Sometimes it feels that the bar for us to gush about Joburg, as Joburgers, is really low. Anything at all can go well and we're thrilled. We're like the parent beaming at their child for a participation certificate.

I'm hesitant to write this, because I know there are a million reasons to lament our city's current state of dilapidation, as Anna Cox and others at Daily Maverick have shown us.

But also, this is home.

I've always said to people new to Joburg that it is a terrible city to visit but a wonderful city to live in. It holds its cards close to its chest. You need to make an effort to get to know it.

But if you love Joburg, it will love you back. This was proven again when a trip to the Standard Bank Art Gallery's Homecoming exhibition on Thursday, 28 May turned into a personalised tour of the city library's underground stacks.

A friend and I drove into town, parked at Standard Bank and made our way around the gallery. We finished and said to each other, we've been meaning to go to the reopened Johannesburg City Library for some time, let's just walk there now - so we did. The skies were blue, the streets were clean, and the people friendly.

We made our way down Simmonds, past the premier's office, which is opposite the gutted Clegg House, and...