As 2010 finally comes to an end, it was time to reflect on the past. This year was slightly better than the previous annus horribilis. A time to realize where I stand which lead me to make some hard choices when I reached the cross-roads. What will 2011 bring me? My only hope is that my annus mirabilis is still coming as we raise a glass and say goodbye 2010, hello 2011.
Derek, Mark and myself went to these old ruins of once brickworks in Fairlands. Not much is left but it was interesting exploring the sad remains of once a profitable business.
After spending a great late afternoon and evening with a couple of friends playing Balderdash, whom am I trying to bluff. Quel désastre, Mark has lost his béret.
The Joburg Photowalkers held a photo walk in the Hartebeespoort Dam area. We left from Northgate at 6am and started looking for the forts that were build in the 1900 to protect Kommano Nek. Later we explored the damn wall. The old typewriter in today's photo was taken at Tant Malies.
Today being a public holiday not much was open and most people are still recovering from Christmas with family. We decided go to the Johannesburg Art Gallery but sadly it too was closed. So we ended driving around the older suburbs of Johannesburg. On the border of Yeoville and Observatory along the ridge we found this house with these beautiful peacock wrought iron gates. Like the area the house was a bit run down so this was the best angle to show off the gates but not get the run down look of inside.
I think Maxy's status as Best Bud has been replaced by Jade, my latest Italian Greyhound. Matthew and Jade are just about inseparable.
Christmas this year was at our place, strange because at my age Christmas doesn't feel the same. There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. Well it actually not all about presents but about the ultimate gift. No not the movie although wasn't that a great movie, The Ultimate Gift? It is actually about God's gift to an unwelcoming world. Well they needed him but didn't know it, the ultimate gift, Jesus. Anyway I'm digressing, here is Kenneth, Connor, Matthew, Amy and Braeden all enjoying the pool on a hot summer's day, sorry Christmas Day.
The last day till Christmas saw me in the office for the last time this year. Most of the staff were on leave so the few of us had fun. Here are Lee and Sibongile from the Risk Department.
Good question, what a snake has got to do with this photo above. Well last night when Matthew and I went to fetch Jade, our new Italian Greyhound puppy. Travelling down this dark country road, I saw the snake too late in the lights of the car and sadly ran over it. I felt the bump as gloom came over Matthew and I. It happened too fast and there was no way to avoid it. About a kilometre further I started to hear a noise from the left rear of the car and started to feel a terrible shudder on the steering wheel. I stopped much later when it was safe to stop, I jumped out and inspected the left rear wheel thinking that it was flat but was relieved that it wasn't. Our destination was only a couple of hundred meters away so we continued but the shuddering and noise got worse. Upon arrival and a clearer inspection under lights I found the right rear wheel flat. My first question was could it have been the snake. Answer? Don't think so but I needed to buy a new tyre this morning. And that my friend is the long and short of it.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Jade, a beautiful Italian Greyhound puppy, into our family. Matthew and Jade are already inseparable.
I was planing to have a photo of a special arrival to the family today but it got delayed at the airport so I've been promised tomorrow.
It's raining, it's pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed and he bumped his head
And couldn't get up in the morning
Oh my word, the new Gilera Corsa GP800 is wicked. If you need one, it would set you back R125k. It is a 850cc 75hp V with a top speed around 188km/h The red scooter next to the white GP800 is the Gilera Nexus 500. Now all we need is the 460cc engine in a Vespa. Scooters are definitely no longer what they used to be.
Doug (shown above) invited a few of us up the Metal Box in Owl Street to take photos of the view. So after an early morning storm, I joined Mark and Doug for a mini photowalk and later we ended up at Salvation Cafe for what must be the best burgers I've ever had this year. None of that processed avocado but real mashed up with the fork avo. Plus fresh ground beef patties and goats milk cheese. Ohh divine, just what the doctor ordered for breakfast. Now where is that Rwandan coffee Doug promised us.
I went to Silo just the other side of Soweto to do my first uMshado wesiZulu. Today's photo is the entertainment for the guests while I had to shoot the formal photos.
