Little Soldier Boy

I remember when I was younger I used to play with a bunch of these, putting them in a formation against each other and played out a battle in my head. It seems kind of weird and a bit morbid having children imagine people killing each other in a battle, but I guess that was a different time. This little guy was found lying on the tv table, an old relic from the past.

Seeing him now reminded me of a short song from a cartoon I watched when I was younger. Avatar: The Last Airbender, was aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008 covering 3 seasons. The show, throughout its runtime, explored adult themes such as death, love, war, and more. It was a show that taught life lessons, but still appealed to its younger audience. The short poem like song, Leaves From the Vine, is about in the perspective of a father whos son died in a war.

Leaves from the vine

Falling so slow

Like fragile tiny shells

Drifting in the foam

Little soldier boy

Come marching home

Brave soldier boy

Comes marching home

Friend of Piglet

 

In our lounge on the other couch that we seldom sit on are quite a few stuffed bears and a piglet too. "The things that make me different are the things that make me me" - Piglet. Yip that is so true, we all different in many ways and you can't simply put me in a box.

Siwelele sa Masele

So this morning I was dragging my feet on my way to my job for the day as it was going to be a quiet next 2 days between the busy weekends. Along my route I saw this green toy bus that was parked next to the walkway.

It was a Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club bus with the name Siwelele sa Masele. It reminded me of those wire cars that we had as kids but this was a more fancier version. I asked the chap selling them, and yes he made the bus and the assortment of other models on display. He said his name was Seun but I am sure his name must be Siwelele as it was proudly displayed on the side of the bus.

Youth Development Ferrari

Sitting on Johan’s desk is this wire frame rendition of a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, or close near there. It was made by one of the youngsters being held at one of the Youth Development Centres. These secure centres were established to house children who found themselves in conflict with the law.

Great is the Need for Speed in the youth of today, hmmmm. Why am I speaking like Yoda, well it is Star Wars Day being the 4th of May. And here I find myself back at work in the rush of it all in front of this wire model of a Ferrari. Now where did I leave my light sabre? May the 4th be with you!

Orthopaedic Disarray

This afternoon Lynda had to go and get her shoulder checked out by the orthopaedic surgeon to see if her collar bone was healing correctly. Sadly like many doctors, he had no respect for his patient's time and had one of the worse time keeping I have ever seen. Just under two hours of waiting past the scheduled appointment was not a pretty sight. This one man sitting next to me fell asleep, along with his heavy breathing came what sounded like grunts and what could be called snores.

There was these box of toys in the waiting room, which put a new meaning of throwing my toys out of the cot. This orthopaedic surgeon is out of medical aid rates which means he can charge whatever he wants but that doesn't mean he has the right to keep us waiting till the cows come home, like forever. I believe that there must be a way to penalise the doctors were it hurts, their pockets for wasting patient’s valuable time over their bad time keeping.

Vespas and Landrovers

We arrived at the Piston Ring monthly car enthusiast meet up at Modderfontein on what turned out to be a beautiful day. This may be the last one this year, until 2014, so I had to start looking for Christmas ideas. Among the thirsty American V8s, frugal Continentals and stiff upper lip British vehicles, we found these metal toys especially this Vespa P200E and yellow Landrover Series 1.

Pink Thingy

Friday at last. It has been the first normal week this month after many short weeks due to the public holidays and it is good to see the back of it. This weekend's agenda seems full but I had this evenings appointment with the breeder cancelled as he had his cell phone stolen from work and I could not phone him before going over to get one of my dogs vaccinations. I just got off the phone with him and played an order for rabies and de worming for all my dogs to be done on Sunday afternoon.

So it turns out that it is Friday alone at home. The quiet before the storm. Enjoy your weekend everyone as I leave you with a photo of the pink thingy toy whatever it is that sits on top of one of my portable drives.

Dog Treat Ball

Since my dogs are all alone at home while I am at work, I have made sure that every month I buy a new toy to add to their now growing collection of dog toys. These toys are supposed to keep them from getting bored. What also helps is the activity that happens every so often on the plot, for example one of the labourers walks past the cottage or washes up just outside and my pack get all excited running up and down the cottage's wooden fence. Sam, my animal behaviorist friend after watching my pack get all excited when the gardener walked past said that it has become a game to my pack. But I know that they get great joy hearing me on my Vespa coming up the road as I see them run up the stairs to see if it is me then rush back down towards the gate waiting expectantly.

This dog ball which I purchased last month is great, Skye, my Whippet puppy, loves chasing and bringing it back to me while my three Italian Greyhounds ignore it unless I put a treat inside, then they won’t share it at all.

In the Fishbowl

Meetings upon meetings on how we are going to fit into the new business unit of PRASA ICT are being held in the Fishbowl. Here is the Back-End stream sitting the whole afternoon. Not a pleasant sight. Oh dear, it's our turn tomorrow.

Negotiations

We are still waiting for us to have a one on one with Human Resources but it has to happen soon. Here is Toys and Norman negotiating on the Metro way.

Toys at work

We not all play here at Metrorail; we also do some serious work as you can see by Toys' staid look as he is distracted by me.

Toys

It is Friday again and I am finally looking forward to a weekend this year. Here is Metrorail’s LAN Administrator, Toys being industrious on a Friday.

Groot Krokodil

Just like the Big Crocodile, Toys is seen here wagging his finger while talking to another Metrorail user over the phone.

Toys and Offspring

After a good relaxing weekend, I found myself back at Metrorail. The day just dragged on and on and on. You know when you get a song in your head that just stays there, well I had the tune of “Why don’t you get a job” by Offspring banging through my head all day. At least I have this blog to come back to. Here is a photo of Toys, a colleague who works at Metrorail. I still need to ask him about his out of the ordinary name, I will come back to you when I do.