Author Archives: Paul

Have you paid for your parking?

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Parking paid

The blurry sign that you see in this photo reminds clients of this shopping centre to pay for their parking before exiting to the boom-gates. I still remain unconvinced that shopping centres aren't ripping us off by forcing us to pay for parking. Certain centres provide free open-air parking and paid undercover parking, leaving customers to decide whether or not they are prepared to pay for some shade from the African sun. This particular centre has no free parking.

I find paying to spend money at a shopping centre much like being charged to walk into a restaurant and look at the menu. I guess the shopping centre wins though - I still shop there regardless.

Up on Lion’s Head

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Lion's Head

It's been quite some time since we've taken a walk up Lion's Head. I chatted with Robynn (mentioned in the previous post) and she told me that she was up on Lion's Head earlier this month, when it was full moon. A lot of people walk up this "little mountain" at night, especially when it's full moon.

We've heard differing opinions on whether one should take a torch up Lion's Head when there's a full moon. Some say that if you use a torch, all you can see is the small area in front of you. Robynn was telling me though that there were plenty of people without torches, stumbling dangerously as they followed the circular route down the mountain.

Although the full moon does provide a lot of light, the moon rises on one side of Lion's Head and creates a very dark shadow on the other until it gets overhead. So perhaps the safest option is to take a torch anyway, and decide as you're hiking whether you need it or not.

Today's photo, with Lion's Head in the background, was taken at a farewell gathering at a friend's place for a couple visiting Cape Town from our sister-city, San Francisco. Thanks for visiting, Ray and Renee - and come again soon!

Royal Ascot, a killer view

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Royal Ascot at sunset

Tonight we got to spend some time with a group of people whom, for the most part, we'd never met before. It seems that these days we have several friends who don't know each other, so when birthday parties crop up (like tonight) we often find ourselves meeting new and interesting people - which is awesome!

Scott and Robynn live in what must be one of the best situated apartments in Milnerton's Royal Ascot development - right next to the Gold Circle stables and horse training track. If our plans work out as we hope we'll be joining them for breakfast next week - where, apart from enjoying good company and good food, I'll try snapping a few photos of the horses training in the early morning. Watch this space! :)

Pro20 cricket at Newlands

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Newlands Cricket Ground

Kerry-Anne was asked to live-blog for the local Standard Bank Pro20 cricket matches at Sahara Park in Newlands. She asked me to tag along to... well, drive her, carry her bags, and take photos.

Today's photo was taken from "The Oaks" lawn area - possibly the best seats in the grounds when it comes to atmosphere. It was so packed tonight that we ended up on the (also packed) far lawn, just to the right of the scoreboard (which can be seen heralding the latest 6 to have been batted).

The Cape Cobras managed to beat the Warriors by just 5 runs tonight. The Warriors needed 6 runs off the last ball, after losing a wicket on the previous ball. However, it wasn't to be, and the Nashua Cape Cobras went home victorious.

Back in beautiful Cape Town

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Signal Hill and Lion's Head

On Sunday, after launching our new WordPress version of Cape Town Daily Photo, I caught a flight with four colleagues to Johannesburg (the largest city in South Africa), a mere two hours' travel time from Cape Town.

I remembered after landing how different Cape Town is from Johannesburg. It seems almost like a different country entirely. We ate lots of good food, stayed in a nice hotel, and spoke with many interesting people, but today I'm really happy to be back in sunny Cape Town.

Perhaps I've mentioned it before, but us Capetonians are often teased about how preoccupied we are with our mountains - especially Table Mountain.  Even though I'm aware of this there came a point when I genuinely realised that I missed the mountain - I just couldn't find my bearings without the landmark. Were it not for a trusty GPS I'd still be roaming the streets looking for our hotel. :) I really think Cape Town would slip into a huge emotional depression if the earth one day swallowed up our beloved mountain.

We are silly, aren't we?

Twelve Apostles from Table Mountain

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Twelve Apostles from Table Mountain

It is a beautiful scene, isn't it? The photo can't fully describe how phenomenally spectacular a sunset from the top of Table Mountain is. The cableway is still running a special where you can buy a return ticket after 18h00 for only 72.50 ZAR. A price like that for a view like this? It's a no-brainer.

