Author Archives: Paul

The Burger King phenomenon

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The Burger King phenomenon
I'm not sure what it is with people, but when McDonald's opened their first few stores in Cape Town in the 90s, hundreds of people stood in queues for hours to get the taste. It happened again a month or two ago, this time with Burger King opening in our fair city.

I don't get it. Why would someone spend an hour or more in a queue - for a burger? Did you? Can you explain this strange phenomenon?

NSRI at Camps Bay

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NSRI at Camps Bay
I'd heard that the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) had a station in Camps Bay, but I'd never worked out exactly where it was. Kerry-Anne and I happened to stumble upon it while exploring a small residential part of Camps Bay, just outside of the busy commercial section, in the Llandudno direction. That over there is their station with it's own little slipway. Nice hey?

Run doggie, run!

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Run doggie, run!
The guy in the photo had two dachshund's with him on the beach. He'd trow the tennis ball and they'd charge after it like bats out of hell, ears flapping all the way. I don't really enjoy small yapping dogs - but these, they were pretty cute. :)

See them run

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See them run
While taking the photo included in my previous post I heard shrieking sounds, and out of the corner of my eye noticed a group of people running from the beach. It wasn't a tsunami. I checked. :)

People bathing in the sun, enjoying the picnic lunches they'd packed in, had to grab their belongings as quickly as they could and make a dash for higher ground. Fortunately the patch of sand on which I stood was slightly elevated, like a little island - so my feet, and sneakers, managed to stay dry.

Yes, it is true, I was walking on the beach in sneakers. :P

High tide

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High tide
This is Camps Bay beach. If you're familiar with Camps Bay then I think this photo gives a pretty good idea of how high the tide has been. That guy, in the surf, was standing more or less where little kids normally make sand castles and mud pies.

I'm sure the tide's been this high during stormy weather, but I've never seen it quite like this on a sunny beach day!

Winter beach weather

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Winter beach weather
The bikini and boardshorts probably gives you a good idea of the type of winter weather we've been having. Don't let anyone tell you that Cape Town's winter weather is always awful. ;)

I could sure get used to warm sunny beach days alternating with cool rainy winter weather.

More of the vinyl

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More of the vinyl
So I mentioned that Kerry-Anne has a fixation for vinyl. It's not that we have an awesome modern high-quality record player. We have a dusty old hand-me-down one with exposed wiring and a sawn-off pencil as the center peg (to keep the LP from spinning off the deck).

I remember years ago rummaging though records at street vendors outside the Cape Town station - but that was back in the day when cassettes were the only other option. It's more tricky to find LPs these days - specifically new releases.

If you're into vinyl, and living in Cape Town, then I suppose you'd already know about Revolution Records and Maby Vinyl. Besides for flea markets, do you know of any other shops that sell vinyl?

A nerd’s life in Cape Town

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A nerd's life in Cape Town
Do you remember when being a nerd wasn't so awesome? It's strange how things turn out.

Anyway, this post is to say thanks to New Relic, the company that help monitor Cape Town Daily Photo's server 24x7 - free of charge. They're nerds, they're awesome. IT peeps, visit their site - it's super-fun to play with their gadgetry.

A comfy Union Jack

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A comfy Union Jack
It's been a long time since South Africa was a colony. Back then, around the time of the Boer War, the Brits made life really difficult for folk living here. It was a dark time, but I think we've kinda forgiven them now. :)

Bay Harbour Market – Feed me Seymore…

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Bay Harbour Market - Feed me Seymore...
As I mentioned in my previous post - the food at the Bay Harbour Market in Hout Bay was superb. After walking from stall to stall I settled on the one in this photo - their omelettes looked to awesome to pass up.

Even though I waited about 20 minutes for the food (which isn't really *that* long) what was great was that I didn't have to stand at the stall, they handed out buzzers that would vibrate when your order's ready for collection. Quite different to a regular food market, heh? :)

Bay Harbour Market in Hout Bay

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Bay Harbour Market in Hout Bay
We arrived at about 10h30 - there was still space to breath. This was however not a luxury to be enjoyed once lunch time and the hungry hoards arrived.

I'm being overly dramatic, sure. :) While lunch time was pretty busy, and it took a little longer than what I'd hoped for to get my fantastically-awesome bacon and brie cheese omelet from stall 1 and take-away coffee from stall 2, it wasn't too bad. It was raining outside and I was pretty darn glad that this market was indoors, and in retrospect pretty glad for said hoards - they soon heated up the place, keeping temperatures at a comfy 23°C. :)

If you haven't, you should visit. Fridays from 17h00 to 21h00, and weekend-days from 09h30 to 16h00.