Soaking Rain

So here I am, down with man flu and the weather outside is making me long for my bed but work has to be done. The weather down in Cape Town must have heard me moaning about it and decided to come up to Johannesburg just to let me know that it is missing me. With the rain set in there is not much else to do other than work or sleep and this flu bug that I have is forcing the latter.

Oh look Jane, our office cleaner, just popped into the office from the soaking rain all dressed up in makeshift plastic rain wear. It must be wet outside, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz back to my pillow.

Cleaning Windows

A friend of mine who works in Dubai recently posted photos on her Facebook page of window cleaners suspended outside high rise buildings cleaning windows. I have heard the horror stories from the dark side of Dubai.

I am not taking about the Emiratis who rule like the slave masters of the past nor am I talking about the Expats like my friend and many others from the Western world now working in Dubai but about the unscrupulous side that enslave migrant workers as cheap labour. The Middle Eastern Shangri-la rose up out of the tumbleweeds and desert sands but behind the façade, hidden from view are the down trodden worker bees who built the city like the window cleaners in the photos of my friend.

Oh no I am procrastinating as I sit in my office, watching Jane, clean my office windows while my thoughts drift to those window cleaners in Dubai. Oh well my windows are nice and clean now so back to work I go.

Jane without her Tarzans

Woza Friday, Woza Weekend, is all I can say about today. Yes it is Friday once again and here is Jane cleaning our offices at Bosasa. You know what is like for there to be only to be Tarzans in the office because all the ladies have taken leave. Well Jane is making sure that it remains clean and that we behave.

Leigh’s Farewell

I spent the day at Metrorail looking forward for evening as it was Home Cell. We had a farewell dinner for Leigh. She is one of the world’s top research scientists in the HIV/Aids and Malaria fields and is leaving South Africa for a job in Sweden. This is a big lost for South Africa but she is a good friend and I wish her all the best in the land of the giants. In the photo is Francis, Leigh, Jane and Karin.

Haggadah

The paving that we ordered on Saturday arrived. Now we have to prepare the side but this has to wait as there is a long weekend coming up. This evening we celebrated the first dinner of the Passover where the Haggadah is performed. The Haggadah is Hebrew for the telling. We did a Christian form of the Haggadah in preparations for this weekend’s celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In the photo are Jane, Zahava and Natalie preparing the table for the Haggadah.
For more information about this evening read my post on This is the BBC.