Imagine sitting in a field, holding a dandelion up to the warm African sun, and blowing to scatter dozens of seeds; like hopes, dreams, and wishes that you may have.
We have so many of these spring up in our gardens that our first instinct is to rip them out without a second thought. It's strange though how differently we respond to them in fields. In fields they're beautiful. We pick them and admire their delicate construction. They make us feel nostalgic. We blow on them to see the seeds take to the air in the most relaxing manner. We marvel at these perfectly-crafted seed-distributing machines.
Isn't our love/hate relationship to these plants so very strange?
Wouldn't it be great if we loved weeds as much as we loved our garden plants? I'm sure we'd have the most water-wise gardens in the world - it seems that weeds grow where nothing else will; even in the absence of water! Perhaps it's just time that we learn to love weeds. :)
These particular weeds are extremely prolific in our area. I googled for a while to learn their name - but alas, couldn't find anything that looked similar except, of course, for the Hairy Fleabane, which is also fluffy and white, but also quite different.
While our Gauteng province has been suffering under seemingly-endless rain, our Western Cape gardens and gutters remain bone dry. In fact, my grass is all but green and my plants have started seeing mirages, or rather hallucinations, of huge lakes of cool water.
In all seriousness, it has been pretty dry in Cape Town (this is our summer, after all) while our friends in Johannesburg, and the northern provinces, are having uncharacteristically large amounts of rain. In fact, I heard a report on the radio this morning that mines have started filling up and overflowing, spilling acidic water into rivers... which I'm sure you can imagine isn't the best thing for the river's ecosystem.
On the plus side, a friend of mine reported that his garden (in Johannesburg) is beautifully green and that he's pretty much having to cut his grass every week! That's such a stark contrast to my pathetic desert-like lawn. :-(
I'm always tempted to go inside when I see signs like this. "No entry, staff only!", "Private, staff only!", "Only staff beyond this point!", "Keep out! Employees only!".
I often wonder to myself why signs like this one (especially in shops and restaurants) seem so aggressive. They have signs to welcome us and make us feel as though we, their clients, are super-important to them. In their marketing messages they even call us "valued clients". However, in their store or restaurant their signs are devised to be aggressive and intolerant. What's with that?
How about "No need to peek, there's nothing but very busy elves behind this door. Ring this buzzer or call 0800 555 1234 if you need a human's help."? Doesn't that sound a little more friendly, and a little more useful?
I don't recall ever hearing a news report about a ship sinking off our coast due to fire. The most recent incident of a fire at sea, that I'm able to recall, was last year when Cape Town's Fire and Rescue services boarded a cargo ship near Britannia Bay (map) to help extinguish a fire that had erupted in the ship's engine room. It took many hours of work under difficult conditions, but fortunately the ship and all it's crew were saved and towed back to Table Bay Harbour.
Imagine how scary it must be to have your ship catch alight while at sea. One would think that with all the water around it would be easy to extinguish a fire - but with the right flammable materials and without the necessary equipment - it's sometimes impossible to stop a fire before it causes the ship to sink.
I imagine that this door would lead to the engine room, and that opening it during a fire would supply oxygen to the flames, causing them to burn more furiously.
Kerry-Anne paid for me to visit Reyjeane Salon and Spa to experience what she'd and a friend been treated to in December. Naturally my visit was just for a hair cut and massage and not the cut, massage, manicure, pedicure, and all the girly-girl things that go along with these!
The visit to Reyjeane's was quite different to the salon that I normally visit. The atmosphere was cool and light, the decor was typically (and beautifully) French, and they had some great French background music playing at just the right volume to be audible, but not intrusive.
My brief review is that the visit was a professional, unsnooty (is that a word?) and relaxing experience. I can't comment on the hair cut without sounding vain but I can say that the head, neck and back massage was perfectly awesome (although, after 45 minutes of lying face-down I think left the salon with a towel pattern embossed on my forehead :) ).
Visit Reyjeane's page on Facebook - you'll notice a few great Valentine's day specials. :)
On hot days I really appreciate the layers of thick concrete under which we're able to park. Unfortunately, facilities such as in this parking garage is extremely limited in Cape Town - so most folk park in the direct sun, and return to cars that appear to almost glow with heat inside.
