In the end England (the reigning champions) were subdued with a final score of 36-0. Go Springboks, you guys rock!

The factory was recently converted into an array of shops where artists, photographers, crafters and other creative people could display their work. In addition to the various shops, the Neighbourgoods Market is open on Saturdays between 9.00am and 2.30pm, where farm-fresh and organic vegetables are sold to health- and eco-friendly Capetonians.

Take a look at this blog for more photos and information on the various stadiums being built around the country.

The Snowflake buildings that you see in front of Lion's Head are likely to be full of flour. Snowflake, with its tag-line "Too fresh to flop", is a flour manufacturer dating back to 1877. Here it's more or less a household name in flour, so much so that if you'd ask me to name another brand of flour, I doubt I could.

From our vantage point it looked as though only one of the six was working. Perhaps the guy wielding the pick-axe had lost a bet, or maybe he was just really committed to his job and decided to give his tea-break a miss. Who knows...?

Men at work #1

We bought this piece of art today for R100 (approximately 10 Euros); the artist was selling his work at traffic lights on the Newlands part of the M3, at the foot of Table Mountain. Framed it'll look absolutely stunning.

In the past few years the South African government has been putting in place regulations to restrict the number of guns in circulation. We had an amnesty period a while back, where citizens could drop illegal weapons at police stations without the risk of being charged for having them in their possession. Many firearms were destroyed and many consider South Africa a safer place today for this.

This photo of Abie Thomas catches him at his place of work at the V&A Waterfront. He's been a street performer at the Waterfront for many years - since it first opened, in fact. If you visit the Waterfront you're sure to bump into him and his band - perhaps the smooth jazz sounds will even entice you into purchasing one or two of his CDs.

There are 109 blogs participating in this theme day. Use the links below to visit them, and see what street lights and signs look like around the world:

Seattle (WA), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Singapore, Singapore - Boston (MA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Evry, France - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Nottingham, UK - Toulouse, France - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Manila, Philippines - Mumbai, India - Montpellier, France - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Moscow, Russia - Paris, France - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Lyon, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Hyde, UK - Hong Kong, China - Joplin (MO), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Chandler (AZ), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Sydney, Australia - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - San Diego (CA), USA - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Nelson, New Zealand - Quincy (MA), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Bend (OR), USA - Wellington, New Zealand - New Orleans (LA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Detroit (MI), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Selma (AL), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Arradon, France - Sheki, Azerbaijan - New York City (NY), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Tenerife, Spain - Auckland, New Zealand - Forks (WA), USA - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Chateaubriant, France - Madison (WI), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Ajaccio, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Budapest, Hungary - Lyon, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Le Guilvinec, France - River Falls (WI), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Naples (FL), USA - London, UK - La Antigua, Guatemala - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Trujillo, Peru - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Oslo, Norway - Grenoble, France - Shanghai, China - Toronto (ON), Canada - Durban, South Africa - Zurich, Switzerland - Cape Town, South Africa - Singapore, Singapore - Torino, Italy - Flagstaff (AZ), USA

This was the first time we'd been to a 27dinner, and we found the whole environment pretty energising. There's a buzz growing in Cape Town around IT, new media and creative concepts, and I think we're in for some exciting times. It's the influence of that mountain, I tell you...

(By the way, in case you're wondering where we fit in, I'm one of the marketing people and Paul's one of the geeks. :D)

Our bronze man stood amazingly still for ages until someone dropped some money into a box at his feet. Each time someone paid him he would change position to a new pose - no smile, no direct eye-contact, just a robot changing stance.

We actually spotted this scene yesterday, but were on our way to an appointment, so we couldn't stop to take a photo then. Yesterday's sky was bright orange, whereas today's retained its blue hue. I believe that blue predicts rain and orange predicts clear skies - let's see what tomorrow holds...

Hopefully the dispute will come to an end in the next day or two; else I'll be working from home in a week or so :).

Kerry-Anne said it reminded her of this nursery rhyme:

I saw a ship a-sailing,
A-sailing on the sea;
And, oh! it was all laden
With pretty things for thee!

There were comfits in the cabin
And apples in the hold;
The sails were made of silk,
And the masts were made of gold.

Apart from the silken sails and golden mast, of course. :)

Speaking of cheese, once Spring comes around we'll take a drive to the winelands and visit some of the cheese and wine farms to bring you photos of what's on offer.

That reminds me of one of the shops in the area that used to have free cheese-tasting. I remember making several turns around the cheese table "tasting cheese". We always ended up buying something, but always made sure we got our money's worth first :).

Needless to say, the shop wised up, and free tasting became paid tasting a couple of years ago. Sadly, these days the students at Stellenbosch University go hungry over their lunch break.

If you find yourself in Cape Town one day and would like to see the king of the wild up close - and if you can't afford the time to travel to a game farm for a safari, then perhaps you could visit our local lion park, Drakenstein Lion Park, about 40km outside of the city. This park serves as a rehabilitation home for lions that have been saved from canned lion farms. Visitors can view the lions for nominal entry fee of about 3 euros per adult, so do make it a stop on your way to the winelands of Stellenbosch (though I do suggest you visit the lions before visiting the wine farms ;).

To quote from their web site: "Drakenstein Lion Park is involved in the re-homing of lions which are kept in intolerable conditions, both locally and overseas."

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning. I didn't really want to go outside to take this photo, but the sun shining through the leaves of this Camphor tree was too beautiful to miss.