Tonight a group of friends decided to go out on the town :-) What fun we had. We started the evening at Debbie's house and from there went to Picolinos. No live music but had a great time just being with friends. Around the witching hour we started craving live entertainment so we all headed to The Corner House to watch the Mark Beling Band into the early hours of the morning. Here is Colleen and Debbie at the start of the evening.
It rained and rain yesterday and all morning with many areas being flooded. Coming back fro Pretoria, Sophia and I had to wade over raging streams which overflowed the roads. One area the water was above the foot well with the drive belt slipping. The rain started to clear round about lunch time, thank goodness because I went to a year end thanksgiving evening with friends and ran would have put a damper on things. Well it looks like we were a clown short of a circus at thanksgiving but don't mind Trevor he only scares little children, not. Todays photo will teach him to pull faces at the camera.
The Rain is relentless which means good Lasagne, wine, DVDs and friends. What more can you ask for?
The Joburg Photowalkers had their year end function at Morning Star where we ooed and aahed over each other's best shots. What a lovely time amongst friends. Seated are Maritha, myself, Colleen, Mo and Jacks. Behind the couch are Matt, Craig, Mark and Darren.
From about eleven o'clock we had no power at work. Well a whole city block was with out power until after three in the afternoon. A very productive day it was, not. Other than putting my feet up relaxing, I went about taking a few portraits. Here is Sibongile from Risk Department.
The Whippet group and the Italian Greyhound group had a meet up at Emmarentia Dam today. At first the Whips out numbered the IGs by 19 to 9 but later the the IGs numbers were bolstered by 8 late arrivals. 19 Whippets and 17 Italian Greyhounds were an awesome sight to see (excuse the pun, a sight hound joke). All the Whips except one stayed on lead while all the IGs except two ran free. I think most of the Whips where show hounds and their owners seldom took them off lead whereas the IGs meet regally in the parks around Joburg. It was awesome to see the IGs running flat out in between the Whips whose owners would stare in dismay and their hounds with envy. Later on four Whips joined the lone Whippet off lead for their first time and it was great to see them stretch their legs. Here is a new friend Ludwig who owns two Whips who dared to go off lead.
We decided to take Matthew's cousins back home to Nelspruit. On the way back we went via Sabie to see my mom. All in all the round trip of over 740km was pleasant except the major thunder storms we had on the way back. Here is the photo of my brother-in-law, Hans to whom we gladly handed back his children.
Today dragged on so slowly that it must win the prize as the longest Friday ever. Anyway I will leave you with the photo of Ntsiki from Human Resources upstairs.
Bambi, no Tembi is the pretty lady working at PRASA Cres Park Station. I was there today to hand them images of the Blue Room and the secret passage. Talk among select staff is what to do about the secret passage. Any ideas?
The way forward in life is looking hard and what is coming strongly up is that I may need to pretend to be what I’m not. Sigh, not easy. In the meanwhile the idea of a Sani pass trip on the Vespa has also raised its head. Sigh, choices. I went with a good friend, Magda, today to Doppio Zero to celebrate her KPA results. I had a lovely roast vegetable salad with haloumi cheese, uhmm.
I was invited to celebrate the arrival of the 81st and last Gautrain rail car at the Midrand Depot. After the speakers and the last rail car arrived with all the fanfare on the back of a flatbed. Later on we all became the first public to ride the Gautrain to the nearly complete Midrand Station. Although we've been so often on the Gautrain, it was like our first time all over. On the 20th of December the train will start running to Pretoria on a number of test runs, which will be just as exciting. Today was a perfect opportunity for Sophia to meet Ms Gautrain 10019, two beautiful creatures meet.
You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day. And that moment came just as I walked in this morning. Mondays. Yes Mondays. Here is a bearded dragon basking in his terrarium at PRO Designs
Family time meant taking Matthew with his two cousins, Danielle and Juan for a picnic to Delta Park.
I lead five other photographers down into the bowls of Park Station to a passage that once linked the Old Concourse, where the Blue Room is, to the platforms. Here we found old advertising posters dating back from the 1950s. We spent over four hours there photographing the posters and even explored different tunnels. What great fun we had. To see more photos of the trip go the my Facebook album "Dark and Secret 1950s".
