The Anti-Privatization Forum decided to start marching to the municipal buildings demanding 50 liters of water free per month per household. Well it is not an unreasonable request. It works out to about a liter and a half of drinking water per family a day. Only a small group of protesters turned out due to the rainy weather.
Even the RCC department is not too sure what their abbreviation means. Something like the Regional Computer Centre. It is the old name for IT before it became vogue. So why do we have a separate RCC and ICT departments in Metrorail? Greg is scratching his head while Mario just shrugs his shoulders.
Yes I wonder if ever Grant and Saskia will ever hit it off. Grant came back from Zambia this week and it looks like they both happy. Come on Grant make your move. Back at home the family came round for a braai and spend time with Matthew.
Matthew had some friends over to spend the day with him because he turned double digits on Tuesday past. He even baked his own birthday cake and while he was away with his friends at the movies I decorated it with his favourite fruit, strawberries.
This week has been rather very busy with me jumping between Metrorail, Cyberkinetics, Flex Group, Zero27, Dave Baker and home. Matthew had his 10th birthday on Tuesday and this weekend it is party time. Here is a photo of Leon plugging away at his databases and cubes before the weekend gets earnestly underway.
I am continuing here at Metrorail with an unknown future. I don’t think Keba is enjoying Metrorail as she has had some personality clashes.
Hey David, if you’re reading this, then congratulations that Di is pregnant. Remember if it is a boy, name him after me. With that surprised look on your face, it is hard to tell what you thinking but I know Di is ecstatic. Back at the ranch I’m sure you are too. We should all shout “Yes he can!”
Oh get over it. José just likes to pose for the camera. He says if I upload this photo of him shopping around for something to drink at the bakery in Park Station, he will kill me. Nah I don’t think so.
Arriving at Metrorail this morning, I found some staff members protesting at the gate for some reason. I heard that they wanted a station master to be re-called. What’s this re-calling nonsense that started when the ANC re-called the president of the country? Why don’t they just call a spade a spade? Re-calling is just a stupid way of saying “You’re Fired!” Today’s photo is of Daniel from the Finance Department meeting with Thoko.
With just over a month to go, Angie needs to sit down. Gary is always doting at her side. With my diet doing well, I must say the Angie is now officially bigger than me.
Ah, I have not seen Maurizo for a long time. He has been away for a while. He joined us at BBC to have a Men’s Breakfast. It was good to sit down and chat with him over a scrumptious breakfast. Behind him to the left are Trevor, the back of John and Gary with his “What a Potjie” t-shirt. On the right, I am not sure who the person with his back to me is except for Jason on the far right.
Outside Metrorail is a long distance taxi rank catering for those who are bound for Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Zambia. Amongst them are entrepreneurs like this one who is selling coffee and Milo to the drivers and their passengers. Commuters off the trains are bonus customers.
Ahh, after that wonderful soaking rain last night, Johannesburg looks clean and fresh. While driving to Metrorail this morning, the sun was rising, sky blue, air smells fresh, mist was swirling around in the valleys, trees were plush green, birds singing and no traffic jams. What more could a boy ask while driving to work?
Two of my other clients phoned yesterday with problems. One had a computer not starting and the other had numerous SQL injection attacks on his client’s website and wanted me to fix. The first one had a power spike and it may have damaged the memory on the motherboard. Here Leon and José putting their heads together, trying to get the computer to work. On top of this I signed up another client today. Well all in a days work.
I am busy getting through my Metrorail work at a steady pace. The deadlines all look like they will be met. During lunch time I took a walk to Park Station and found this unusual cake sitting in the bakery window.
Today I started the daunting workload. I managed to finish two jobs which are only due tomorrow. This has put me ahead of schedule. Here are some of the others in the office who are also quite busy. They are José, Keba and Darleen.
