Last Saturday while exploring a turn of the century building for reported hidden tunnels, Matt and I came across rats the size of cats and a dangerous gas leak. The leak seems to be coming from an old gas meter which was situated just under the hawkers in De Villiers Street. After reporting it to the Safety, Health and Environment Department of my company I was asked to show them the leak so that they can escalate it to the right authorities. So now you have a gas meter photograph for today.
On Saturday afternoon I took a number of amateur and professional photographers into the Blue Room. The best part was to see all their expressions on their faces as they walked into this disused concourse with all its marble and red brick décor – Priceless. This morning I popped back into the Blue Room to make sure that the keys were returned and I saw these seven beams of light piercing the tavernous space that I had to capture it but all I had on me was my cellphone.
"You don't make art by capturing an image on paper, or canvas, or in stone. You don't make it by writing down stories and poems. Music and dance come closest to what real art is but only so long as you don't try to record or film it. Musical notation is only so much as dead ink on paper. Choreography is planning, not art."
"You can only make art by setting it free."
Yesterday while exploring the Ansteys Building, Mai Ling phoned. She and Uwe Jens arrived back into the county on Thursday. It was good seeing them again. Carol and Mai Ling will have some catching up to do before they leave in two months time.
Since its inception last year the group who called themselves the Joburg Photowalkers are getting so popular that I am not sure when it will peak. On today's photowalk from the Johannesburg Art Gallery to the Blue Room in Park Station then to St Mary the Virgin Cathedral was a huge success with over 50 walkers attending. I didn't get to take many photos this time because I was so busy making sure no one got lost. Afterwards we ended up on the 16th floor in the Ansteys Building which was build in the 1930s and was for many years the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. Here is my view from the toilet of the Ansteys Building. Beautiful!
Spring is upon us and the midday sun is starting to get to hot that we seek the shade. The dusty streets are beautiful in Africa but our parched soil long for the summer African rain. Here is one trader along Noord Street that found respite from the sun under the cab of a delivery truck. I am sure that he was on the edge of snoring. The photo was taken with my Samsung Galaxy Spica cellphone as I was doing a preliminary walk along the route of tomorrow's photowalk.
Our Telkom line is finally up with a dispute pending. Living in Africa has its perks but one that is not exciting is having Africa living in your home. So the pest control came round this morning to get rid of the unwanted pests once and for all. I wish they could do something with Randburg Telkom. The only plus is that we get to eat Chinese tonight.
I can pull my hair out with Telkom, if I had any, with all their useless people working for them at Randburg. They are so backward that they belong in the dark ages. Where does Helkom find them? No-one at the branch wants to own up that they are a manager so I can escalate my problem because everytime I ask to see a manager they not in. So who the hell runs the Randburg Helkom branch? Helkom do yourself a favour and fire the lot of them because they are doing your brand a huge disservice. Deep breaths! Deep breaths! … Sigh! Now where was I, oh yes in today's photo we have Leon been interviewed by a few students for their IT projects.
At home we still are battling with Telkom or Helkom as they are now known to us. In July we did not have a phone line for over a month now it starts all over again. HELP. Telkom doesn't deserve to be in business. Let me get my mind back to work. Here is Mokgosi from the RCC section of the ICT Department.
DSL and phone lines at home are down again. I don't know what is going on with them. Anyway today I went to an interview looking at the different options out there in the market and I was not sure what photo to put up so I took one of Daleen's training classes. Here is Sonwabo, Vishnu, Sabelo and Rebecca doing DM training.
With no electricity in the all the suburbs of Randburg from 05h00 to 19h30 due to planned maintenance today we just had to manage with takeouts for lunch and supper. I heard no complaints from Matthew with Pick 'n Pay roast chicken for Sunday lunch and pizza for supper. Here is Trevor who was also affected by the power cuts, listening intently to someone outside the entrance of BBC. Every time I hear Trevor Noah, a good South African comedian, mentioning his name on TV I think he is saying Trevor Noyle. Too close for my liking.
It is Connor's ninth birthday party and we trek all the way to Boksburg to spend the afternoon at our grandson's party. What is this thing about the East Rand? This is the second weekend in a row that I find myself this far east. Here is Connor having a hand in table tennis. Happy Birthday Connor.
At the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus, construction workers are starting to put the roof onto the stations entrance. I wonder how soon this station will be added to Foursquare?
Today we met with the designers of the corporate website, Brand Leadership, to change the design to re-align it with PRASA's corporate strategy. Here is Nana who is Head of Communications at PRASA looking all elegant.
