Green Red Black

After taking over 2500 photos for a post a day since 1 Jan 2007, it is getting harder to find things fresh to photograph but I will keep trying. Today arriving home with no photograph, I saw this stack of pipes waiting to be placed in the trench coming down from the construction up the road. I wonder what the strange green, red and black markings on the pipes are.

Besame, Besame Mucho

On a hot clear morning, we arrive at The Argentinean, a bakery that could be found in Buenos Aires and is found in Linden. I have heard plenty about the Argentinean's awesome bakery but we arrived for breakfast before an outride on the Vespa. The décor seemed dated with paintings of the Tango and faded photographs. Above the counter is written these words, Besame, besame mucho, como si fuera esta noche la ultima vez. Kiss me; kiss me a lot, as if tonight were the last time, uhmm. The food prices looked reasonable but the amounts served sparse. The only redeeming part of the breakfast was that the croissants light and fresh. Downside of the morning, paying R2 for butter was a little out of place. Maybe they better kiss me goodbye then.

Hanging with Mr Cooper

Arriving home after checking our voting registration details for next year's voting, we were welcomed by Mr Cooper. Now Cooper is the local Boerbul dog on the property. Cooper always welcomes us when we come and go much to the chagrin of my Alfa male Maxy.

Elusive Mozambican Vespa

My friend, Paulo, is searching up and down Mozambique for that elusive Vespa and although he hasn't found one yet, I stumbled upon one in Fourways.

During the week my headlight on my Vespa, Anastatia, stopped working so this morning I took her into Scoots to get the globe replaced. And while the mechanic, George, worked on Anastaia, I noticed this wooden carving in the window of Scoots. Is it the mysterious Mozambican Vespa that Paulo is trying to bring to light?

Jacaranda Avenue

The Jacaranda trees in Johannesburg and Pretoria are in full bloom giving the suburbs a blush purple swathe. Here is a photograph of one of the avenues in Houghton where I work. With the summer afternoon thunderstorms, the purple flowers are knocked to the ground layering the ground like snow, purple snow. Pleasing to the eye.

SD Card

I took some photos this morning and later had to take more photos of one of my bosses' car. I then I go and leave my SD card in my work computer. Go figure stress maybe of the afternoon training. Anyway I arrived home with my camera minus the card. So I had to use my cellphone camera on ... uhmmm ... on of the cats. Here is Lovely taking umbrage to the flash waking her up.

Singed Monkey

A few days ago we had a major thunderstorm which knocked out the power for a few hours. Monkey our youngest cat was as usual so inquisitive with the lanterns that she got a little too close. As you can see in my portrait of Monkey, the whiskers above her left eyebrow are all singed.

Sweatmeats

Diwali started on Sunday, and as usual along with this five day festival of lights is the fireworks. Yes fireworks are a bane of all pet owners. Now I don't have any problem with the Hindu faith and their festivals, and the local law does allow fireworks on religious holidays like Diwali. But please be responsible with these fireworks. Just keep them far away from animals and residential areas.

My pets were locked up safe and secure for the next few days while I enjoy some Diwali sweatmeats brought to work by our bookkeeper, Rajesh. I wish all my Hindu friends a happy Diwali and a prosperous new year.

As for my blog, this is my 2,500 post. May the next 2,500 be even better.

Minecraft

It is Matthew's last day with me and it is his birthday tomorrow. Oh well I had to make the most of today. The day started with BBC and here is Matthew with BBC's Youth Pastor, Chris, playing Minecraft while Matthew was waiting for me to finish my duties. Afterwards Matthew and I headed for Cresta to buy his birthday presents of computer games and the card game Incan Gold, and have a light lunch before heading back home.

Acrobranch

This year for Matthew's birthday party, Matthew decided to have zip lines, tarzan swings and rope bridges as part of his fifteenth birthday celebrations. Here at the Melrose Acrobranch 5 friends got together for some adventure in the trees, from left to right is Ricardo, Brandon, Rudolf, Justin and Matthew pausing for a photo opportunity on a rope bridge before swinging to the next tree.

Jozi Sunset

Sunsets on the Highveld have always been a highlight for me as each one offers a different facet of Jozi. Summer sunsets have always been my favourite as the afternoon thunderstorms have this way of playing with the light.

Driving back from the East Rand towards home, the sun presented another awesome sunset over the Johannesburg skyline, this time without a cloud in sight.

Here Be Zombies

Every year on All Saints Day or more commonly known as Halloween, the dead rise up from their holes to infect the living. Empire Tattoos use this opportunity to raise funds for Marang House, a place for children suffering from chronic implications associated with renal failure, cancer, diabetes, burns, and/or trauma. And by raising up a storm, they dress up as the restless dead.

Here are few of the zombies, taken from a distance just before I had to run to get out of their infested clutches. More photos on my Facebook album The Infected.

On The Prowl

What's with these cat people? Don't they realise that when cats go on the prowl they become murderous. Yes according to a research done by the University of Georgia and the National Geographic, one out of three cats are serial killers, averaging about two kills per week. The study was done on well fed, domesticated house cats which means that cats were not killing for survival, they were doing it for fun.

