Outside Metrorail is a long distance taxi rank catering for those who are bound for Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Zambia. Amongst them are entrepreneurs like this one who is selling coffee and Milo to the drivers and their passengers. Commuters off the trains are bonus customers.
Ahh, after that wonderful soaking rain last night, Johannesburg looks clean and fresh. While driving to Metrorail this morning, the sun was rising, sky blue, air smells fresh, mist was swirling around in the valleys, trees were plush green, birds singing and no traffic jams. What more could a boy ask while driving to work?
Two of my other clients phoned yesterday with problems. One had a computer not starting and the other had numerous SQL injection attacks on his client’s website and wanted me to fix. The first one had a power spike and it may have damaged the memory on the motherboard. Here Leon and José putting their heads together, trying to get the computer to work. On top of this I signed up another client today. Well all in a days work.
I am busy getting through my Metrorail work at a steady pace. The deadlines all look like they will be met. During lunch time I took a walk to Park Station and found this unusual cake sitting in the bakery window.
Today I started the daunting workload. I managed to finish two jobs which are only due tomorrow. This has put me ahead of schedule. Here are some of the others in the office who are also quite busy. They are José, Keba and Darleen.
Wow, the rain came down heavy last night and I believe that there was a mighty thunder storm last night in Durban. Well after my rugby team, the Sharks beat the Blue Bulls in Durban last night and won the Currie Cup, the Bulls needed a good sending off back to Pretoria. The storm was just the right thing to tell the Bulls not to come back. Here is Matthew about to take Maxy for a run. Well what do expect with a dog that can out run any human. He is an Italian Greyhound after all. On your Marks! Get Set! GO!
HIV and Aids is everywhere in Africa and to help take the stigma out of it we held a HIV/Aids Day at BBC. We had stands marketing indigenous crafts to put money back into poor communities. How is this mosaic work on this tray? Michael Mol, a well known TV presenter and medical doctor was the keynote speaker. And we did free HIV testing with me near the front of the queue. Not that I was concerned, no just to help break the ice for those who think that this is a black man’s disease.
Yesterday work was poured onto my desk at Metrorail, so much so that this morning I just sat there and wondered what now. All of the work is due next week except three which they wanted NOW. Done the three on time but the rest will have to wait until next week. Here is Lee and Sibongile from the Risk Department which gave me two of next week’s problems.
Arriving at Platform 11, where I park my car when I work at Metrorail, I noticed these two women who had just disembarked off a train and proceeded walk across 13 rail tracks to get to Platform 1. When the security guards, who were sitting just off the picture to my right, saw me take a photo with my cellphone, asked the two women something and they answered back. But the guards let them continue over the tracks. I then asked the guards why they didn’t stop them. They answered me saying that the women said that they work here. Well it doesn’t look like they work here to me. What has happened to Safety First?
Yes this is my diet. It is a low carbohydrate diet which means lots of meat, fish and vegetables and very small amounts of things like rice, potatoes, bread and sugar. Since I started this diet 5 weeks ago, I’ve lost six kilograms. That is over a kilogram a week.
Today Connie and Sentebaleng from Nambiti came around to Metrorail to checkup on the contractors. Nambiti is on of my agents who send me contract work. They have the account for Metrorail to supply the IT staff.
I suppose you get what you asked for and I did my rain dance 5 days ago. This afternoon the heavens opened up and some people on the radio described it akin to hell. Lightning crashed down and hit overhead power cables in City Deep. Explosions occurred along the line and some of the cables fell onto the roads. I just managed to get out of town in time so I missed the fun. Lights where out for CBD, central Johannesburg and in the south. Luckily I live in the northern suburbs so we weren’t affected. The reports I heard on the radio was that the traffic out of the CBD was hell. Well here is Motloli, one of the ICT managers. I bet he was stuck in the rush out of Metrorail unless he left early.
Carol’s mom is actually improving at this new place that she has been moved to, although all she wants is chocolates. I make her eat all her lunch before any chocolate is brought out.
Much needed rain continues to fall, give my garden a good soaking. The pets stayed indoors because getting wet is one of their biggest dislikes. This photo is strange because Maxy, our Italian Greyhound’s neck is in a weird position straining to see why Brandy is getting more attention than him.
A highveld storm broke over Johannesburg this evening bringing much awaited relief and much to say about my rain dance. The Gautrain progress is still on track for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Metrorail has contracted Staza Cleaning Services to clean Wits Metro Park office building. Here is Matshidiso who is responsible for cleaning our floor. In Other words, keeping my desk clean and picking up after me. Nah I am not that bad.