Since an article appeared in the Mail&Guardian earlier this year the quest has been on to find the secret tunnels lined with advertising posters from the 50s. Well today the quest has ended with me finally finding the posters. A few months back I took a large group down into the Blue Room as part of the Joburg Photowalkers. While the group was in awe of the Blue Room, a small group went searching for the posters. Ever since I've seeking old photographs of Park Station and been coming down every second week to the Blue Room area. That was until I bumped into N*** who started working at Paul Kruger Building on the 4 December 1968. Paul Kruger Building used to be known as the Kremlin and now called Umjantshi House. On talking to him about the posters, he knew exactly where they were. So today the quest ended. Tomorrow the small group of seekers are going down with lights and do a more decent job than my hand held and torch.
Since I just about lost a days work yesterday and a very long meeting that I had double catch up today. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. Caroline came downstairs from the second floor which gave me a reason to take a photo as I didn't find much time to look for other subjects. I heard a bit of good news today but I will wait as it is better to get it on paper first before you jump for joy.
South Africa we can stop HIV and make this place a better place for all colours, race and tribe. Today is International Aids Day and our company decided to make a sports day out of it. Although 4000 staff members were invited only about 1000 turned up. The day started with remembrance of those who have gone before us because of AIDS. The message was that can stop HIV was carried throughout the day. Yes we can.
Arriving into the city centre this morning I found a low cloud rolling in. The mist steadily got thicker and thicker as it pushed towards mid-day. At some point mid morning I could not even see the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus construction yet alone Park Station. The sun got the better of it during the afternoon and it started to clear-up.
Monday Blues. Everywhere around, round me is blue. The clouds are blue. The moon is blue. Blue is the window by which I stand. My heart is blue, so are my thoughts.
Today we held our Italian Greyhound Year End party at the Golden Harvest Park in Randburg. There were 18 IGs, 1 whippet and a number of other dogs at the braai. One dog, Frodo, stood out for me although he wasn't a IG it was because he had the colourings of Nguni cattle and different colour eyes. Nguni cattle are Zulu royal cattle and their markings beautiful.
Joburg Photowalkers did a photowalk into Yeoville. The suburb has changed so much and a new group of people have moved in. The Nigerians, Congolians, Zimbabweans plus many more have taken over. I felt a spirit of heaviness over Yeoville and I did not feel comfortable. It is a complete opposite to the people of Soweto, they were open, friendly and inviting whereas in Yeoville it was closed with suspicion loaming everywhere. But don’t get me wrong there were glimpses of light shining out of this dark place.
I'm trying to keep it all together but things are falling apart quickly on the home front. While back at work things are steadily coming together in regards to the new train driver simulator in Braamfontein. Here is the first part of the simulator which will be ready for use mid December.
With time running out until Christmas, I realized so was my contract. This along with my other home issues put a damper on my mood. Although many promises were made by various decision makers, pen still has to be put to paper. Talking about putting to paper, after my conversation with Magda, I thought that it might be a good idea to write a book about my life to date. Not an autobiography but maybe a frictional book based on my life or part thereof. Not that my life was more interesting than others but someone out there might like reading it. While the dark clouds hang over my head, it is always good to see Sibongile smile even under stress.
It is only 4 weeks to go until Christmas. I am sure I am not the only person who has asked this but where has this year gone to. Next week I have 2 more year end functions then it is verby, klaar gelag.
After yesterday nothing the rest of the week throws at me will matter. Even meetings after meetings on the PRASA ICT merging. Information section met at PRASA CRES today to get a better understanding. Here is Collen and Nkgadi at the said meeting. I must let you know that Nkgadi is buying herself a Honda CBR650. A super chick on a super bike. She is diffidently trying to get there fast where as I on Sophia it is all about the journey.
What a lovely day today turned out to be. Never in my life expected Mondays to be quite so delicious. At about nine this morning Maritha phoned me informing that they had a cancellation of a small Tweatup lunch hosted by Radission Blu and would I be interested to fill the spot at short noticed. No need to ask twice. So there I found myself with my good friend Maritha at the new Radisson Blu Gautrain Hotel in Sandton having lunch with the General Manager Jesper Henriksen, a Gautrain Engineer, Thomas, Jackie and the Sandton Babe. Food was spectacular and so was the company. In the photo is the Vegetable Mille-Feuille ordered by the Sandton Babe and believe me she said it tasted way better than it looked and it looked good. Afterwards Jesper took us to the roof where the trendiest bar in Sandton is situated, the ZAR. This is where that rich dude some weeks ago had sushi served on naked babes. Well it was splashed all over the tabloids and it may have been semi-naked anyway. The bar looked trendy alright but no naked sushi ladies were found although I did find an empty bird cage minus a bird. From there it was coffee at Starbucks, then to the oDD Café and later we ended up at the Bite.
