both covered (typically one close and covered, one uncovered further away). My roommate and I are “very lucky”… but our parking spaces are end to end, meaning one person must move to let the other out. In addition, they are under a parking garage, but there is no covered walkway from the apartments to the garage, meaning you may be able to get groceries out of the car and stay dry only to get drenched carrying them in.
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