In 2008, the opening ceremonies were, by any measure, an astonishment.
I was sad because I knew that my astonishment at the public celebration, like the astonishment of any astonished white person under the circumstances, was indexed directly to the absence of black people in my life.
There is no mention of any different astonishment when that same snow lies blue-white on the ground; it merely serves as a useful background for the dirty yellow sheep that lie "like large fat maggots on the pale skin of a corpse".
Seriously, it is not as though we non-Zulus are privy to some innate telephone knowledge and, nonetheless, we seem to overcome any initial astonishment just fine.
At any moment an incident might tug the top layer from person and reveal an astonishment of traits below.
It's an astonishment nonetheless.
Mark never tired of expressing his astonishment that any surfer would choose to live in Boston, so far from decent waves.
He said, to the astonishment of any sane witness: "I could have made this a lot easier for myself but I wanted to give the fans a show".
I take this supposed transformation with a pinch of salt, having heard any number of people express astonishment when their neighbours turn out to be serial killers.
I found a quiet room and shot two takes which much to my astonishment needed hardly any re-synching into my original track!
