Public Transport Music

Our primary public transport in Johannesburg is the mini bus taxi. They can be found everywhere and are often very dangerous to both its passengers and other road users. Not a day goes by when they are not mentioned on the news. The drivers of the taxis don’t respect anyone and sometimes the taxis are held together with tape and chewing gum. Well that is a one sided view of this pest on our roads, I do believe that there must be some good taxi drivers out there using road worthy vehicles. But they must be hard to find. With the Metrobus on strike there are long queues at the taxi ranks. How is this taxi’s sound system? It is part of a movie or TV advert shoot that took place this morning at Park Station. Those poor people had to securely strapped to their seats as the shocks on the taxi must have given them motion sickness.

What a short week

Just 2 more days then the next long weekend starts. The weeks are flying soon it will be Christmas again and we will wonder what happened to the year. It is starting to get chilly which means winter is upon us. Here is Gary, Tracy and Glenda at Home Cell which is held at the Sims’ home most Tuesday evenings.

Unhappy Kristin

Today is Freedom day and Lee and Kristen gave us a surprise visit. Here is Kristen with Matthew and her mom Lee. Kristen then spent the day with us as we went over to Mike’s place to talk about Iggies as Mike is an Italian Greyhound breeder. We should have more Mondays as public holidays and I am looking forward to the coming short week as this Friday is also a public holiday. Yipee, this week is only a three working day week. What more can we ask for?

Hairy Bikers

Twenty two Vespa’s met this chilly autumn morning on the Highveld for a breakfast run to the Auto Cradle Estate via Broederstroom. Matthew joined me on this run. He is the one who took the photo of me in my cameo pants on Sophia among some of the Vespa’s and their subjects. Matthew enjoyed the run although he was a bit saddle sore afterwards.

The meeting of the dogs

Maxy seems to be settling down a bit although he still picks on the biggest dog in the park. This worries me as it will take only one bite. Today he ran up to this large bull mastiff puppy standing well close to a metre high and stared him in the face. When the puppy would not back away Maxy attacked. It was brave but foolish of Maxy to think he can take on a dog with paws twice as big as his head. Luckily it was just a puppy and we managed to untangle Maxy from his paws even though Maxy wanted to go back and finish teaching the puppy a lesson. Here is Maxy with some Italian Greyhounds (IG or Iggies) and other dogs more his size.

Jimmy the Giant

I would ask ciamar a tha thu if you were Scottish, Jimmy but you not, you’re a Tswana. My Setswana is not good but here goes. Dumela rra, otsogile jang? I seem to remember a legend long time ago of a disobedient young man whose man was Tswana. He ran away from home and met a giant and his lovely daughter. The daughter warned Tswana that the giant was a cannibal and wanted to eat him. The giant got Tswana to play a big guitar and wanted to chop off his head while he was playing but Tswana was wise and sat with his back to a tree. Later on the giant tried to drug Tswana with sleeping potion but the daughter had swopped it with this other potion that gave him extra ordinary strength which helped Tswana to chop off the giant’s head instead. Now I am not sure if this giant is the same giant of Matsieng the founder of the Tswana tribe but Jimmy is a tall chap and could have the giant’s bloodline.

So where to now?

So where to now, I ask myself as I find myself once again in Soweto this time the day after elections. At Anchor Comprehensive School in Medowlands we found the school kids loitering in the streets around the school. We stopped at the school and asked the children what was happening, why weren’t they at school. To our horror we found out that the teachers did not turn up to teach. At the next school we found the headmaster who told us that the teachers were helping to count the votes. Stuff the kids. On the drive back to Johannesburg we passed the Morris Issacson High School. This was the school that saw the launch of the 16 June 1976 student uprising in Soweto. This is now a tourist destination and has artwork along the street in front of the school. “EDUCATION IS OPEN 2 EVERYBODY” declared one piece of art. From the schools that I have seen and the kids that I have interacted with in Soweto, education has not come very far since 1994. So where to now Mr JZ?

E-Day

Today is elections and we can all guess who will win but we can make a difference. 4000 people are registered to vote at our voting station in Norscott Manor. Compared to the last elections the queue is four times longer. Last time I only waited about half an hour but talk was that we will be waiting for over two hours but in reality Matthew and I only stood for an hour and a half. Not bad. We must put a stop to the fat cats who are ruining our country and hood winking the masses with false promises. For example JZ said that he will halt the Rapid Transport System until further talks. But we all know that it has to be completed before the next year for the FIFA Soccer World Cup. The taxi drivers are now happy with this and will vote for JZ. My take on this is that JZ is saying that the taxi drivers are stupid enough to believe he can stop the promises made to FIFA to win the world cup then let them be so dim. I can see more taxi protests on the way before this is over.

