Just 9km

 

I was so happy this morning, setting out on my Vespa when just 9km later it just said "how's your father"and cut out, refusing to start again. I called Dale to come pick me up and to drop the Vespa off at  the mechanic once again. At first we suspected that the fixed injector was still causing problems but it turns out that the lead cable to the spark plug had melted on the hot manifold.

Eish when is this going to end?

Hate this Traffic

 

When you see the gap then remember that you're not on the bike. Yes I hate this traffic but thank goodness I still have my pickup to fall back on. My Vespa's injector has been fixed last week but now it needs a new rear tyre, so here I am stuck in traffic once again.

Overheating Rain

 

After the heat wave of last week, rain has set in. Rain is an awesome sight but along with the rain comes the traffic snarl ups. My Vespa still has not been fixed and I am still using my pickup which is starting to show here age, 20 years, after 2 months of daily runs to work and back. One of the problems is that she is starting to overheat while sitting in traffic jams.  Oh poor old girl.

Back in the Cage

 

My Vespa started playing funny buggers today by missing indiscriminately. It is due for a service plus the exhaust needs to be fix so I limped it to the mechanic after work yesterday. And now I am back in the cage for the long early morning drive to work. Already I miss the Vespa.

Big City Glow

 

I haven't quite gotten over my early starts in the morning and here I am riding my Vespa at the crack of dawn into the city. This morning the sun was causing the big city to have this orange glow as it started to peak over the horizon.  

Sunrise to Work

 

Now that I have being using my pickup to work and back while my Vespa is in the shop, I have been sitting in traffic. Urgh who likes traffic, especially not me? 

I have to keep myself busy while sitting in the cage on the highway. It is still dark when I set out for work and along the way the sun decides to grace us with his presence and by the time I arrive home it is dark yet again. Oh the joys of working. 

Caged Sun

 

I think I have gotten so spoilt riding to work on my Vespa that this week sitting in my pickup cage during morning and afternoon rush hour traffic has been a test on my patience. Really no wonder bikers call cars cages, as I feel like a caged wild animal biting the bit.

Breathe in...

Breathe out...

Oh look it is the sun setting.

Better Traffic

Ahhh, now this is what morning traffic to work should be like everyday. With yesterday's public holiday and the school holidays on the go, the traffic this morning was a pleasure. Like Wednesday, half of today had to written off due to the rolling blackouts. For us workers, it was a lovely start to the weekend.

Sunworx's Bosasa Link

So while sitting in traffic as one does in rush hour, I noticed that the vehicle in front of me belonged to Sun Worx Holdings aka Sunworx Solar. This was strange because I was under the impression that they were a subsidiary of Bosasa. From all the press lately we know that Bosasa is under liquidation yet here was one of their vehicles, now I am unsure.

The reason for my thinking that Sunworx was a subsidiary of Bosasa was that the director of Sunworx Solar is Roth Watson, the son of Gavin Watson who is the CEO of African Global Operations previously known as Bosasa. And plus the fact that Papa Leshabane, Thandi Makoko, and Jackie Leyds who are all directors at Bosasa were also Sunworx's advisory board members, according to archive web records.  I remember earlier in the year that I was retrenched from Bosasa, I was tasked with cleaning up all the references of Bosasa and Sondolo IT off the Sunworx Solar website. Sondolo who was also a Bosasa subsidiary, helped Sunworx with the labour on all their big installations such on the top of the roof of Standard Bank CVOP and at PRASA's train workshop in Braamfontein.

Interesting that now all references to any links between Sunworx and Bosasa are gone from the interwebs, well not all. I found references on a site called Exon Consulting which is in itself strange and also on Sunworx's own website in archives. 

Sunrise Jam

This can't go on like this, I am going crack anytime soon. These early morning sitting in rush hour traffic jam is no joke. Breathe in. Breathe out. There you go, enjoy the sunrise without the smell of surf. If only I was sitting on a tropical beach this very minute watch the sun peer over the horizon, if only.

BMW Miracle

My f*k, Marelize, a BMW miracle rose from the dead in front of me. While driving to work a BMW actually used it's indicators and changed lanes. Wow, even though the morning skies looked blue, surely today it is going to snow. 

This week South Africa has been awash with the raising of the dead to poor Marelize riding her bicycle into the only rugby pole on the field. The zombie apocalypse has turned into a South African challenge with some strange videos  now popping up everywhere. And now we have a zombie like Marelize who, well keeps falling down or as the viral video shows riding into things that are well easy to miss. At least it takes away from the seriousness of reality as the Bosasa saga fades a bit. 