While I greatly appreciate underground parking, the thing that I find almost unbearable is the rush to get out from undercover parking after an event. When going to see shows at the CTICC and Waterfront it's almost mandatory to park in such an undercover parking lot. While the exits manage regular traffic perfectly adequately, if everyone leaves the venue at once it can easily take between 1 and 2 hours to get through the boom gates.
Perhaps it's obvious to you, but the experience that I've had has taught me to:
preempt where traffic exiting the garage will be congested
park as close to the garage exit as possible, even if it entails walking a few hundred meters more
reverse into the parking bay so that you can make a quick and easy exit
consider finding a coffee shop and relax while everyone else fights to leave :)
I think somehow things got confused and all the heat destined Europe got misplaced and routed to Cape Town. It's swelteringly hot down here with temperatures to remain high until the end of the week - cooling over the weekend.
I checked my car's external thermometer and it's reading was 38°C in Cape Town, with the temperature increasing as one travels more inland towards Stellenbosch and Paarl. If it were possible to package and ship heat, we'd be making a small fortune.
You may be wondering why the beach isn't as packed with bodies as one would expect on such a warm day. There wasn't much opportunity for me to get to the beach - so I grabbed this photo from my December archive. I can however pretty much guarantee you that Clifton is *far* more crowded than this on days like today!
The water that you see in the bottom half of this photo is that of the Victoria Basin - the basin that stretches out alongside the V&A Waterfront shopping mall. The Collier Jetty, on the far end of the basin, is (as you can see) currently used as a spot to moor colourful fishing boats.
According to an industrial heritage white paper that I found, Cape Town harbour's elevator complex (the metal structure extending the length of the jetty) had been used by the Farmer's Co-operative since 1987 to load grain for export. I'm not sure whether or not it's till in use by the FC since the article mentions that due to the increased length and draught of ships they were no longer able to use it (for exports).
Don't you just love how the fishing boats are painted in similar fashion to the colourful houses of Bo-Kaap?
Photo of the year 2010 – a City Daily Photo theme day
Even though we habitually miss it, each month the City Daily Photo members have a theme day on which they publish photos representing a particular theme.
As is traditional on 1 January, today's theme is "Photo of the year 2010"; most CDP bloggers take this annual opportunity to post what they or their readers believe to be their best or most beautiful photo of the preceding year. We've decided to interpret the theme a little differently and post not the best photo of the year, but rather a photo that we feel portrays the greatest highlight of our city's 2010 calendar: the Football World Cup that was held in South Africa during June and July.
Visit our June and July archives to see more daily photos taken around the time of the World Cup.
Kerry-Anne bought a voucher for a two night stay at Spier though Twangoo - but before I get into the Spier experience, I'd like to share these photos of the rare white agapanthus that are grown, almost prolifically, on the estate. So, today's post has more photos, and fewer words. :)
Click on the three below to see the larger versions. Aren't these plants just beautiful?
I can't work out if this is a Buddhist or Hindu statue. I've seen similar statues referred to as Thai Angles and others as Buddhist goddesses. Do you perhaps know anything about this statue - if so, please leave a message below. :)
According to the latest census information that I'm able to find, South Africans are divided into the following religious camps: Christian 79.8%, No Religion 15.1%, Undetermined 15,1%, Islam 1.5%, Hinduism 1,2%, Other 0.6%, African Traditional Religion 0.3%, and Judaism 0.2%. What you may find interesting about these stats is that Traditional African Religion makes up such a tiny percentage of the spread in an overwhelmingly black African country.
The reality about these stats are that within the Christian belief category you’ll find a huge diversity in what people actually believe. You may expect all people who say that they’re Christian to be Catholic, or protestant – but that’s not quite as clear-cut as that. Many people will call themselves Christian because they we’re once Christened, and many others (specifically black South Africans, I guess) may have the core Christian belief, but still participate in traditional tribal religious ritual that the traditional Baptists or Catholics among us may find highly questionable.
The harbour area is beautiful between the summer hours of 17h00 and 20h00 as the shadows of ships and their shadows lengthen across the water and the light softens to a slightly orange hue.
