The scene below shows the main character entering the home of an alien who's been suspected of criminal activity. I have the idea that one has to have grown up in South Africa to appreciate the humour, but I'd be interested to know if folk who have not grown up here find the scene amusing.
I guess it's no surprise that we no longer call these black sweets N****r Balls.
As a kid I was oblivious to the fact that the name given to these could be derogatory - I'd never linked the name to the obvious connotation, and I suspect that the same was true for most people (or kids at least) back then. Today they're simply called Black Balls, which I guess is a less objectionable name.
The word "n****r" has never been a commonly-used term in South Africa. We have our own set of offensive terms that have for many years now been considered unacceptable.
Our visit to Van Ryn's (map) was not only our first visit to a brandy distillery, but also the first brandy tasting that Kerry-Anne or I had ever attended - and I have to say that it was superb.
The Van Ryn's website lists several tasting options, and we had the pleasure of the Florentine Tasting, which I highly recommend. The Florentine presents four brandies, a 5-, 12-, 15- and (ultra-smooth) 20-year-old, all paired with delicate florentines (see the first photo below).
Jean, our taste-master, started off by explaining how you're supposed to cup the glass in your hand to transfer a little heat into the golden liquid. She then explained how you gently introduce the aroma to your nose, before taking the first sip and appreciating the refined liquid for the gold it is.
The atmosphere was sophisticated yet relaxed, and the personal attention - which allowed us to ask plenty of questions - was great. Van Ryn's looks pretty understated from the road, but once you're inside the complex you'll be surprised to see just how beautiful the buildings and gardens are. And besides, it's so close to Stellenbosch that it's a shame not to pop in for the short tour and tasting!
For the next half hour or more the group from Drum Cafe taught our posse of 100 rhythmically-challenged IT geeks a series of basic rhythms that culminated in a finale comprising everything we'd learned. It's difficult to explain how awesome the sound of 100 beating African drums is and how it seems to tug at the fibre of every African's being. Group drumming with Drum Cafe - or any such group for that matter - certainly is one of those must-do experiences.
Most of Cape Town's electricity is supplied by the two nuclear reactors at Eskom's Koeberg power station (map), located just outside of the coastal town of Melkbos. One of the reactors was shut down on 28 October for repairs - which effectively halved the station's power output causing the Western Cape to rely more heavily on power from the coal-based power from the Johannesburg area. After being down for more than a month Eskom recently announced that it had fired up the second reactor after successfully concluding repairs.
The use of nuclear power has been hotly contested for many years, and the recent disaster in Japan gave rise to even more concern over the proximity of the nuclear power station to Cape Town. I'm sure that in the possibly-unlikely event a disaster at the plant we'd all regret not getting rid of the nuclear power station years ago, but on the other hand I can't help but wonder of the amount of pollution released by coal-based power-plants warrants the relatively small risk. What do you think?
This said, I imagine that it's perfectly fine to remove rocks from rivers flowing through privately owned land (assuming that you're the land owner ;) ).
I found this display in the wine tasting room of Solms Delta, a popular wine estate just outside of Franschhoek.
I don't frequent the strip of clubs and bars in Edward Street (map), however, I found myself at Burlesque shooting pics, and in so doing learned a few interesting things about Edward Street's party-goers and the clubs they visit:
Each of the five horses has a trumpet-like piece of aluminum protruding from their mouths and from beneath their tails (see the pics below). What the photos don't show is that the five horses are interconnected by underground tubes that help convey sound. The idea is for pairs of people to work out which trumpet is linked to which other trumpet by speaking and listening.
These strange horses reminded me of another strange horse whom you may like to follow on Twitter.
Click on the photo to see the large version - isn't the fluffy liddl' gosling cute? :)
Even though it's extremely rocky the little section of beach looks to be quite protected from the ocean at low-tide and seems perfect for young kids, be careful to keep a close watch on them - the ocean get's pretty fierce pretty quickly and the rocky outcrops make it very easy for even young kids reach this danger zone.
Alex commented on yesterday's post mentioning that the mayor of the day named the street was named after Sir Charles Adderley in 1850 to show honour to him for successfully convincing the British government not to turn Cape Town into a penal colony - like they did Australia.
Big-up to you Sir Adderley! :)
You'll find this little gem flowing right down the middle of Cape Town's main street, Adderley Street.
What I could find out is that the work was commissioned from the renowned South African artist, Edoardo Villa, in 1981. What's interesting is that in 1981 the National Party won a majority of the seats in government, 131 of the 165 seats. I wonder if the work was commissioned to commemorate this event?
Even though Jan and his crew weren't the first people on our shores he was the first "Westerner" to set up a formal settlement here, and in colonial-times that made him Commander of the Cape of Good Hope, a position that he held for 10 years from 1652 until 1662. Interestingly (and perhaps because of all the friends he made while stationed in Cape Town) Jan retired to Jakarta where he passed away in 1677.
Personally, I think it's pretty smart of the company to encourage their staff to work off the extra kilojoules added by the overtime-pizza run. :)
While kids below the age of 4 travel free of charge the 2011 fare for adults is R53 and R25.50 for kids up to the age of 11.
Note that the site's menu system is broken and currently doesn't work in Chrome - but fortunately does in Firefox and probably most other browsers.
I've spent a lot of time looking out over the peninsula from this vantage point and it never ceases to wonder me that 260 million years ago the top of Table Mountain was at sea level. How weird is that?!
According to the study it's what the peacock says that makes all the difference. I have reason to believe this may too apply to the human race.
I read something interesting about the origin of sheep in Southern Africa. Apparently there's no evidence to suggest that there were any sheep in Southern Africa 2000 years ago! It's believed that the Khoi-Khoi people (who migrated from central Africa) introduced us to the wonders of lamb and mutton! Now don't we all just love the Khoi-Khoi? Of course we do! :D
In stark contradiction to the area's agricultural strength, the West Coast fishing industry booms with the seas along this stretch of coast teeming with Snoek, Cape Lobster, abalone, calamari, octopus, oysters, mussels and more.
If you like areas with hot and dry weather, plenty of fish, and a relatively low number of people per square kilometer - then our West Coast certainly is the place for you! If not, try the East Coast garden route. :)
Kikka's food was delicious, the coffee was good, and the atmosphere created by the beautiful decor and French background music made it the perfect spot for afternoon tea. We'll certainly return on our next trip to Paarl. :)
If you're unfamiliar with Cape Town, then for reference, that's the V&A Waterfront in the top left corner; the colourful houses on the left (towards the bottom) are in an area known as Bo Kaap; and the CBD is slightly larger than the lower right quarter of the photo.
An amusing fact that I discovered was that the Arum Lily is called a Varkoor (translated as Pig's Ear) in Afrikaans. Could the English and Afrikaans names have more contrasting meaning?! Purity, elegance, and a pig's ear. :)