I have to be honest and confess that this photo is a little out of date. We're in the process of preparing version 2 of Cape Town Daily Photo, so there really hasn't been much time to get out and take photos. I shot this one a month ago when we went up Table Mountain with our visiting family from Sydney. :)

Gugulethu Tenors

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Gugulethu Tenors
I had not heard of the Gugulethu Tenors until I saw them performing at the open-air Willowbridge shopping mall today. Their style of music, much like that of Luciano Pavarotti or Placido Domingo, isn't really my cup of tea, though I have to admit that these guys delivered a sterling performance.

I think I must have had my head in the sand for the past few years, because it seems as though these township-born tenors have quite some reputation, and have even performed for the likes of Oprah Winfrey.

The guys look very casual in this photo, but they look quite different when dressed up in their suits and ties - take a look at their website to see what I mean. Because of where I was when I shot this photo I was unable to get the fourth tenor in the photo - he was unfortunately right next to a huge pillar that was blocking my view.

Woolworths?

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Woolworths

While visiting Australia a few years back we discovered that Woolworths in South Africa is quite unlike Woolworths in other parts of the world. The South African Woolworths started off as a upmarket clothing store - not like the Woolworths food shop that non-South Africans know. Slowly over the years it's become more affordable, and today caters for middle to high income groups.

I mentioned that the store started off as a clothing store; they then later branched out into homeware. A number of years ago the company introduced a food department supplying carefully graded, high-quality foods. These days we even have petrol stations (service stations) with small on-site Woolworths convenience stores that are open 24 hours a day. They're awesome - and a great step up from the often-dodgy convenience stores found at many other petrol stations.

Stodels Nursery

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Stodels Nursery

My parents have shopped at Stodels Nursery forever. Robert Stodel, a horticulturist originally from Holland, discovered the local demand for flower bulbs more than 40 years ago. After selling bulbs door-to-door and even at the Parade in Cape Town, Robert opened the first Stodels Nursery in Kenilworth in 1968, later expanding by opening a second shop in Bellville (close to where we live) in 1973.

Since I was born only the year after, I guess it's fair for me to say that Stodels has been around forever. :) The earliest memory that I have of the nursery is of my parents buying a small Plane tree (also known in North America as a Sycamore tree). That tree is now a huge (and I mean huge) tree directly in front of their house.

So, needless to say, Stodels is still a thriving nursery, with a little restaurant and an assortment of farmyard animals for kids to touch and play with. It's still a fun place to shop, though every time Kerry-Anne mentions visiting Stodels my heart sinks just a little... good plants don't come cheap. ;)

Dust off that bicycle, the Argus is nigh

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Man on a bicycle

There are only 52 days left until the 100km+ Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour. It's around this time of year that guys around South Africa start remembering bets made and lost. You know the kind: "Oh please, I bet you can't get that fire started without firelighters. If you do, I swear I'll ride the Argus next year."

And so, with dread, they start thinking about dusting off their bicycles, so that they can practise at least a few kilometres in the saddle before honouring their lost bet. Guys do say so many foolish things after a few drinks. :)

Break glass, press here

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Fire alarm

Shopping malls and many other large buildings have fire alarms similar to this one. Don't you find that you just want to press on the glass? Every time I see one of these I have to hold myself back and stop myself from pressing that button. In fact, it took much restraint on my part not to press this one while trying to take the photo. I guess it's much like a dieting woman holding a slab of Lindt chocolate... irresistible. Well, almost irresistible.

The fire alarm in my office building is cleverly covered by a plastic flap that one would have to lift to expose the glass "button". It's a good thing too - I walk past this alarm 10 or 15 times each day.

Two South African inventions

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Fishing from a dolos
South Africans are proud of their inventors. It's almost guaranteed that if you're a foreigner and find yourself talking with South African friends on a harbour pier, at some point someone from the group will mention that it was a South African who invented the dolos (the 20 ton pieces oddly-shaped pieces of concrete seen in the photo).

This bit of information will more often than not be followed up by the story of Ferdinand Chauvier's world-first automatic pool cleaning system, the Kreepy Krauly and how the American company, Zodiac, allegedly stole the South African design, with their Baracuda pool cleaner.

Ironically, I'm South African and I own a Baracuda... which, much to my dismay, sucked all the water from my swimming pool during the night because I left the pump on backwash by mistake! Perhaps it's the Gods of Invention that are trying to teach me a lesson about patriotism. :D

Does it rain in January?

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Tractor in the rain
Perhaps it's because January and February are normally so hot that I was surprised by the rain that we had today. I googled "cape town rainfall" and discovered a few sites showing that the Western Cape's historical rainfall is about 11mm in the month of January, increasing each month until it peaks at about 98mm in June, and then decreasing again to 13mm in December.

