Stuck in Soweto

Gary and I with our sons, Brandon and Matthew, spent the day in Soweto playing Ingress and at the same time teaching our children the Freedom Charter. We started our Soweto Ingress at Orlando Towers which are just inside Soweto and where all the action takes place, such as bungee jumping and free falling. From here we popped into Maponya Mall for suggesting some portals before heading for Freedom Square in Kliptown.

Many portals were sent to Google for approval while we were in Kliptown. From here we headed for Vilikazi Street but via Regina Mundi church, the queen church of Soweto. Numerous portals in Soweto fell to the Resistance today.

Just as we were leaving Soweto, we stopped in at Soccer City for a few more portals but that is where calamity befell us. Somehow we locked the keys inside the car. Oh no.

Agelastic

Ahhh, a new word for today, agelastic, which is a rare Greek derived word because people affected by this agelast condition eventually find the humour in the world around them :-( Me on the other hand tend to err on the side of gelastic not quite hyper but nearly there. By a strange condition I bumped into Marco having his haircut. He was trying not to smile as I snapped away. Don't panic. So long and thanks for all the fish.

Bring a Boy Child to Work Day

Well not quite bring a boy child to work day but Matthew spent most of the day with me at work today. Well that was after meeting Carol at the Home Affairs so that I can sign the paperwork for Matthew's passport.

Although the afternoon slowly dragged on, Matthew kept himself busy with books, comics, PSP, and some Ingress. But once finally home, it was feet up and relax.

Squinting

Another day and Friday is ever closer but the day isn't over until the work is all done. Here is Richard, battling with his Samsung laptop instead of using the way much larger Dell XPS One with its 27 inch screen. Woza Friday! Woza Weekend!

Steers

Not wanting to cook, tonight became Steers night so on the way home, I made a pit stop for fuel and burgers. Let's just hope that I get a better night's sleep than the last few nights.

Maaitjies

It is only Tuesday and I can't stop yawning all day. Even my boss noticed and asked if I am getting enough sleep but then he released what he asked and retracted his question :-) Anyway in the daze of the day, Delia made me smile with her finger friends hugging, maaitjies forever.

Mandela Vultures

With news coming in that Nelson Mandela's health has turned from serious to critical, the media vultures are starting to circle. Up the road from our offices in Houghton is Nelson's house and although he is in hospital in Pretoria, the sidewalk camping media contingent has doubled.

I am worried that when Nelson finally crosses over, the democratic anchor will no longer keep South Africa secure and we will drift away from what Madiba fought for.

Birthday Girl

Craig arranged a surprise birthday party for Anel at the Rivonia Barnyard Theatre. So all Anel's friends gathered at the theatre for the 80s vs 90s musical show and of course for Anel to arrive, not knowing that we would all be there. Surprise!

Furries are Back in Town

I had to look more than twice just to get my mind round that a furry has just driven into town. I would expect fur on the dashboard in the East or West Rand but to have the whole car covered in a shaggy carpet was not normally seen anywhere. I was not sure if was a shaggy carpet or some type of plant matter growing on the car but the fuel consumption must be extremely high. The lady driving was so engrossed with her tunes on her phone that she was so oblivious to all the stares and laughter that she left in her wake. Warning the furries are back in town.

Boere Vryheid

A number of times, driving through Cosmo City, a cosmopolitan mix mash residential suburb of low and medium cost popcorn houses, I saw a little white washed church standing out. Popcorn, well just my name for these type of matchbox size houses that spring up like popcorn. What made me stop this time was as I was riding by Vespa past, this a medi-vac helicopter started landing at the clinic just in front of the church. This got my attention so I turned off not expecting to find the resting place of one of the leaders in the struggle for Boere freedom.

This little white church seems like an old farm church which is now misplaced among all these houses instead of a veld. The church is not dated but there is a grave stone for a Sussie van Tonder and memorial wall for Robert Spiller van Tonder next to the little white church.