According to the statistics, 28 million cats are murder serial killers and the total body count from domestic house cats every year is 2,912,000,000. Now if cats were killing people, then every year they would wipe out 41% of the human population. If I remember correctly, there is a movement in New Zealand to eradicate domestic cats because of the damage they are doing to the local wildlife with a number of species going extinct due to our furry friend, the serial killer cat. Or maybe we should allow the evil cat to start wiping out the humans as it is we humans who endanger more species than them.

Shocked that your putty tat is a serial killer? Next time you should call your cat Ripper, Chikatilo, Bundy, Delia, Hector, or even Dexter.

Outfocus Stig

I arrived at work and still no electricity. From what I found out that the City of Joburg have been around and informed the landlord that the connection to the building has been cut somewhere and a special team have to called to traced where. This has been like this since Saturday.

While chatting with the chaps working next door, I spotted the Stig and I had to take a photograph. The lighting wasn’t good in the dim office so somehow I focused on the rolodex instead, my bad.

Avocado Monday

Making my lunch this morning with this avocado pear, it didn't dawn on me that this Monday would not be, ... uhmmm ... Monday.

Arriving at work, this morning, I found the office in darkness, no electricity. After investigation, I found out that there has not been any electricity since Saturday. Now it was waiting for the municipality to look into the problem, till then it is work at home.

At the end of this Monday that wasn't, news comes in from the landlord, is that the municipality is reporting that the cable has been cut somewhere but they don’t know where. A special team has been called in. That is all we know. Let’s hope that Tuesday doesn't follow Monday down the same path.

Miley Cyrus Wannabe

This morning I joined the company Danfoss as part of their team entrance to the iThemba Breast Cancer Awareness Walkathon. Although the weather forecast said 22% chance of rain, the day turned out very hot but that didn’t stop 20,000 walkers taking the streets in memory of a loved one.

I decided that the 5km walk would be a good start to these walks through the suburbs of Emmerentia. I brought along my Italian Greyhound Maxy and in case anyone thinks he is a Whippet, I brought Skye to help the walkers see the difference between an Italian Greyhound and a Whippet. I saw 3 other Italian Greyhounds but no Whippets. Kim, a Facebook friend brought her two Italian Greyhounds, and she said that when she was walking next to a Great Dane, someone asked her if she has Great Dane puppies.

At the end of the walk, I saw this Boerbul, who had made the 5km walk and by the sight of his tongue must have been exhausted. He was making a perfect Miley Cyrus wannabe with that tongue of his.

Craig at Tanz

Happy birthday Craig, yes nearly the big four oh, but not quite there yet. It has been a very busy day for Lynda and I, as the day started with lending an helping hand at a dog rescuer, then some Ingress L8 farming at Lifestyle and finally shopping.

The day ended with us joining Craig for his birthday celebrations at Tanz Live in Blackheath. Just being with friends with feet up at the end of a long day was just what the doctor ordered but after a while the hectic day started catching up on me and I had to call it a night.

Stop

Stop! Carl walked into the office with this bag. Stop au traffic des mineurs à des fins sexuelles. Stop sex trafficking of children and young people. Yes now that is something we all can stand for. Human trafficking is still rife in this modern world of ours. Same as I feel about Rhino poaching, if you take away the market then the trade will stop. They should castrate all involved with this exploitation of defenceless people. Now that's my 2c worth.

Zombie Apocalypse

My leave has being approved to join the Zombie Walk in a week's time. These walks are organised on Halloweens Day by Empire Tatoos for a number of years now and they present a perfect opportunity to shoot some Zombies in the head, well with the camera that is.

Well my leave form is signed, so I better pack my camera bag and baseball bat for the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse.

Bakang

Our new intern started today and his name is Bakang and is from the mining town of Welkom. One of the first tasks for today other than studying notes on what National Positions' business is all about, Bakang and I had to go pick up a desk for him. Well he is a new person to cross my path, so out came my camera and snap Bakang.

Closed Crime Scene

Thank goodness that I went to work today on my Vespa. Little did I know that 50 kilometres away a minibus taxi and the police had a confrontation with bullets flying and the taxi fleeing south. By the time the taxi reached the section of highway next to my work, a police helicopter was firing into the taxi from the air with the taxi driver and his accomplice returning fire. The bullet riddled taxi soon came to a halt a few 100 metres from my work with the driver shot in the upper leg and accomplice fleeing the scene.

The highway was closed for the rest of the day and early evening. The traffic from here on out was catastrophic. The crime scene was crawling with more South African Police and Metro Police than I ever thought existed in Johannesburg. Only in South Africa.

Soaking Rain

The raining continues to fall soaking into the dry soil. In Johannesburg, along with the rain, the waterproof traffic lights stop working and the rush hour traffic becomes a parking lot. But the rains in Africa are long awaited and are just what the doctor ordered, washing away the colds and flu. The sky is still heavy with rain, the land is soaked and the dam below the property on which my cottage stands is overflowing. I have to be careful not to trek mud into the cottage.

