HARSH words this week concerning the City of Cape Town's new "casino chip" logo which is every bit as ghastly as the one it now replaces. In fact, here at the Mahogany Ridge, there was some speculation that, shortly after unveiling this dreadful mess, the city would be coming to its senses and issuing a hasty apology.
Something to the effect that, when the design was circulated for approval, it was passed around face down, and that what council members were really looking at were old coffee cup stains on the back of a piece of cardboard.
But no. The mayor, Patricia de Lille, is adamant that this nonsense is here to stay. Like the old "beach towel" logo - an infantile white squiggle representing the mountain against a backdrop of "arty" stripes of colours of the South African flag - there is a possibility that with time we'll become accustomed to this monstrosity, but we'll never be fond of it.
Part of the problem, I feel, is Patsy herself. There is the suspicion that when it came to fiddling with and tossing about this thing, there wasn't much in the way of the usual discussions at dull committee meetings and that it was a project pretty much driven by the mayor. Who may or may not have been in the mood for back seat opinions while she had her hands on the wheel.
It didn't help, either, that the city was having one its periodic attacks of smugness. Cape Town is - just in case you dared to forget - the 2014 world design capital and it is currently hosting the annual Design Indaba. Consequently there is much chatter of innovation and global creativity about the place and everyone's suddenly a maven on the function and form of everything.
Everyone, that is, except the mayor.