Sussie van Tonder Gebore Magdalena Johanna Steyn 15 Mei 1928 - 14 Maart 1973
Eggenote van Robert, en moeder van Hans, Thomas, Elna, Robert Jnr, Adriaan en Dirk.
Ere-sekretaresse van die dorpsraad aksiekomitee wat gedurende 1956-1959 die nuwe dorp Randburg tot stand gebring het.

Ons hulde aan entrepeneur, skrywer, digter, vader, oupa, eggenoot, geliefde volksleier oom Robert 6 Oktober 1923 – 4 Augustus 1999 Robert Spiller van Tonder

Agter kleinseun van prof. Dirk Postma, stigter van die Gereformeerde kerk in Suid Afrika. Seun en kleinseun van Boere-vryheidsvegter wat het in die Engelse Oorlog 1899 - 1902. Sy verbete stryd vir die handhawing van Afrikaans besorg hom die ere-titel "Taalbul van Tonder" Stigterslid van die HNP. Sy filosofie is opgesluit in volkskap en die verskyning van sy boek "Boerestaat" (1977) bevestig sy status as die vader van die Boerestaat filosofie nl. "Die herstel van die eertydse Boere Republieke van Transvaal Vrystaat en Vryheid in 'n modern Boerestaat". Stigter en leier van die Boerestaat party. Stigter van die dorp Randburg (1959). Gewaardeerde eggenoot van Sussie Steyn (1951 - 1973) en Louisa Richter (1981 - 1999). Geliefde vader van Hans, Thomas, Elna, Alet, Robert, Addriaan en Dirk. Oupa van 17 kleinkinders.

Vryheid aan alle volke - ook aan die boerevolk! Die stryd duur voort...

How ironic it is that here a small white church build by a leader of the Boerevolk, calling for their independence, is now surrounded by a sea of low and medium cost houses inhabited mainly by black African people.

But the irony didn't stop there as Richard van Tonder according to the memorial was a hero in terms of uplifting the Boere language, Afrikaans and when exploring the little white church I found a Zulu by the name of Bongani who gave me insight to what was now. The little white church is not used anymore for church services as they have a more modern building next door. The little white church is used for computer education and Bongani teaches here. When Bongani heard that I was a developer he was keen to show me what he has developed.

Wait for it, Bonagni has developed a multimedia programme to help children with reading Afrikaans. Yes here is a Zulu teaching the Boere language at a little white church in a middle of a black city. I am sure Robert van Tonder would be proud.

Porsche Raises the Flag

Soon after sunrise, Porsche steps out from her warm office to raise the South African flag outside the South African Military Museum. Why was I there? Ingress is the only answer I am going give, oh and my name and serial number.

All you need to know is that the Shapers are not invading; they are already here among us and the Enlightened are collaborating with them. It is not an invasion we fighting but an occupation and we, the Resistance, are leading the Revolution. So stand tall as Porsche raises the flag.

Hell and Heaven

Oh I give my kingdom for some clean fresh air. Last night was like in hell. When I arrived home last night there was a veld fire on the property next door. The flames were not that high but the smoke was another story. The smouldering fire continued pumping out smoke throughout the night and the inversion layer did not help as it trapped the now polluted air low.

I could not keep the smoke out of my cottage which made sleeping impossible. As I nodded off, I would wake up startled as the thought crossed my mind that I would not wake up. So all I could do was lay awake slowly getting smoked while I wondered when and how they would find my body. Even the lions across the valley were also very vocal in their protest about the smoke.

It was after 5am in the morning when I sent a message to my line manager, letting her know that I would not be able to make it to work later. It was 7ish when I finally fell asleep. Four hours later I awoke with a headache, red eyes, and a hoarse throat. I present to you a thoroughly smoked Jerome.

Ahh last night was like hell to me, so how does the cupcake and heaven come into the story. Well after phoning the office, I needed to recover. The veld next door was still smoking but the wind was blowing it away from my cottage. So the air was much better to breathe. Mid afternoon after consuming enough pills I decided to take a ride on my Vespa into the countryside, away from pollution and smoke of the city. On a bike with the fresh clean air in your face was heaven after last night.