Rained out Skye

It looks like I bought the mist and rain up from the mountains as I woke up this morning with the weather just as gloomy as the mountain passes of yesterday. This was a stay indoors day with the fireplace roaring and a glass of red wine but no fireplace and no red wine so I went out and spent the day with Matthew and Lynda.

My dogs were refusing to leave their cosy home except Skye and Podge who have much thicker coats than the Italian Greyhounds. Skye just wanted to play in the rain and mud, enjoying every moment of it. I was more worried of him getting sick.

Tea Time

Fifteen hours on the road is like flying to Europe, driving to Cape Town from Johannesburg or driving to Durban, back to Johannesburg and then back down again. Then why was I driving for 15 hours yesterday. Well during the week I was asked to pick up my Uncle Ronnie and his son Ronald in Rustenburg and take him to Pretoria why my step-dad and brother would meet us and take them down to Sabie in the Lowveld.

So at seven this morning I headed out to Rustenburg but I hadn’t got very far when I got a phone call from Sabie informing me that my step-dad and brother had a problem with the Land Rover and if I could take them straight down to Sabie for them.

So arriving in Rustenburg I met up with my uncle and his son, loaded my pick-up, and headed east. The journey went from temperatures in the high 30s with my pick-up’s air conditioner cracked up full, to misty mountain passes, freezing rain to thunderous storms but 15 hours later I arrived back home just after 10pm under a starry night.

Arriving home, I just crashed but my mind was still racing through the last 15 hours. Here is my uncle Ronnie insisting on his cup of tea while his son Ronald knowing his dad, looks on in amusement of my get up go look on my face.

Posers Reunited

Friday at last and what a perfect start to the weekend when the Posers Scooter Club got together at Lucio's Pizzeria. It was a night of catch up after such a long time of going a separate ways. The evening was excellent except for a mess up by Lucio's on the food but with good friends nothing could stand in the way of having a good time. From left to right is Lynda, Matthew, myself, Paulo, Magda and Martin. Watch this space as talk was in the air about another trip going nowhere slowly.

Battle of the 3 Wheels

Timing was perfect. At first Full of Beans' Piaggio Ape arrived with decadent light lunches followed by Pick n Pay's Online Shopping Mahindra delivery vehicle. Although the Indian 3 wheeler sounded healthier, the Piaggio is using a bio fuel diesel engine from India and this green motor sounds like it had better days says I, looking down from the high hill of my age.

Johannesburg Water

And within 24 hours, Johannesburg Water shows up in Houghton Estate and repaired the water leak in the middle of Central Road. Of course they did a rough patch job of the road surface and I now am wondering how soon the Johannesburg Roads Agency would follow up with the repairs. Hope it doesn't take as long as Witkoppen Road which is still waiting.

Houghton Spruit

This morning a spring burst through the Central Road, Houghton Estate. Most likely a burst pipe under the road surface but this is Houghton, one of the upper class suburbs in Johannesburg. So now over six months ago half of a section of Witkoppen Road in Randburg was washed away and it is still barricaded off with no movement by Johannesburg Roads Agency to repair it. Let us see how quickly they will fix Central Road with their preferential treatment and leave Witkoppen for over a year. That is until someone dies by driving into the gapping wash away.

School Bike

On the way to work this morning, I saw this father taking his son or daughter to school. I know it is against the law to have a passenger in front of the rider on a motorbike but this pulled my heart strings. With fuel costs sky rocketing, the ANC's eToll project stealing our hard earned money, and the traffic, is pushing more and more commuters out of their cars and onto motorbikes.

For those still in your cages, please look out for us bikers and yes I know this is not legal but be careful out there.

Racks of Meat

Mental block on the butcher's block, sorry vegetarians for any offence but I had to go into Meat World in Northcliff. Anyway Meat World had whole lamb, pork and beef hind quarters hanging up on racks and I just had to take a photo. I was thinking of the Rocky movie, where Rocky Balboa was using meat carcases as punch bags."It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward..." Looking at the prices, I am now thinking of a lamb on a spit.

From Brixton With Love

I think that living in the northern suburbs has made the memories of what true living is all about fade to just about nothing. It is sleep, work, eat, and then sleep again. In between work and sleep some of us party like there is no tomorrow but is that all to life?

Today I went to one of the poorest of suburbs in Johannesburg, Brixton, and I re-found what living is all about. This is what Johannesburg should be. No high walls, razor wire and electric fences found in the suburbs that I am now become part of. Here in Brixton, under the shadow of the Tower, once the proud symbol Apartheid’s achievements, not too from Squad Cars, the Brixton Murder and Robbery Police unit that kept us glued to the radio in the 70's. Yes here I found all of South Africa's Rainbow Nation living life.

A white couple with kids in tow walking back from a Spaza Shop stop and chat with a black neighbour; black kids helping a white kid fix a flat tyre on his bicycle and then all taking turns riding up and down the street; coloured teenagers playing soccer in the street; a young white mother pushing a swing with her daughter giggling; black students in class taking extra lessons on a Saturday; a young white man painting the gate of their front door; and then there is this photograph.

This is what Brixton is all about, on a hot summer's day black and white kids playing together in the street under a spray of water, Brixton with love.