Our province experienced heavy water restrictions a couple of years ago and at the time it seemed as though everyone was installing well-points or bore-holes. I even tried to install one myself - this makes for an entertaining story. :)

At the time talk was going around that the government was considering placing restrictions, or perhaps levies, on the use of ground water for residential irrigation, due to the impact that the increased and uncontrolled use of ground water could have on the province's water table, and consequently on natural vegetation.

Read this interesting article for more information about the origin and use of groundwater in Cape Town.

Graeme Smith arrives in Cape Town

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Graeme Smith arriving at Cape Town International Airport

If you follow cricket, then you'll know that South Africa made history recently by winning a test series against Australia IN Australia. You'll probably also know that Graeme Smith, the captain of the South African side, got hit by a ball on the second day of the third test (South Africa having won the first two tests), breaking his left hand. Despite being in obvious pain, he came out to bat at number 11 on the final day of the match, in an effort to stop Australia from winning the final test. (I'm not ashamed to say that I cried when the radio commentator announced that he was walking onto the field.) He scored three runs, amazingly, but was unfortunately bowled out when there were just ten balls left in the game.

We went through to the airport this evening to join other fans in welcoming our Captain Courageous back home. Unfortunately, it seems that ACSA's online real-time flight info is not quite as real-time as one might have hoped. Graeme's flight landed a full thirty minutes early, but the "expected arrival time" was only updated AFTER the flight had already landed. So, sadly, we arrived too late and missed him.

Fortunately we came across four really friendly and helpful policemen and -women, one of whom agreed to let us post the photos he had taken of Graeme with his cellphone. Thanks, Albert; you are indeed an officer and a gentleman. :)

You can see the other photos on Cape Town Daily Photo Extras.

Fishing boats of the V&A Waterfront

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Fishing boats at night
Fish Quay, seen above, is in the V&A Basin of the Waterfront, very close to the Clock Tower mentioned in this post a few days ago. Although I've never seen fish being offloaded, presumably because we normally visit the Waterfront over weekends or in the evening, I believe that visitors to the Waterfront can stand and watch as these deep-sea fishing boats dock and offload their super-fresh fish.

Unfortunately, I doubt that one can purchase fish directly from the boat captains here. If you're keen on this, then Kalk Bay harbour is the place to be, as recently caught fish can be bought directly from fishermen on the pier.

Look right, it must be white

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Cyclists on Sir Lowry's Pass

In yesterday's post I asked a question about the direction in which I was taking the photo. Trust an engineer to work it out first - although I guess it would be fair to mention that Duncan knows this particular road pretty well. :)

So yes to all of you who agreed; from this shot (taken a little further on) you can easily deduce that yesterday's photo was indeed taken in reverse. While the reason Duncan gave was correct, it's not the reason I was probing for - read on.

South Africa has a few large roads that carry traffic in one direction only. If the line on the road (in yesterday's photo) were white then this road would be one of these roads (carrying traffic in one direction only) and I would have been taking the photos facing forwards.

If you're ever driving in South Africa and find that darkness or fog prevents you from seeing too much, take note of the solid lines on the left and right of your vehicle - left should be yellow, right should be white... if that's not the case, pull off the road really fast!

Surprisingly, this does happen - I once experienced two such incidents in a single day. Leave a message if you're interested in reading the story and I'll add it as a comment.

Left, right, yellow, white

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Photo from the car's window

I shot this photo out the car's window. My question to you is this: in what direction did I take the photo? Was I pointing my camera towards the front of the car or towards the back, and why do you say so?

I'll post the answer and the reason for the question tomorrow.

Girls, lifeguards and blue flags

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Girls and lifeguards on Clifton beach

If you've been following this blog it will be no surprise to you which beach is being featured today. Clifton 4th beach, obviously. :)

The guy and girl sitting on the unusually high chairs are lifeguards watching over bathers. We watched for some time as about 10 people practised their lifesaving skills by dragging a "victim" from the ocean; and unlike my brief description here, watching this mock-rescue was actually fairly entertaining.

Clifton 4th is classified as a Blue Flag beach, meaning that it complies with certain quality requirements set forward by the Foundation for Environmental Education.

In this case "quality" doesn't refer to how beautiful the people on the beach are (though if it did, Clifton would retain its status, no doubt). Instead it refers to a number of criteria in the following categories:

  • Bather environmental education and information
  • Water quality
  • Environmental management
  • Safety and services

You can read the full list of measurement criteria on the Blue Flag website.