Unfortunately the Cape Town wind often spoils the otherwise-peaceful atmosphere and on these gale-force wind-swept days most people head indoors to keep from being blown over. :) I don't often get blown about by the wind, but sometimes, on particularly windy days, even I'm compelled to hold onto railings and brace myself against it's surprisingly powerful force.
Although sometimes irritating, Cape Town's wind comes with mixed blessings. Firstly, it keeps our city air pretty clean - which makes for crystal clear photos of Table Mountain ;) , and secondly makes our 30°C+ summer weather far more bearable than what it otherwise would be. Depending on when you read this post - you may see some of what I'm referring to by looking at our page that contains the current temperature and wind speed for a few spots around the peninsula.
In addition to a couple of stairs on the opposite side of the pillar (on the right-side of the photo), this little ramp connects the first floor of V&A Waterfront mall with restaurants that overlook the amphitheatre, and (currently) the Wheel of Excellence.
Unless you know someone who uses a wheelchair, I guess you're unlikely to realise how difficult the simplest of navigational tasks can be. I've never had to make use of one, but from what I can see, the V&A Waterfront is pretty wheelchair-friendly. Most folk use escalators to get to the upper level of the shopping centre, but there are also lifts that you could use if you're reliant on a wheelchair. The Waterfront area has two or three major levels outside and each is accessible by wheelchair; although I can imagine that one may need some assistance to use the ramps as I imagine it's pretty tiring to scoot yourself up the incline.
In case you're traveling without a wheelchair, or for some reason require one when visiting, call 021 408 7500 (preferably a day in advance) to book one. Hire is free of charge, but requires a R50 refundable deposit.
Visit Accessible Cape Town for stacks of information that would help people with impaired mobility, vision and hearing.
If trifle is indeed from the Devil then it's quite ironic that its a dessert that my mom saves to make once a year, for Christmas day. If you're not sure why I'm of the opinion that the dessert is born from pure evil - just click here for a Google image search (beware, not for sensitive viewers). ;)
From what I"ve read the earliest reports of a trifle-like dish stem from England in the 1590s - except that back then the ingredients were possibly simpler: thick flavoured cream, sugar, ginger and rosewater.
Trifles are quire different today - they contain sponge cake that's been soaked in alcohol (sherry, for example), pieces of fruit (often berries), custard, jelly (which I think our American friends call jello), and a whole lot of thickly-whipped cream. These ingredients are (as you can see from the pics) layered to form the multi-layered decadent pudding that's perfectly yummy.
A while ago I wrote about graduate students from the Isa Carstens Academy who each year board similar liners, working their way around the world - effectively being paid to visit the world. Isn't that pretty awesome? Imagine all the places this ship has seen. Sydney, Rio, New York - I'm sure the list goes on and on.
I've heard from friends who've traveled on similar liners that once aboard it's a party atmosphere practically 24x7 - so I guess the tag line, "Every day is like Saturday on Nautica" is pretty appropriate.
Assuming that you don't work on Saturdays, imagine it being Saturday every day for 14 or 20 days. Imagine, all your food and all the shows and activities that you'd like to be entertained by are included in your ticket price - so besides for drinks, once on board it must feel like everything is free. Wouldn't that be just amazing?
Please leave a comment if you've traveled aboard a similar ship. I'm interested to know how you found the experience.
Each year it seems like thousands of people make their way through the quiet middle-income suburb of Bothasig (map) to catch some of the festive spirit that the residents have put on display on their homes and in their gardens.
Although we have Christmas trees in our homes, and the occasional wreath on our doors, massive amounts of Christmas lights and decorations aren't as big a thing in South Africa as we're made to believe it is in the USA. But, somehow the tradition caught on in this suburb - and each year it seems like the collection of brightly-coloured lights increase in number. Perhaps some day the suburb will glow even brighter than the City! :)
Chef Pon and a partner started Chef Pon's Asian Kitchen a while ago, but then he parted ways with his partner who retained the Chef Pon's Asian Kitchen and Chef Pon (this is confusing, right?) opened Chef Pon's Sawaddee - in Rheede Street (map).
