Big houses and gardens and domestic help are things that you get used to if, as I have, you have lived in Africa. You also get used to the need for the high walls and gates round the houses, security bars over windows and doors and guard dogs.

What I find it harder to get used to is the internal security in people's houses, particularly the internal gates which secure the bedroom areas - and this is not just a Johannesburg syndrome. It is the same in many African cities - Ian and Mandy's house in Nairobi has them as does Jon and Carrie's house in Blantyre.

The security is necessary because burglary rates are high - most of Janet and Chris's friends in Jo'burg that I have talked to have been burgled at least once. Although it is no consolation, the burglary rates are even higher in the poorer (predominantly black) suburbs, where there are very high rates of unemployment, particularly amongst younger black people.