Senseless

I ended up at two schools, Matseliso Secondary School and Lamula Jubilee Secondary School, both situated near the railway line in Soweto. We went there to speak to kids about train surfing, staff riding, fare evasion and crossing the tracks in unsafe areas. But the children hero worshiped the kids who did the dangerous things often under the influence of drugs. I saw the pathetic school conditions and wondered how could these children learn and become meaningful contributors to society. Both schools had broken windows, steel classroom doors and had graffiti scrawled on the walls. Lamula even kept the children locked behind steel security gates which look like they were either keeping the children in or keeping the undesirable ones out. While in Matseliso they had barbed wire around the grass to keep the kids off (example above). I am not sure but I would never want to go or send my children to any of those schools. Tomorrow is elections and I know the area will vote emotionally but what has the present government done for these children. The parents must be blind if they once again vote in a government who does not care for them only their pockets. In my area we will let our vote count.

Upcoming Elections

This is the election week with everyone going to the polls to vote on Wednesday. The past weekend was jammed pack with last minute political rallies but back at Metrorail the trains still have to run. Here is Zee, a host on the Business Express and Vusi from the Marketing and Communications Department.

Al-salamu alaykum

It is good to see friends from Casablanca. It has been over three years since I’ve last saw Liz. Now she is married to Tim (shown with Liz above) and she is 5 months pregnant. They have got Carol all excited and she now wants to visit Morocco. I don’t think Morocco is top of my list of places to visit as I didn’t see many trees in the photos of Casablanca, come to think about it I saw no trees.

Two Iggies in a basket

I still haven’t figured out a way to put two Italian Greyhounds onto a Vespa but I have a plan. Here is Patch and Maxy soaking up the sun. Now this is what I call a weekend.

Team Friday

As weekend fever is building up we had an impromptu team building session of baseball or was that cricket and trolley races in the ICT department at Metrorail. Here is Norman with a Braun trolley leading Willie with a Ferrari trolley around the obstacle course that was laid out.

uSello Mpandlane!

Ohh I gotta touch that! Okay at least I am not the only shinny dome in ICT as Mpho points out. At least we don’t waste our brains trying to grow hair. Sello doesn’t consider himself bald, he is just taller than his hair.

Take Five

Mpho showed above started with us yesterday replacing Lesego who replaced Keba who replaced Petunia who replaced Tshilidzi. Oh dear Marketing and Communication what is happening in your hallowed corridors.

Let me introduce

I told you yesterday about getting a rescue Italian Greyhound. Well let me introduce Patch to you. Patch is the older dog on the right while Maxy is the beautiful but naughty Iggie. This past long weekend I have been teaching Maxy to sit nicely on the Vespa while I ride through the streets of the northern suburbs. If I go over 50km/hr the wind gets in his ears. I need to get him a little leather helmet. The problem comes in now what to do with Patch. Maybe I need to put a basket in place of the bin at the back of the Vespa.

Happy Birthday and Gotcha

Well today is Carol’s birthday and we started the day with breakfast at the Mugg & Bean down the road from us. She then joined her mom and sisters for lunch at Cresta. Later on we went to pick up a 7 year old rescue Italian Greyhound called Patch. It turns out that Patch is from the same litter as Maxy’s mother. The breeder from whom we got Maxy from immigrated to New Zealand and dumped all her dogs at another breeder, Mike. Mike has managed to find homes for most of the dogs in Cape Town. So today is Carol’s Birthday and Patch’s Gotcha Day.

A lover not a fighter

This long weekend has been good to me as I can recover from a hectic couple of weeks. I started teaching Maxy to ride on the Vespa with me. We end up at the dog park where Maxy does his usual sniff, greet and if it is a female try his luck. He has earned a reputation as the park rapist as he has had a go at every female dog in the park. I would not go so far as to call him that. I would say he is more of a gigolo, a lover not a fighter. I don’t want to mute him just yet as I want to see if we could get a litter or two from him. This weekend we met up with Damon and his family of four Italian Greyhounds. Here with Matthew, Damon and Lingani are Maxy, Pi, Pippa, Pearl and Puck.

Baby Shower

Today is a busy day in our family calendar. Kenneth, Shannon and Carol have organised a baby shower for Simone at the Secret Garden in Norscot Manor. Simone’s parents and her brother Daniel secretly arrived up from Durban to be part of the surprise. It is Carol’s birthday on Monday so they got Simone to the party on this pretence. With all her friends and family around, I could say positively that she was radiant. See for yourself in this photo of Simone with Kenneth.