The summer is in full swing and after I did my rain dance this morning, a friend told me on google chat that there is a 60% chance of thunderstorms on Friday. Maybe the dance did work. We have to wait and see. Anyway back to today’s photograph, here we find Ken who came all the way from Cisco in the UK to help Metrorail on a project. At least he is enjoying the lovely summer weather.
Keba started in Metrorail in place of Petunia. She is the new Communications and Media intern and is now based not in Marketing but in the ICT department. She had a frosty welcome from those who missed Petunia. The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of management. I did my best to make her feel at home. Sitting in ICT won’t help her chances with the marketing staff.
Yes summer is in full swing and the kids at BBC have a summer splash day after church complete with water slides and jumping castles.
Saturday is a day to recover from the stresses of the week, Nah. I join the Men's Group at BBC this morning to get a good start with Merville shown here offering me some coffee. Doesn't he know that I am on a diet? Well now he knows. Matthew had hurt his finger yesterday and could not go rock climbing this morning so we just stayed at home and played Command and Conquer all day.
At Metrorail's ICT department, every month different sections take turns and host a team building function. This month was Management Information Systems turn, which I am contracted to. We decided to have a braai (the local word for barbeque) at Vosloo's Gat. It is the local pub at Rolling Stock's Braamfontein Yard. "Vosloo" is someone's surname and "gat" means hole in Afrikaans, in other words Vosllo's drinking hole. I call it Vosloo se Gat which puts a vulgar spin on the name. Taking about Afrikaans, the word "mis" means animal dung, I think I will stick to the acronym MIS. From the feedback, I must say that the four of us in the MIS section did a good braai. Here is Leon and Kevin sharing a joke.
I went off to the CS4 launch and InDesign impressed me the most with the Export as a swf file along with the PageFlip transition. Also it is good to see Photoshop incorporating Extreme 3D into the program. Now we just need to get Director to do the new things. Something happened to my Sony Ericsson W580i camera today as the few photos I took at Montecasino was lost so all you left with is the view from my desk at Metrorail. That is a lot of money just lying here (I mean it is in the millions). Well dream on sonny boy.
Just outside Metrorail is the area where the street people sleep at night and during the day collect parking money. Some even hassle commuters to carry there luggage. Every now and then they get raided and removed by the Metro Police.
Leaving Metrorail today I found this hawker pushing a trolley of plucked chickens. He had just come off a train and on his way towards the Loveday Taxi rank. Some of the fast moving street food are “walkie talkies” (chicken feet and heads) and “run aways” (just the chicken feet). I am not sure that these chickens meet the required health standards.
No, I shouldn’t call Patrick - Pongo just because he comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is known in Metrorail as Congo. The name Pongo comes from my Army days where I was in the Equestrian unit. After a couple of weeks in the bush we come back smelling just like a horse. We where called pongos because every where we went the pong went too.
Here are the two Natal boys, Ian and Luke, enjoying coffee after church just before Matthew and I had to rush off visit the Rage computer and gaming show.
Coming back from our monthly shopping spree, we found Whiskey, one of our cats, securely curled in his cave. This is strange for her as she is normally out during the day. She must have had a heavy night last night.
It is Friday at last with a soporific weekend in front of me. On the way home I passed all the long distance taxis preparing to take their passengers home. I took this photograph of a taxi advertising his rate of R750 (about $87) to Blantyre, Malawi which is over 2000km away (2 days’ drive). I wouldn’t like to be compacted in a taxi with 20 other passengers for two days in this heat. Any way this evening we had a lovely dinner with friends (Jackie, Gareth, Colleen, Trevor and Denise) which of course didn’t do well with my diet.
I first few drops of the long awaited summer rains fell today. But as soon as they dropped, they were gone. At first I thought it was someone washing their car window in the car in front of me or some garden sprinkler to the side of me as I sat in traffic on the way home from Metrorail. Who can tell me where has the typical summer afternoon thunderstorms gone to? I miss the crack of thunder and the deluge of rain to cool the dry summer days. The aroma the after-rain smell will bring me out dancing in the garden. Even our Delicious Monster had nine fruits waiting to flower with more on its way.
On the other side of Park Station I was shocked to find this billboard. Firstly it disrespects the South African flag by putting it on a condom. Secondly it disrespects woman by using a distasteful male joke when one talks about having sex with an ugly women by putting the flag over her head and doing it for the country. This billboard for Rocky Condoms says "Rocky, do her for your country." As a man, I hang my head in shame.
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