I had to go to a meeting at Shosholoza Meyl Junction this afternoon so I decided to walk which took me past the long distance bus rank. Harare, Chitungwiza, Roadport, Masvingo and Kadoma are some of the far away destinations on offer at the rank.
Nomthana was down from the 5th floor visiting us IT plebs on the 1st. She is always happy and smiling and lightens up the seriousness of ICT.
One of the students which always keeps his head down is Bafana (shown here and by the way the name means boy) that is probably why I don't have posted a photo of him before. I wonder if he is like his name sake, Bafana Bafana, our national soccer team, who look like boys but play like girls.
Today's photo is just for my friend Janis stuck in the UK. Last Sunday she asked for a photo of Carlie's face. But no matter how I tried Carlie only had her beautiful blue eyes wide open during the service so I could not get the shot I wanted. This raises the point; both Gary and Angie have brown eyes, so where do the beautiful blue eyes come from. I thought of genetic leap frogging but Gary's mom has green and the rest of the grand parents have brown. Ummmm Gary how about that DNA test as I am starting to suspect baby swopping. Anyway Carlie is the better baby if something like that did happen. Angie, well done on another beautiful baby girl and Gary it is about time to invest in that shotgun as you are the only guy in a family of four ladies. And Janis next time, blue eyes.
With my passport in hand I ventured into the East Rand as far as Benoni to meet with David. Yes I know it is dangerous to cross over to the dark side of the far east but I had to. David asked me to is the only reason I can give, for now. Here is David with his family, Ali, Jemma, Jack and Gracie. (Dave and Ali, I am not sure I got your beautiful children's names right. Just shout and I will correct).
Things are getting worse. Please send chocolate was may cry for help this morning. Nkhumbudzeni or Khumbu in short came to the rescue with chocolate. She is a student and what she makes helps her with transport home. A good entrepreneur in the making.
No good news yet on the Metrorail front but progress has been made. Nelson from down the passage in Finance came to our end of the floor to make photostats and I was ready with my camera to pounce.
How come when I last posted a photo of Willie on this blog, Metrorail let me down? Now they have let me down again and the photo of Willie is posted. Something's not adding up. Maybe I should be more positive like Patrick was and believe something better will come along.
Wanna know how I got these scars? This is Thabiso listening intensely to Johani on some matter which Thabiso's body language tells it all. Now let's put a smile on that face.
Today been Women's Day I decided to do one of Carol's favourite things, a drive in the country. So we started our country trip with a visit to Carol's aunt and uncle, Elaine and Eddie who stay just outside Magaliesburg. From there we headed down the Moot Valley and stopped for a late lunch at Tan Malie, Hartebeespoort. By now it was getting late so we made the dash back home before it got dark.
With the family sick with flu it was up to me to represent the family at BBC. Here is Keith with Angie's baby Carlie, looking all set to become a grandparent that is if his eldest son hurries up and get married. It looks like he will make a wonderful granddad.
Justin turned 12 this past week and invited a few friends to the Northgate Ice Arena for an afternoon of fun. Here is Justin giving a thumbs up just before he and few of his friends enter the ice rink.
Why do you look so sad Brian? It is Friday for Pete's sake, smile, it is a long weekend for the matter of fact. Monday is women's day which means we have a public holiday. Enjoy your weekend everybody.
Yay, our DSL at home is finally up after over a month of been down. What can I say with the government monopoly called Telkom or should I say Helkom? Back at work I am playing catch-up with the work that I fell behind with while I was sick. Steven, who is charge of DM document server was round fixing an excel bug, Microsnot. He doesn't like me taking photos since the last one I took of him sleeping.
I got a call today from Carol saying that Telkom has been round and our phone is now up and running. I better check tonight if the DSL is also working. Wow over a month without internet. Not good. Today's photo is of the construction work progress of the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus in the midday sun.
Although I am still not 100% well, I can’t stay at home foreva. I have so much work to catch up on but I have to take it slow because my immune system is way down. I took a walk down Noord Street to JAG (Johannesburg Art Gallery) and popped in to see Charity at St Mary the Virgin Cathedral over lunch time to plan our next Photowalk. It was a good break walking among the street life instead of head down in front of a computer.
Telkom are saying that they will fix our DSL on the 11th. In the meanwhile we left sunning in the sun like Patch and Maxy, our two Italian Greyhounds. This is there favourite part of the garden where they can catch the first rays of the sun.
Hopefully Telkom can fix the DSL tomorrow as we can only answer their SMS tomorrow. Shannon, Darryl and family came round today and it was a good visit.