Bonding

Yes I decided to do some bonding with Matthew this long weekend. I started with given him a surprise day with his friends at a go-cart track near Tarton. Here is Matthew leading Kasmeria and Justin with Lungani out of the picture. Kasmeria won this race when Matthew crashed out spectacularly and was even lapped. He finally came third out of the four racers. The second race he won with Kasmeria right behind him. We all ended up at MacDonalds for lunch with Justin committing that this was the best day ever. That is till the next one. Oh yes one more thing. Late afternoon I decided to take Maxy to the park at Kingfisher and was surprised when four other Italian Greyhounds joined us and later another one. Here were six IGs in one dog park all at once. I have never seen so many together. I heard that they meet here every Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 in the afternoon. Well now you know where I am tomorrow. I hope to have some photos soon with their names.

Long Weekend

Yes it is the Easter weekend ahead with Friday and Monday being holidays. This of course gives Metrorail’s managers something to be happy about. Here is Norman celebrating with Kevin in his usual fashion. On the way home my way was blocked by protesters. What they were toy-toying for beyond me. It is election month after all. Another thing one group wants to lengthen the skirts of the women toilet signage. At first I thought that this was an April fool’s joke that had gone horribly wrong but it is election month after all and in about two weeks time we all vote for longer skirts. Not!

What’s in a name?

Yesterdays posting was of Lesego. I forgot her name in the mad day I had yesterday. But now it doesn’t matter as she did not turn up for work today. This must be the record. Lesego lasted one day. What is going on in Marketing or did I scare her away? Anyway let’s get back to better things in life here is Felicia, one of the chief admin officials from the Risk Department.

Don’t get Angry get Even

Today was not a good day as I came this close (hand showing a small gap between my fingers) to being fired from Metrorail for doing something stupid. Yes I know that my contact is near the end of its life and I haven't got much to loose but this is not me. A certain person, X (name with held) was pushing all the right buttons to get me over the edge and just continued even after I started to raise my voice. I was fuming and wanted to lash out but Leon kept me doing the wrong thing by saying it wasn’t personal it is just X’s personality. I just went for a walk just to calm down. I stopped by a friend just to get things off my chest and I came away with don’t get angry get even. But the more I replayed the day in my mind, the more I realised that this is not me as I was above this pettiness. I can joke about it but I don’t need to get even. It is already taken care of. I must just move on and forget. While all this was going on today a new lady started in Keba’s place today (photo above). Oh my goodness I have already forgotten her name. Just shows you what a day it has been.

Who monitors the monitors?

Here are Mario and Pieter from RCC monitoring the traffic from the ticketing system at Metrorail. I wonder who is going to get a sore neck first. There is a long weekend ahead so I am pushing toward it at full steam.

Tonquani

Off we went hiking into the Magaliesberg mountains with the Mountaineering Club of South Africa. Matthew is a YAD, Young Adventurer, with the club and he needed to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. We arrived at the Upper Tonquani for some climbing two hours later. Me climb never. I will leave that to the youngsters. I enjoyed the waiting by the tumbling steam under the forest canopy while the YADs climbed the gorge’s sides. Afterwards Matthew enjoyed explorering the stream and getting wet in the freezing water.

Work while the kids play

After a good sleep in I got cracking with a client’s revision which I want finish by the end of today so I can do some father son bonding which I have been neglecting for the past few weeks. Matthew in the meantime entertained himself with his friends, Valerio and Brian.

Downtown Chaos

Arriving at Metrorail I found pandemonium just outside the gates as the police raided the illegal bus rank. This caused a traffic backup during the morning rush hour. Luckily I arrived just after the raid had started which meant the traffic had not back up yet plus I was on Sophia, although I felt vulnerable and exposed with all the police running by me with shotguns. Back in the safety of Metrorail I could snap away as the tow trucks and flatbeds arrive to remove the busses.

Cookie Monster

I overslept a bit this morning and I think that it will take a few sleeps to be right as rain. Anyway here is the vehicle wagon or cookie monster as I call it swallowing up cars at Park Station. I do like that silver SLK.

Micro Sleeps

I did not even sleep last night due to working right through on a client’s website. I stopped at 4:30am to prepare to go to Metrorail. While riding my Vespa, Sophia, in the pre-dusk light I woke up when the bike went over a bump. Oh boy I was starting to micro sleep on my bike. Thank goodness I managed to arrive safely at Park Station with only a couple of uneventful micro sleeps. Later on I found myself micro sleeping behind the computer screen but that was not as dangerous as on the bike. What helped was Sibusiso’s birthday and a few of us went to breakfast. Coffee and a hearty breakfast is all what the doctor ordered.