Although I've never eaten there, I've heard that CP Asian Kitchen isn't what it use to be. By contrast I've visited CP Sawaddee and found the food to be exceptional. We normally go there for their sushi (you HAVE to try the Chef's Special), but I've eaten two of their Thai beef meals and they we're both brilliant.
In summary, food was great and reasonably-priced, and the atmosphere was pleasant. The only negative aspect of the restaurant is that each time we've visited we've been surprised at how early they close. The restaurant seems clear at about 10pm (closing at 22h30) - which you realise by the fact that one or two lights are switched off and the sushi chef cleans up his station and leaves for the evening. Very subtle guys. ;)
Yes, of course Africa celebrates Christmas... but white Christmas trees? I have to say that the chance of having a White Christmas in Cape Town is pretty slim, especially with the incredibly hot days we've been having.
Every now and again I wish that we could send some of our warm weather over to Europe to alleviate some of pain that they're feeling from the extreme cold spell that they're (you're) experiencing, but I very quickly take back these wishes as I remember our cold winter when I was practically counting down the days to summer!
Some day Kerry-Anne and I will visit the UK, France, or some similarly cold area over Christmas - just to see what a White Christmas is all about.
Translated directly from French, "cul de sac" means "bottom of bag" - and in this case means exactly what you guess, this road leads nowhere. It's a dead end.
In South Africa, we normally have these words painted on the entrance to a dead-end road, as well as a small rectangular green sign displaying a T-symbol where the vertical bar of the T is white and the horizontal is red. I guess what they're trying to say is, "slow down lest you come to a sudden and unexpected stop" - and "no, this isn't a shortcut". :)
On 27 June I showed you a photo of the Wheel of Excellence and mentioned that it would be staying in Cape Town until the end of the year. Not only did the V&A manage to extend the wheel's stay until February 2011, but they've also moved it from the entrance of the Waterfront to inside, close to the amphitheatre.
If you've ever visited the Waterfront then you'll probably have a good idea of the sights that you'll see from the new location. While awesome at any time of day, can you imagine boarding the wheel while the sun is setting? Besides the beautiful view of Table Mountain, imagine catamarans with passengers sipping wines from Stellenbosch, Constantia, and Paarl slowly motoring around the harbour, and imagine yachts with tall masts and the picturesque cranes of the Robinson Drydock silhouetted against the pink and orange skies. This really is a beautiful time of the year to be at the Waterfront.
The V&A have a lot of great entertainment planned for December and January. Take a look at their What's On page for more detail about the new ice rink, music concerts, exotic animal shows, and the New Year's Eve fireworks, of course. :)
I wouldn't even consider venturing out on a sunny day without sunglasses. The bright glare of the sun is so intense that I'm practically guaranteed of a headache of migraine severity if I spend any longer than thirty minutes in the sun without my trusty sunnies.
Most people are wise enough to buy sunglasses with UVA and UVB protection - I've even gone to the point of only buying only glasses with polarised lenses because (besides for reducing the brightness) they help reduce the glare from the road, water, or beach sand.
As someone I knew once said, you only have two eyes, so buy proper sunglasses. I don't know about you, but I reckon that's a pretty fair statement.
Headquarters in Cape Town's Heritage Square is a steak restaurant fashioned after Paris's Le Relais de l'Entrecôte. The concept of both restaurants is that they serve a set starter and then for the main course only steak and chips, completing the meal with a variety of desserts from which one can choose.
Headquarters in particular serves only (extremely tender) sirloin steak with Mac Donalds-style razor-thin chips. Although they have a vegetarian option, it wouldn't make sense for vegetarians to visit - they really do specialise in steak.
A tip that I can offer is to try visiting HQ (map) at some time other than Friday and Saturday nights. They tend to get very busy around those times and things do get a little hectic in this long room. Also, we found our steak was much better on a Saturday afternoon when things weren't quite as rushed. As you can see from the photo, the restaurant is pretty quiet on a Saturday afternoon.
Food quality: pretty good, but as stated, the steak is better when it's quieter. Atmosphere: stylish, modern and trendy. Value for money: averagely-priced for restaurants in a similar class.