New Year’s Eve at the V&A Waterfront

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Crowds at the V&A Waterfront

As I said in yesterday's post, it really was busy at the V&A Waterfront last night. If you're familiar with the Waterfront then you'll likely remember the narrow swinging bridge at the Clock Tower. This crowd on the Clock Tower side was trying to change places with a similarly large crowd on the other side.

Speaking of the Clock Tower: in case you don't know what it is, the Clock Tower was the old port master's watchtower, built in the late 1800s when the harbour was still full of old-style sailing ships.

The tower houses a huge clock (hence the name "Clock Tower"), which was about 5 minutes slow on New Year's Eve. The crowd on our side of the harbour must have been watching the tower because only when a roar of cheering was heard from the other side of the harbour did our side erupt with the realisation that 2009 had arrived at last.

Another revolution

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Ferris wheel at the Cape Town Waterfront

With no particular plans for seeing the new year in, Kerry-Anne and I went through to the Cape Town Waterfront to join the thronging crowds watching the annual fireworks display. We bought tickets for a ride on this ferris wheel just before midnight and watched the new year approach from several metres above the ground.

You may notice that only the "W" in "Ferris Wheel" was lit. As we boarded the giant wheel I wondered whether or not I should be concerned that the ride operators were not even able to keep all the lights in working order... :)

In closing, thanks for spending the last year with us; we've certainly enjoyed ourselves and hope that you've enjoyed sharing in Cape Town each day. We wish you an exciting and fun-filled 2009 with much love, joy and peace!

As of this post we've moved from the Blogger platform to a whole new look and feel using the WordPress framework. The past twenty two months under blogger are still available by clicking on the "archives" link at the top of the page.

Bees ate my lunch

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Bees ate my lunch

We joined some friends for a picnic lunch at Hartenberg wine farm this afternoon. Hartenberg serves a picnic lunch each day, spoiling guests with a plate full of cheeses, snoek pate, bread, salad, fruit and so on.

Unfortunately today we were plagued by bees. Hundreds of these tiny warriors joined us for lunch on the lawn and buzzed around menacingly in an attempt to get at the food and the bottle of grape juice on our table. We eventually abandoned our meal and retired to the wine-tasting room after baby Jett was stung on his baby thumb. :(

It seems as though the estate has had trouble with these bees for a while now, and management seem to be at their wits' end, not knowing what to do about the situation. It is still worth visiting the farm for a meal; but if you do, ask the manager about the bees, and if they're still a problem request to be seated at the upper section of the premises, away from the bees' hungry eyes. :)

Click through to our CTDP Extras blog for a few more photos of the bee infestation.

Cloudy, grey and raining

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Cloudy, grey and raining
We joined a friend at Col'Cacchio (a local pizza/pasta restaurant) for lunch to celebrate her birthday today. This was the view from our table.

The sunny weather of yesterday turned grey and cloudy this morning, bringing with it quite a downpour. It wasn't cold at all though and the hard rain was absolutely beautiful.

The rain also brought some relief to our garden, which has been suffering with the warm and windy weather we've had in December. From January I doubt that we'll see much rain for a few months though, so I've started installing an irrigation system in my garden.

Dogs on leashes – it’s a by-law

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Dogs on leashes - it's a by-law
Like many people, you might be unsure of the law, but it's true - unless they are in specially designated areas all dogs must be kept on leashes when being taken for walks in public areas.

While we watched people playing on the beach and freezing in the sea I noticed several dogs running unleashed on the beach. On the one hand I feel sorry for the dogs who really need to run free, but on the other hand I realise that some dogs are simply not social and friendly, and unfortunately it can't be left up to their owners to decide.

Santa Claus, stuck in Cape Town

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Santa Claus, stuck in Cape Town
It would appear as though Santa Claus is stuck in Cape Town. He seems to have been hanging about at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront's shopping centre for quite some time and I've seen no signs of reindeer, let alone a sleigh, anywhere! Will the gifts be delivered on time? I'm not so sure - nobody's that fast. :)

Shopping centres seemed to be fairly quiet on Sunday, becoming busier on Monday and Tuesday. Kerry-Anne ventured to a local shopping mall this afternoon. Apparently it seems as though the afternoon of Christmas Eve is the best time to shop for bargains. Toys and anything Christmas-related was reportedly marked down up to 50%. Let's see if I'm able to remember this mental note to leave Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve next year. :D

Did you expect real basins in Africa?