Thank goodness for these Friday miracles, as we can now start the weekend on a positive note. Just think a BMW does have indicators. 

Stuck in the Twilight Zone

This is defiantly not what the doctor has ordered, this traffic. Yesterday when I stopped for fuel on my Vespa, the Baroness decided today was the day to throw her toys out of the cot. She simply refused to start. So here I find myself, stuck in the twilight zone, in my pickup with the Vespa on the back.

Oh come on, just move already. These early starts also does not help.

Last Night's Crash

It all started with a phone call from Andreas, since its the holidays the RNW is asking for patrollers to help out with traffic control. Seven hours later here we were still directing traffic.

A truck carrying wine was coming down Doreen Road and its breaks failed. At the first set of traffic lights at the bottom of the hill the truck collided into a BMW and Mercedes, pushing the Mercedes over 50m past the lights before rolling on its side trapping the driver of the Mercedes. Not to mention that the truck went over an electrical box which caused extra problems. 

Matthew and I crawled back home after 3am this morning, duty done. 

Wet Wet Wet

Thank goodness I saw the weather report this morning and decided to drive instead of ride to work. It looked like it would be a wonderful clear day but by the afternoon the clouds had closed up and the weather started to look rather ominous. By the time I left for my journey home the heavens opened up and it took me 3 hours to drive home. By this time I was wishing I was on my Vespa as I would be home by now.

Back to Rush Hours

Wow, I need to get back into things again such as rush hour traffic. Thank goodness I have a Vespa, as chaos erupts due to a back log on Wilgerood. Vespa be nimble, Vespa be quick, see all you suckers on the other side.

Traffic Eejets

We all have to wait in the traffic, yet there are some eejets who simply cannot obey the law. This eejet along with the local taxis think that they are better than everyone else, that the traffic laws don't apply to them.

Breathe in, Jerome, Breathe out. Two days ago I was nearly taken out by a clap out pickup jumping a red traffic light, just because it was red doesn't apply to him, and all his passengers sitting in the bin who all would have died if I had being just a half a meter forward. 

Breathe in, breathe out. Well thankfully I am not always in this type of rush hour traffic.

Belgium Campus

Matthew has his heart set on going to the Belgium Campus ITVersity in Pretoria. He has applied and has being accepted from his Grade 11 marks but has to be ratified with his final exam marks which he has to write soon.

It was one of their Open Days and Lynda and I trekked up to Pretoria to visit this IT research focused university or ITVersity as they like to call it. The Belgium Campus is something like MIT or Caltech but on a much smaller scale.

On the way across the boerewors curtain we had to go through this tunnel and I just had to shake my head. What is with this you have to hoot or roll down the windows and howl? Ah hooooooooooooo!!!! Is it like some type of primeval instinct similar to the gathering around a fire pit. To me I think it must be a hankering memory of the birthing experience that the caveman and cavewomen still clutch onto. A save place in the womb and then this must be the light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s hope that the light is not a train, Wooooot Hoot!

Prescribed Weekend

It is a misty start to my Friday, the last day of the week before the weekend kicks in followed by some well deserved leave. It was a tough few weeks but here I am at the start of some R&R and I wake up with the mist right up to my porch.

By the time I got onto the highway to work, the sun was piercing through the mist, making it glow orange me squint my eyes just to get going. Oh and note to self, time for some prescription sunglasses.

Road Works and Accidents

Rush hour has been not too shabby for me as I am traveling against the flow of the rat race traffic but add some road works, a sprinkling of rain with a dash mad hatter taxi drivers who don’t care for the lives of their paying customers nor for the lives of other road users, and you have stand still traffic.

Informal taxis are synonymous with traffic accidents, and this evening on the way home which normally is a half hour affair, turn out to be nearly an hour and a half which as you can imagine would stress anyone out. Okay, okay there are some of my readers who sit in rush hour traffic for over two hours one way daily. Now that would not keep me sane.

Cattle Jam

It has been over a month now and my poor Vespa is still in the shop. Last I heard was a week ago was that they are still waiting for parts.

Oh dear so now I get stuck in traffic jams on the way to work, well this morning it was cattle and I was jammed in the middle. The closest I can get to a Vespa is the model on top of a computer on my office side desk.