"The Rainbow Nation" is a term originally used by Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to describe the South Africa formed after the removal of apartheid in 1994.
Cape Town Daily Photo provides an insight into the Cape Town that we know and experience, but the truth is that there are many different colours to the rainbow that makes up South Africa. The sentiment expressed by the archbishop was that of a diverse country united. Whether or not we're as united as he had hoped is a debatable point. Many factors point towards a united South Africa, but still we have so many differences that it's almost impossible for us to properly understand each other. Perhaps "the Rainbow Nation" is the holy grail that every country strives for, and perhaps it's unrealistic to expect a completely united people.
To get a feel for the diversity among the people of South Africa, take a moment to read this article on South Africa at a Glance.
While watching this pirate ship replica I was struck by the craziness of a handful of men (in the 16 hundreds) boarding a small sail boat like this one and heading off from Europe to sail around the tip of Africa. I'm not sure that the rough seas, frequently poor rations, and the damp working and living conditions would have enticed me into exploring the world.
Perhaps we're too used to the comforts of large cruise liners or huge jet airplanes. Perhaps we've all (although, perhaps not all) become too accustomed to modern living. Do you think we've become too soft; too breakable?
While on honeymoon, a while back now, Kerry-Anne and I spent a short while at the spectacular Vineyard Hotel. Recently a friend invited a few of us to spend the evening enjoying a 6 course dinner at at Myoga, one of the Hotel's restaurants. The meal was wonderful. The portions were certainly not large, but on conclusion of the sixth, I felt as though I'd eaten a small elephant - and a pretty tasty one at that!
The strangely unusual thing about Mayoga is that the kitchen is more or less situated amidst the diners, so that you have a view into what the chefs are up to. Now you may not think that's strange or unusual, but what we discovered is that even by visiting the lavatories you can't escape a view of the kitchen - they have LDC monitors inside each cubical, showing the chefs preparing food in the kitchen!
However much fun relaxing on a small inflatable may seem, be sure to learn a little about the ocean currents and keep your wits about you - we've heard many stories of people on inflatables drifting out to sea, never to be seen again.
I think what some times happens is that people find the feeling of bobbing about on the water so relaxing that they shut their eyes for a little while and don't pay attention to how far away from the shore they are - until it's too late. Clifton's beach is very protected from the wind, but once you drift a little further out there's sharp change and the wind is easily able to drag you far away from the beach - too far for the average person to swim back.
Fortunately, the Clifton and Camps Bay beaches normally have lifeguards on duty who would probably warn you when you drift too far out. That said, it's not worth the risk, so be careful and keep your wits about you!
As a reward for working exceptionally hard this year my colleagues (from my day-job) and I were recently treated to a boat trip. I obviously took the opportunity to snap a few photos for your viewing pleasure. :)
The beach in this photo is a little more tricky than normal to identify because the hole in the hull obscures a lot from view. This said, I'm sure if you've spent some time in Cape Town that it would be unmistakable. Can you identify which it is?
The mountain in the background, along with Lion's Head and Signal Hill to the right unmistakably identifies this breakwater to be part of Table Bay harbour (which is the big harbour where your cruise liner would normally drop you off).
I heard recently, on the radio, that plans are afoot to build a proper arrivals and departures terminal that will cater for tourists arriving on large liners. Currently, visitors normally disembark alongside a commercial (and not very pretty) pier very close to the beautiful Table Bay Hotel - which I have to say is hugely convenient if you plan on bunking in one of the hotel's 5-star rooms!
If you've ever cooked a meal and added fresh rosemary from your garden then you know how wonderful it is to have a little herb garden right outside your kitchen door. Fresh herbs have a way of transforming a bland dinner into a meal fit for a king.
With the number of small housing and apartment complexes having increased dramatically over the past few years several people that I've met have started either a small herb garden or a tiny vegetable patch in their little back yards. Kerry-Anne and I've tried to do this several times but we never seem to keep a handle on it and the poor patch of plants invariably either overrun (in the case of the hardy plants) or fizzle away into dried up stalks.
Do you have a veggie or herb garden at home, and if not, are you considering starting one?