I stopped at my friend's art studio where I found her busy giving art classes. So I sat in the tea garden with some coffee and cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes but peppermint crisp cupcakes. And not to forget in the clean country air, now breathe deep and have another cupcake. Oh and heaven is going to be much better than this.

Paraplegic

The National Film and Video Foundation is busy installing a paraplegic lift to take any wheelchair bound visitors from the foyer up to the first floor. I suppose this should have been done ages ago but rather now than never. With all the banging going on it is difficult to think. Let us hope it doesn't take much longer.

Lynda

After a slow morning of not wanting to get out of bed on this cold public holiday, I finally crawled out and enjoyed the weak but warm sun. Yes the out in the sun was the perfect idea so in the afternoon I took Lynda to the Botanical Gardens at Emmerentia to enjoy the beauty and the sun. Oh yes I must confess I sort of had ulterior motives as there are a number of Ingress portals at Emmerentia.

Braai at Craigs

Today was a mixed up day, Father's Day and Youth Day all mixed into one. Now who gets breakfast in bed? At least I started the day with chocolate in bed. Thanks Matt.

Late afternoon into the evening it was a braai at Craig's place, and with Craig and Anel as hosts, we had a wonderful time. Good wine, good food and good friends, perfect.

Coffee up Close

This morning was a bit of housekeeping duties to take care of but once that was out of the way it was off to the bioscope to watch Kahn make his return, oops spoiler. No wrath please, honest mistake. Anyway since I am on the subject of stars, let me ingress a little, there is not a Shaper invasion, but they already here, it is an occupation. We are not fighting an alien invasion, we are leading a revolution.

And with that profound insight, I will leave you with a photograph of my not so gold goldfish, Coffee. Confused? Well so am I.

Happy Birthday

Today's photo is of the three birthday people, from left to right is Louise, me self and peeping from out of the back, Jarrod. Happy Birthday peoples.

And before I lay my head down to sleep, the Resistance gave me the last present of the day, a 16 million MU field by linking Polokwane, Cape Town and Durban. This may be a world record in the biggest field yet in the augmented reality world of Ingress. It also may be a first ever field to cover an entire country, all be it the small one of Lesotho. Run toadies run, the future is blue.

Martijn

Today was an action filled Ingress day, even though I was tied to the desk. Firstly I had planned to meet up with Martijn at Rosebank to do a walk through on Ingress. But just before I left for Rosebank, a large contingent of high level lizards, Enlightened layers, started assembling at Revonia to take our portals there away from us. Training was more important, so here is Martijn during our training session.

By the time I had returned from the training run, Revonia had fallen into enemy hands. Soon afterwards a plan was hatched to put a spanner in their hard work and simply take Revonia back. So after work, the Resistance with only half the numbers that the Enlightened used took Rivonia back. I must say it was easier than I expected. Oh yes it felt good.

Coffee Chill

Brrrrr, there is a sharp bite in the air. Winter is here! To try warm myself up from the chill I started drinking copious amounts of coffee in the form of Nespresso. It brings the celebrity out of you.

Turkey Bowl

Tuesday evenings mean home circle, where a group of Christians, from our local church, BBC, get together in a home for fellowship. Our homies meet at the home of Andy and Sandy. And this is where today's photo was taken. It is a bowl bought in Turkey that is so beautiful that I just had to take a photo of it.

The Fruit Seller

As the world woke up for work this Monday, they collectively held their breaths waiting for fresh news of our ailing Nelson Mandela. Tata's health took a turn for the worse this weekend and is in serious condition in a Pretoria hospital.

This winter's morning was bitterly cold but this didn't stop the journalists and TV crews from camping outside the hospital and Nelson's home in Houghton. As I arrived in Houghton, I found news people set up in the street around the house. They were trying to keep warm by hogging the weak rays of the morning sun. I had to nudge them aside just to get to work. For us locals, although we are concerned for Tata's health, it is life as usual as he is an old man and we feel they should let him be. Here is one local, doing a much better job than the journalists and TV crews in keeping warm while selling her fruit to the passerbys rushing on their way to work.