Wow, the rain came down heavy last night and I believe that there was a mighty thunder storm last night in Durban. Well after my rugby team, the Sharks beat the Blue Bulls in Durban last night and won the Currie Cup, the Bulls needed a good sending off back to Pretoria. The storm was just the right thing to tell the Bulls not to come back. Here is Matthew about to take Maxy for a run. Well what do expect with a dog that can out run any human. He is an Italian Greyhound after all. On your Marks! Get Set! GO!
HIV and Aids is everywhere in Africa and to help take the stigma out of it we held a HIV/Aids Day at BBC. We had stands marketing indigenous crafts to put money back into poor communities. How is this mosaic work on this tray? Michael Mol, a well known TV presenter and medical doctor was the keynote speaker. And we did free HIV testing with me near the front of the queue. Not that I was concerned, no just to help break the ice for those who think that this is a black man’s disease.
Yesterday work was poured onto my desk at Metrorail, so much so that this morning I just sat there and wondered what now. All of the work is due next week except three which they wanted NOW. Done the three on time but the rest will have to wait until next week. Here is Lee and Sibongile from the Risk Department which gave me two of next week’s problems.
Arriving at Platform 11, where I park my car when I work at Metrorail, I noticed these two women who had just disembarked off a train and proceeded walk across 13 rail tracks to get to Platform 1. When the security guards, who were sitting just off the picture to my right, saw me take a photo with my cellphone, asked the two women something and they answered back. But the guards let them continue over the tracks. I then asked the guards why they didn’t stop them. They answered me saying that the women said that they work here. Well it doesn’t look like they work here to me. What has happened to Safety First?
Yes this is my diet. It is a low carbohydrate diet which means lots of meat, fish and vegetables and very small amounts of things like rice, potatoes, bread and sugar. Since I started this diet 5 weeks ago, I’ve lost six kilograms. That is over a kilogram a week.
Today Connie and Sentebaleng from Nambiti came around to Metrorail to checkup on the contractors. Nambiti is on of my agents who send me contract work. They have the account for Metrorail to supply the IT staff.
I suppose you get what you asked for and I did my rain dance 5 days ago. This afternoon the heavens opened up and some people on the radio described it akin to hell. Lightning crashed down and hit overhead power cables in City Deep. Explosions occurred along the line and some of the cables fell onto the roads. I just managed to get out of town in time so I missed the fun. Lights where out for CBD, central Johannesburg and in the south. Luckily I live in the northern suburbs so we weren’t affected. The reports I heard on the radio was that the traffic out of the CBD was hell. Well here is Motloli, one of the ICT managers. I bet he was stuck in the rush out of Metrorail unless he left early.
Carol’s mom is actually improving at this new place that she has been moved to, although all she wants is chocolates. I make her eat all her lunch before any chocolate is brought out.
Much needed rain continues to fall, give my garden a good soaking. The pets stayed indoors because getting wet is one of their biggest dislikes. This photo is strange because Maxy, our Italian Greyhound’s neck is in a weird position straining to see why Brandy is getting more attention than him.
A highveld storm broke over Johannesburg this evening bringing much awaited relief and much to say about my rain dance. The Gautrain progress is still on track for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Metrorail has contracted Staza Cleaning Services to clean Wits Metro Park office building. Here is Matshidiso who is responsible for cleaning our floor. In Other words, keeping my desk clean and picking up after me. Nah I am not that bad.
The summer is in full swing and after I did my rain dance this morning, a friend told me on google chat that there is a 60% chance of thunderstorms on Friday. Maybe the dance did work. We have to wait and see. Anyway back to today’s photograph, here we find Ken who came all the way from Cisco in the UK to help Metrorail on a project. At least he is enjoying the lovely summer weather.
Keba started in Metrorail in place of Petunia. She is the new Communications and Media intern and is now based not in Marketing but in the ICT department. She had a frosty welcome from those who missed Petunia. The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of management. I did my best to make her feel at home. Sitting in ICT won’t help her chances with the marketing staff.
Yes summer is in full swing and the kids at BBC have a summer splash day after church complete with water slides and jumping castles.
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