I've only ever been on one honeymoon. Need I say that it was great? Ah, the tranquility of the mountains, the reassurance of a newly made covenant, breezy hikes, and absolutely mind-blowing s..., I mean detachment from the outside world.

All of this, shattered to pieces as Sam and I arrive back home to a country that had been at work one week already - long enough for everyone to awaken from their Festive Season brain-freeze to realise that people actually need to work. Did we have this luxury? Nope? Instead, our introduction to 2007 felt more like being yanked out of the womb by a pair of cold forceps into a cruel, unfair, unforgiving world of work.

Nothing seemed to have changed since we'd been gone - except a subtle change in the consciousness of our country. As usual, with very little substantial evidence, I have sensed a shift in the narrative pulse of our fair country, its people and its soul. It is a change we're fairly used to - a sort of pendulum if you like. It is the response of a battered consciousness that has been wrestling against a debilitating culture of random, senseless, violent crime.

You see, up until a few months back there seemed to be some stability on the scene. While there was nothing to write home about in terms of crime stats dropping in one of the worst crime-ravaged countries in the world, there seemed to be some sense of "at least it isn't getting any worse".

Now, back from my splendid honeymoon I notice a shift in two areas. The first is that of my experience of violent crime with regards to those close to me and in the way that our country is handling this new wave. A few months ago our president Mbeki was raked over the coals for commenting that crime in South Africa is not out of control, or is not a crisis ... or something of the sort.

I was nearly maimed at a family braai when I commented that Mbeki was right - crime was no where near crisis levels. Sure, it was a major, nay HUGE problem, but it was not yet a crisis. The family seemed impervious to my arguments of how we would not have elements of growth and the strength of the economy like ours if we were indeed in a crisis. At that stage it seemed to me that there was no other position one could hold on crime in SA. You had to feel that it was out of control - holding an alternative story on crime was suicidal. (My newly acquired in-laws must have seriously wondered if they wasted their money on our wedding!).

That was until I noticed a tangible increase in the intensity of crime that I haven't felt in the last few years. And then, First National Bank came to the party! It's been all over news today, and over the weekend, as to how they reached a certain level of gatvol-ness and decided to launch a campaign that would attempt to get a clear message to Mbeki and our government that crime is out of control and that the nation is tired of the governments often lackadaisical approach to it.

The ideas was to hand out a few million pamphlets that had letters addressed to Mbeki, postage already paid, noting how unacceptable the situation is. Mbeki in return would end up with approximately 3 million letters of this sort in his post box. Nice! Sadly, FNB pulled out of the plan at the 11th hour and the discussion for the day has revolved around whether they got cold feet or that they might have been bullied by government to call a halt to the scheme.

So, FNB in a seemingly isolated scheme have actually embodied the national sentiment (pulse) on crime and dreamed up a wonderful way to address how we feel about crime and how the government is addressing it. I would quite have enjoyed posting such a letter to Mbeki.

I wonder if FNB have indeed pulled out of the scheme. The publicity generated from the supposed pull-out has been phenomenal. Is there such a thing as bad publicity? I wonder if this was not part of their plan ... at no monetary cost!

I'm no criminologist (to speak of), but I am pretty sure that along with other complex, systemic, people-related issues, crime cannot be controlled nor managed. What can be done though, is the setting of a climate under which crime is perpetuated. It seems to be that the FNB story is one of the country crying out for government to do something about the climate that is set.

Anyway, the country now seems to have moved from a contained cynicism that makes itself known around tea tables and dinner tables to a more robust public movement on the situation - spurred on by one of our banks. You know a situation has to be pretty dire when a bank steps in and takes on the role of moral cavalier in the way we integrate ourselves as a nation.