General
Birds on a wall
SOS and the NSRI
The NSRI are a group of about 1000 unpaid volunteers around the country who respond 24x7 to calls for emergency sea rescue. Visit their site for interesting information about who they are as well as stats about how many lives they've helped save.
The instituted is highly respected and I have no hesitation in suggesting that you consider donating towards rescue equipment, fuel and the maintenance of their vessels.
Power outages and load-shedding
Seeing this picture reminded me how load-shedding seems to (at least for now) be a thing of the past. This year I recall having only a single outage lasting a couple of hours - but then, I suspect that was an unplanned outage. :) Our friends up north may not have been so lucky unfortunately.
Although I haven't heard confirmed news of load-shedding in Gauteng I've heard rumblings of outages and found these load-shedding schedules on Eskom's site.
Beaded sheep, beaded chicken
Besides for the shopping center, or places like African Trading Port at the V&A Waterfront, I've seen the people who make them selling these kind of beaded animals along the road.
Specifically, I've often seen them near the Tyger Valley shopping center and on the M3, at the Kirstenbosch traffic lights. That said, if you keep your eyes peeled you'll see many similar beaded animals for sale along the road all over the peninsula.
Fixing roads
Roadworks are terribly inconvenient and seem to appear from nowhere at the least opportune time; which is normally when I'm running late. But, even though they're frustrating at the time, I'd far rather have the momentary inconvenience than a lifetime of dodgy roads!
Xhosa play park sign
Isn't it interesting that the kids in the sign appear to be white, but the text is written in a traditional black language? Perhaps the old racial divide has fallen away more than we imagine. ;)
High-speed stroller
I'm only kidding of course, she's great to be teaching her baby about the importance of exercise at such a young age, but I did find it amusing to see her speeding over the signs posted in my previous post. Imagine a police office ticketing her for racing around with her stroller (normally called a pram in South Africa). :D
On a side-note: I was in Las Vegas about a year or two ago and was confused for about 5 minutes over a sign at the entrance to the Wynn casino resort. It read "No strollers allowed". At the time I wondered if I would be allowed to enter the building since my intent certainly was to stroll around inside! I felt a little silly inside when I realised they meant prams. :)
No fun here!
A cactus family
According to the South African Cactus Pear Growers Association cacti were once used as a barrier to protect crops from wild animals. Perhaps we could replace our high fences and security gates with a few cactus plants? What do you think? ;)
Red ‘n black Beetle
The Cochineal beetle is a beetle farmed in South America and used to produce a natural red dye. For me the depressing thing about the use of the beetle as a colourant isn't as much that they die, it's more how they're killed. I won't go into the detail here, but read the article if you're interested to know. We humans really don't play nice some times.
For reference, manufacturers use the names "cochineal extract", "carmine", "crimson lake", "natural red 4", "C.I. 75470", "E120" to indicate that this beetle was used in the production of their red soft drinks, sweets, or makeup.
Using old car tyres
So, consider keeping your old tyres and putting them to good use. And, if you're not sure exactly what to do with them - visit Urban Sprout for a few ideas on how to reuse those old tyres! :)
An old cash register
We have it much simpler these days, but still, perhaps some day we'll look back at the days of having cashiers ring up event item and think how incredibly inconvenient and time-consuming the process was. :)
Elevator buttons
- a combination of numbers and letters are used for floors
- the letter G isn't used for the ground floor
- basement parking levels start at a number greater than 0
- floors are numbered with various colours that seem to mean something important
- floors are labeled with landmarks unknown to me
This is the elevator at the Cape Quarter. Upon entering one is met with a combination of the points I made above. Not only this, but one's also overwhelmed by a large poster, a confusing legend, that attempts to guide visitors to the right button.
All that I wanted was to go to the ground level - but as the doors closed and the elevator departed, overwhelmed, I found myself pondering the merits of taking a trip to destination unknown.
Barbed wire and green fields
Take a look at the difference between this photo and one taken for Google Street View during summer! :)
An old hotel patio
When we go away on vacation in South Africa we normally stay in B&Bs. After visiting here I think perhaps for our next local vacation we'll try to find an old colonial hotel like the Royal Hotel - just to get a feel for what it must have been like back in the day's of the Cape Colony.
See the beautiful evening photos on their website. The hotel was quaint and retro-stylish, but not as pretty as their website shows. Although, perhaps that's just because it wasn't lit as brightly since it was only mid-afternoon when we visited!