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Did you expect real basins in Africa?
Kerry-Anne took a photo of this unusual basin at Royale Eatery, a popular hamburger restaurant in Long Street. Unlike the title of this post may lead you to believe, we really do have proper basins in South Africa, really, we do. :)

On a side note, perhaps it's worth mentioning that even though I really enjoy Royale, I think it's best visited for lunch and not dinner. We found the upstairs section too noisy and cramped to allow for dinner conversation. During the day the downstairs section is beautiful, light and airy. The waitresses are friendly, efficient, and... well... pretty. :)

Showering at the beach

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Showering at the beach
I wonder who first thought of building showers at the beach. Seriously, it must have been a guy - in more than just the practical way, it was truly a brilliant idea. :D

These particular fresh-water showers are found at Camps Bay beach, overlooking the white sands and just over the road from the restaurants that line Victoria Road. While I have no problem using the showers, their location causes me to feel slightly exposed every now and again.

Many other beaches have showers in slightly more secluded locations, but not here at Camps Bay. Given the option though, I'd elect to keep them where they are. It's not often that one has the opportunity to shower with a view like this.

While typing this post I remembered a scene from the movie Drillbit Taylor in which the hobo-like Owen Wilson uses showers almost like these for his morning cleansing routine. The only difference was that he didn't feel that his bathing costume needed to be washed.

Saturday afternoon in Hout Bay

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Saturday afternoon in Hout Bay
We took a drive through to Hout Bay this afternoon to visit with friends and enjoy a braai, much like the one I posted about here a few days ago. Isn't the view of the mountains just spectacular? Perhaps a panoramic photo would do this vista more justice. But for the bay, Hout Bay is surrounded by mountains, creating what may be perceived as a town purposefully secluded from greater Cape Town.

You're just able to see the Table Mountain range stretching out in the distance with the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens directly behind it. This area has many hiking trails up mountains and peaks, ranging from 1-hour strolls to whole-day trips. Some time in the near future we'll have to see if we can climb up the peak known as Little Lion's Head - a smaller version of Cape Town's well-known Lion's Head.

All alone again

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All alone again

After two weeks of having guests in our home we're all alone again. The house seems strangely quiet. Nobody splashes us with cold pool water or tries to wrestle our lilos from under us. There's nobody to drink beer with and nobody to punch, pinch or scratch me - affectionately, of course :). There's nobody for us to show around the sights of Cape Town or to lie on Clifton beach with. There's no-one for us to hike up warm mountain rivers with and nobody to get sunburned with. There's nobody around to join us in these and all the other fun things that we've done in the last two weeks.

Truth be told, I guess I'm exaggerating a little. While we don't have visitors in our home anymore we know plenty of people who are really keen to get out and do stuff. I guess this is a pre-Christmas resolution then to tear ourselves away from our work, get out there and enjoy our city, the surrounding sea and the mountains in the new year.

Let's see if we can make it happen. Watch this space. :)

Bull among the sheep

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Bull among the sheep
I found these cute little creatures at the Montebello Design Centre, which is located on the old Montebello Estate on the slopes of Table Mountain. The Montebello Design Centre is a non-profit organisation that aims to promote good local design. The centre provides work for a range of craftspeople, from beaders and ceramic workers to carpenters making furniture from alien vegetation.

Follow this link to read more about the design centre's history and what they're doing.

Ratanga Junction, our very own theme park

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Ratanga Junction, our very own theme park
It was hot, it was sunny, and we were looking for a day of fun. Ratanga Junction is Cape Town's own theme park, only 5 minutes from the city centre.

Shortly after arriving I made a mental note never to visit the theme park on a public holiday - ever again! Queues to get into the theme park and to access rides were very long, kinda spoiling the day a little. :-/

We did have fun on the rides, though; especially on the Cobra, a huge, high-speed roller-coaster, and on the traditional log-floating-along-a-canal ride called Monkey Falls. Even though I'd taken my motion-sickness pills (a mandatory requirement for this kind of expedition) there was no way I was going to take a ride on the boat shown in the photo. The second row from the back hosts Kerry-Anne, our two visitors from Sydney, and a friend of ours kindly taking my place.

Positive points:
* Rides were fun
* Staff were friendly and professional
* Plenty of open space

Negative points:
* Queues were long
* Food was expensive
* Best water-ride was non-operational, and there was no warning of this on Ratanga's website