On seeing the number of moustaches sprouting at BBC, I thought I better get mine in order. Movember is a moustache growing charity event which started about seven years ago in Australia and is held each year in November to raise awareness for men's health issues. See Movember website.
Someone once said "At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities". I had lost my enjoyment in life and after visiting with my good friend Zoë, it sort of sneaked up at me. I had set the camera on timer which had a ten next to the clock symbol. Thinking it was for 10 seconds we could not hold it in when the camera started taking 10 shots instead. A good, real, unrestrained, hearty laugh is a sort of glorified internal massage. See my Facebook album 10 second Laughter Therapy for the all the 10 photos in sequence.
It is still raining and I feeling very depressed due to what happened last night. I am coming across as the big bad wolf, enough said about. Tintswalo who always cheers me up came down from Pretoria and surprised me with urgent work
Rain seems to have set in now with no break visible. So far this has been a very wet summer although the rains were long in coming. This has made Uncle Norman edgy and here he can be seen on one of his food raids.
Here is Sophia and Ma Chere meeting at oDD just across the road from Cafe Sofia. Not sure a coincidence.
It has been a busy day with Intersite personnel photos.Touching up, cropping excreta excreta excreta. Pop in to see Robbie in the late afternoon. Here he is in his attempt to grow a mustache for Movember.
Monday and I am back at work in a sore body but not in spirit. I want to be back on Sophia flying on the windy roads around Sabie with my friends. My body is sitting in a meeting all afternoon at PRASA discussing the ICT Integration with the other business units next to Etienne from Autopax (shown above) while in my heart, Sophia is parked next to Ma Chere and we are talking late into the night.
After breakfast we started our long way back up to Johannesburg. At long Tom Pass we hit thick mist all the way to Belfast with a small break at Lydenburg. At Middleburg a major rain storm broke and it was slow going. Once passed Witbank the weather cleared up considerably and it was a simple cruise back home. Because of the weather I didn't take many photos but you can view what I did take at Mille Day Four on Facebook.
Day Two of our road trip saw us leaving early for Hazyview in the mist as we had to be at the Skyway Trails by 8am. BUT Bumblebee could not go any farther and threw the towel in few kilometers outside Sabie. It looked like a circuit board that regulates the fuel injection was fried. Vespa South Africa who supposed to go with us as the organizers and marketers of the Mille pulled out in the last weeks leading up to the event stating too few numbers to justify them sending a service van and a mechanic along. They went on to say that if we did have a problem they would send the service van out. But Vespa South Africa went back on their word and would not sent a mechanic out to help us. Luckily Stafford had AA and they put him up in an lodge back at Sabie and sent out their breakdown van the next day. The vibe against Vespa South Africa wasn't pleasant after that incident. Anyway we headed to Hazyview a bit later without Stafford to do the Skywail Trail and book into Gecko Lodge. We had a wonderful time swinging from tree to tree with Nozipho and Richard as our guides. In the canopies it was hot and humid but it didn't phase us as we were enjoying ourselves. Afterwards the depleted team visited Pilgrims Rest while I headed for Hendriksdal to visit my folks. For more Photos see Mille Day Three on Facebook.
After breakfast we headed out to the Amarula Factory outside Phalaborwa and enjoyed ourselves to lots of Amarula. "Now now Magda, we know you like Amarula but we have a long way still to go." Afterwards we headed for Hoedspruit and the Endangered Animal Rehabilitation Center. It was great to see the cheetahs up close. It turned out to be a very very hot day and only cooled off once we got into the mountains. Stopping only at the Brurkes Luck Potholes we made for Sabie getting there just before dark. Sophia enjoyed herself along the windy mountain roads stretching her legs and showing a clean pair of heals to the bigger Vespas. For more photos see Mille Day Two on Facebook.