Old typing keys
Do you think that some day we'll look back at our then-antiquated laptop keyboards and wonder how we ever managed?
A long long time ago
Actually, I never had the privilege of using a manual typewriter - instead I recall the day's of typing school projects out on my mother's electric typewriter... but that sure was a long long time ago - I must have been about three at the time. :)
All over South Africa you'll find little gems like this used as decoration. I found this particular typewriter on the patio of the Royal Hotel in Riebeek Kasteel.
Pastel blue buildings
This building reminded me of the first house that Kerry-Anne and I owned. She convinced me that we should paint the exterior pastel blue. Being easily swayed by female charms I agreed to this... instantly regretting the choice after the first wall had been painted.
We moved a couple of years ago and painted the exterior of the new house last year. This time we chose a non-pastel, neutral, earthy colour. However, our painter made a mistake (actually, I think he pulled a fast one on us) and painted the house a light brown colour that has a slight pink hue. :(
Oxo makes milk very interesting?
I'm sure the tag line is quite correct - not tasty, not yummy, but "interesting".
Red leaves
Even though we've been having great weather, it's not quite time to put away the warm clothes and double duvets. This little taste of warm weather won't last too long - winter isn't over yet! :)
Doing what it takes
Although the last few days have been warm - imagine what it's like pushing the trolley to this spot on bitterly cold mornings and sitting here on stormy days in the hope of selling a few items to make an honest living. Nobody would condone theft, but seeing the hardships that many people go through to make only a few Rands makes me understand how very tempting crime must be - and gives me great respect for those who don't resort to it.
It's a good a noble thing to buy what you don't need and don't want only to support people like this.
Orange Aloe flowers
Today you'll find many after-sun lotions, anti-eczema creams, etc. in South Africa (and perhaps even in your country) referring to Aloe as a primary ingredient.
Possible medicinal benefits aside - isn't this just a beautiful cluster of flowers?
Wet roads and sunshine
I find it a little stressful to drive in unfamiliar places when the sun's glare on the road completely obliterates the markings and forces me to squint. Similarly, driving at night on unfamiliar wet roads into the bright lights of oncoming traffic is another thing that I really don't enjoy.
Don't you just hate driving in conditions like this? Wouldn't it be awesome if the rain would leave the roads alone and stick to falling on mountains, fields and in our gardens?
Remember to be smart and drive slower in poor conditions and when you can't see road markings clearly. Be safe and arrive alive.
Slippery wet streets
I realised again a few days ago (when I took advantage of a normally-safe gap in traffic) that it's actually incredibly dangerous to momentarily forget that roads are slippery when wet. Fortunately I knew to reduce the power, gain control and re-accelerate - and fortunately the car coming at me from behind was actually going slower than I at first thought it was.
Who recognises this town? It's not too difficult, click to zoom - there's huge clue right there in the photo.
Orange leaves glowing
Even though it's been very wet, grey and cold we have had the odd sunny day, and even though it's still cold the sun and blue sky is a welcome reprieve from the winter grey.
I, and perhaps the rest of Cape Town, may complain about the wet and grey conditions, but this is tempered with memories of 2003 when we had much less rain than normal which led to summer water restrictions. In reality, we're grateful for the rain, but I have to be honest and stay that I'd far prefer Johannesburg's warm and rainy weather!
Circles of barbed wire
Most people in the suburbs of Johannesburg and Durban have high walls and electric fences surrounding their properties. It's quite different in Cape Town though - what you see here isn't really the norm. In Cape Town you'll find that some houses are protected like fortresses and others don't even have a fence, nor a burglar alarm - some times homes in Cape Town don't even have burglar bars.
Something that I find amusing is that when people move from Johannesburg to Cape Town, one of the first things that they do is to build a palisade fence or high wall around their property. While I understand their need to feel secure, it's still just a little amusing to predict how long it will take for the security barrier to be erected. :)
Graffiti, vines and ambivalence
How do you feel about artwork, and about graffiti in general?
Die Oude Molen mystery
If you know something about this house or property, please do leave a comment on this post.
Through the fence
Thinking about the large amount of granite that we'd have to excavate and the huge amounts of ground water that we'd have to contend with I guess it would cost far too much money to build one, and our best bet would be a monorail (like one that we traveled on in Sydney).