On number plates and emissions
A UN staff member in Kigali drives a car from Merelbeke, Belgium It is an old habit when I am on the road: looking at the number plates of the cars in the traffic around me. A Swedish car in Kigali, picture LP As children, during long car journeys, we played games such as collecting as many cars of a certain nationality or collecting as many cars of a certain brand. Whoever picked "Mercedes", "Volkswagen" or "BMW" fastest on the Deutsche autobahn usually won the game. Car watching, in other words. I still do it today. In South Africa, I paid particular attention to the number plates. From those, you could tell which province the car was registered in. Personalised number plates are another interesting phenomenon. What possesses someone to drive around with "Wanted" on the car? Or "Hero"? It led to free associations and musings on the relationship between number plate, car and owner. A Dutch car in Kigali, picture: LP Here i