Kissing at Church

A loving moment, not matter where you are, even over the hot chocolate booth at church is perfect. Here is Chris, our Youth Pastor, and his wife Tami sharing a moment at BBC this morning while I was manning the lower door. It may have been nice and hot in church but outside an icy cold front started to blow over. Okay I know the cold front is making it very cold outside but I rather think that the world would prefer to be kissing in the back row of the movies than kissing in church. Yes people church is hot.

Beautiful Boitumelo

In the middle of Hillbrow, at the Lutheran Church, is the oasis of the Boitumelo Sewing Project. This lighthouse in the middle of poverty is a creative community project that just blows you away. With the poverty, high crime, domestic abuse, drugs, HIV/AIDS, refugees, and prostitution, here was a safe place where these women and men are skilling up to make beautiful by stitching lives back together.

A Fish called Coffee

It is Friday and after work I bounced into my cottage with my dogs all ecstatic to see me, the cats all in a tizz as to what has just blown in and the fish, well the fish. We have a fish, a goldfish called Coffee that is well not quite gold but more like red and white, not to mention who lives in a coffee percolator. Now I remember the preposterous story of another goldfish called Gustav who came with a warning "Just feed him a spot. If you feed him a lot then something might happen! It's hard to say what." Oh he is in there somewhere. Yes I think it is time to change Coffee's water.

Coffee is just right for his home and I dare not feed him too much. As one of my favourite authors once wrote, why fit in when you were born to stand out.

Tata

Around the corner from our offices there are always police and military cars parked outside, not to mention a few TV crews camped outside. Yes Tata, or Nelson Mandela has not been well in the recent years as he is getting on in the years.

I took this photo outside his home, with all the stones painted with well wishes. Well I needed a photograph for today and this one is good enough. Anyway on the side, I learnt an interesting new saying today "Using utensils to eat is like making love through an interpreter". I was floored by this saying that I had to chew it over again to get all the nuances.

Cat in the Hat

There are gajillions of stories of mischief and fun, but to keep things simple, let's start with just one, a cat called Litha. You may not pronounce it Litre, or oddly enough Liter but that's why Litha will do nicely, thank you.

There's no doubt, about Litha in the hat, just don't mess with the cat.

Say Cheese

This evening I went on an Ingress mission to take out one enlightened portal which had a link that was blocking our plans. And because of the changes to the game rules which make it very costly to attack, I had to attack the portal in two waves. With my XM sitting at 6,000 I had weakened the portal quite a bit before running out of XM. (Unless you play Ingress, I am afraid I have just lost you). It is time you choose sides in one of the largest augmented reality games that is played globally.

So the plan was to have supper at one of the nearest fast food restaurants while the XM recharges and there was not much to choose from close by so I settled for KFC. While walking to my table I saw Vingisani, a KFC Team Member, at the back doing the tedious task of separating the cheese. Say Cheese!

After dinner it was time to finish off the pesky portal with a few rounds from my XMP burster. KFC So Good. Then I spent the rest of the evening restocking from portal farms.

Welcome Kisses

Ahhh it is nice to come home and find the dogs all excited just to see me walk through that door. Home coming like this makes Mondays all worth it. Here is Jade and Skye showering Lynda with kisses meant for me. Traitors!

Jasmyn Windmill

Today was just the perfect day to ride into the countryside on a Vespa. Off Lynda and I went at a leisurely paste and it wasn't long when we arrived at Jasmyn Windmill, There was a small farmer's market on the go so we wondered through the stalls with the smells of moerkoffie lofting through the air.

Later we visited Hartes Cableway for a trip up to the top of the Magaliesburg. Here we relaxed at the top enjoying the views. We finished the afternoon off by riding over the dam wall to a bikers dive for a late lunch before heading back to Johannesburg.

Soweto Expedition

Soweto has been by enlarge ignored buy Niantic Ingress but today the Resistance to on an expedition into Soweto to paint it blue. This is a first for Ingress, and thanks to Craig, Gary, Justin, Pierre and myself. After a morning in Soweto it was off to the Witwatersrand University to put up a large number of Level 8 portals.

Here is a photo taken at Soccer City, our gateway into Soweto.