The hospital where former president Nelson Mandela is being treated lies in a part of Pretoria where commercial is starting to blend into residential. The wide roads are lined with still leafy trees and rows of journalists' cars. With little to report on, the pavement where most of the journalists have carved out a niche has evolved its own small ecosystem.
So, what does a journalists get up to there?
- Get your car close: With hours to trawl Twitter, being close to a car and power is critical. For the television crews, a parked van buys territory and guarantees a view of the hospital in the background of every shot. It also means car batteries are on hand if one of the humming generators dies.
- Pick an entrance: The hospital has two entrances, a general one and a visitors' one. Photographers with gigantic lenses spend the day trying to snap Mandela family members visiting at one entrance. Television presenters pick the other because it's less crowded. Print journalists, unencumbered by equipment, wander.
- Find coffee: A few news organisations have their own tables packed with junk food and all sorts of ways of imbibing caffeine. But for the rest, the piping hot cups of coffee from a nearby garage are a life saver. Grumpy groans gradually turn to smiles as the cups' contents are gulped down.
- Google a more substantial meal: As the sun begins to warm the tarmac between the journalists and the hospital, Google provides an option to nibble in every direction. Most walk to find food – no doubt too scared to move their cars and risk losing their parking spot. Most of the options are junk, and used packets are crammed into every car.
- Gossip and share advice: "No man, I'm telling you. Buy a Toyota – they really hold their resale value." The first cursory conversations are also always about Mandela's condition. "Does anybody know anything other than the official statements?"
- Tweet and read: For a lucky few, Kombi's provide a chance to sit back and relax. For others, plastic chairs suffice. Most interact in some way with their phones. A few read books. One even manages to hold a yellowing poetry book while taking a nap.
- Stare at the hospital entrance: All the conversations and tweets are always interspersed by furtive glances at the hospital, just in case something happens.
There were no further updates on Mandela's condition since President Jacob Zuma on Thursday said the former statesman was responding to treatment.