No Rest

Thanks to my brother Anthony who came to my rescue by blessing me with the use of his big white Isuzu pickup as my Vespa is still in the shop getting repaired, and now my pickup is parked at his house while I go and try find a place to fix my tyres.

Sadly there is no tyre company open on a Sunday, Nada, niks, nothing but after intense searching I found one in Mayfair, an Indian suburb, whose residence are mostly Muslim and they are not interested in being closed on a perfectly good working day such as Sunday. Well they have cornered the marketplace on a Sunday. So I drove all the way down south to Mayfair, dogging the eTolls, highjackers, smash and grabbers, and of course the potholes only to find that my rims are too badly damaged and that I have to go to a Mag Repair centre which guess what, are all closed on a Sunday.

I know Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest but can’t the shops take turns in rest days. Oh well no rest for the wicked.

Pothole Luck

It has been a bad day and I want to eat worms. Jade shown above tries her best to console me.

Johannesburg has been overtaken by Cape Town as crime capitals but surely Johannesburg must still be the capital of potholes? Driving on the streets of Gangster’s Paradise you are caught between eToll thieves on one side, highjackers on another, smash and grabbers posing as beggars or window washers on another, and now not to forget potholes everywhere. There was a time when weaving on the road meant that you were drunk but now it means you are avoiding potholes and the ones driving straight are drunk.

Trust my luck, I went through a mother of a pothole and damaged both my left hand side tyres. With only one spare wheel, two flat tyres, and two damaged rims, I now just sits my head in my hands, this is not good.

Knock Knock Knock

Now imagine Sheldon Cooper’s voice "Jerome, Jerome, Jerome", coming from the other side of that frosted door as this poor Crowned Crane just wants to be with me and no one wants to let her in as they fear a repeat of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds". Knock, Knock, Knock!

You keep a knocking but you can’t come in. You say you love me and you can’t come in.

To Kill a Mockingbird

The book To Kill a Mockingbird has taught me that you don’t judge a person until you have walked in their circumstances and understood why they made those life decisions. In matter of fact you don’t judge at all because you will never know as you never have put their skin on, which reminds me of that movie The Cobbler.

Oh I waffling off topic sorry, one of the most well know quotes of To Kill a Mockingbird is "You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don't."

Now take Shane for example, shown above, he works at the same company that I do and is family kin, but he is a family member which I feel that this quote does not apply to as he is somebody which I would have been friends with anyways, family or not, as he has a good heart.

Lesego

Another welcome is needed for Lesego, our latest addition to the eKayaMedia family. Lesego started today as a camera operator alongside Malibongwe in the Multimedia section of eKayaMedia.

So a blessed welcome to Lesego whose name means lucky for my non South African readers.

Birthday Roast

Lynda’s birthday today which I started yesterday by cleaning the kitchen all spick and span before going to bed knowing that Lynda loves getting up at 4 in the morning and starts your day cleaning. Well this morning I made sure all was squared away for her.

I even made her some yummy lunch to take to work and arranged for roses to be waiting at her work when she arrived just so that she can have a pleasant day.

Now it is time to cook dinner and I decided to jump into the deep end and cook a juicy tender roast beef with roast vegetables. The birthday roast turned out not too bad if I may say so myself.

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.

Happy Ending

Eish, the words happy ending have been always associated with nursery stories and fairy tales but words can be perverted such as these two very innocent words, happy ending for me means the hero wins in the end and they all lived happily ever after.

Now since I have all but grown up, American movies and television shows have sleazed happy ending into something that can be stereotypically found in Chinatown massage parlours and Red Light districts and I never thought about it until today.

Getting the car washed at our local car-wash, there is a massage parlour next door called Thai by Thai Massage. No before your mind runs away, let me wash it clean, while I was waiting for the car to finish being vacuumed, I noticed on the wall at the entrance to the Thai massage parlour a notice posted by management which states in bold "No indecent requests will be tolerated". So this must be a problem then.

Thank you very much, Mr Roboto, I will stick to my fairy tales and my sci-fi escapes as I end this post with the words from the Chess song "One Night in Bangkok". "Tea girls warm and sweet, some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite. Get Thai’d you’re talking to a tourist whose every move’s among the purest. I get my kicks above the waistline sunshine."

Koppiekrap

As I lay in bed this morning thinking about somehow starting this day, Minky our cat flops herself right next to my foot and rolls into it for a koppiekrap. She just loves her head and the back of her neck being scratched; it’s like ecstasy for her.

This scratching with my foot tore my memories way back to my youth of sitting in the TV room of the Cameron household in Umtentweni. Rhoda had taught their toy pom dog, I have forgotten the dogs name, to sit by your foot while you were watching TV and by moving your foot the toy pom got her chest scratched. It was on cue, as you sat down on that sleeper couch, that dog would be there at your foot.

Now it looks like Minky has learnt that same trick. Well played Minks.

Welcome Kay

With Autumn just started and April fool’s pranks abound, Kay began her season in life with our eKayaMedia family.

Kay will head up the strategy of our digital team with Content, Multimedia, and New Media falling under her digital wing. So if we are digital, then why the chalkboard? Uhmmm we need a digital board? Anyway welcome Kay, may this season in your life be a blessing, so that you can be a blessing to others.

Life Fourways Fail

I am not sure if this is a fail of Life Healthcare’s Life Fourways Hospital or a fail of Ampath Pathology Laboratory but I feel that this is a big fail on both their sides so much so that I never want to use Life Fourways or Ampath ever again.

About 1am this morning I was woken by Lynda who was in pain that women tend to get, half an hour later after pain killers weren’t working we decided to go to the emergency room (ER) of the closest hospital which was Life Fourways.

After getting through the admin side at reception Lynda got to see the doctor in the emergency room which was a few minutes past 2am. After doing the few usual tests, prods and pokes, they drew three vials of blood and sent it off to be tested, then they put her on a drip. And now comes the fail.

One hour just waiting we asked the nurse why can’t they give us a script and send us on our way, they responded that they waiting for the blood results to return so that they would know what was wrong. The waiting turned to two hours with other patients starting to complain. After some investigation of why it was taking so long, it turns out that Life Healthcare management had instructed the ER to send all blood for testing at Ampath which was about two kilometres away instead to sending it to Lancet Laboratories which has laboratories in the hospital building itself. This begs the question why? Is Lancet too expensive? Surely it can’t be slower that Ampath? Is their some kick-back deal between Life Healthcare and Ampath? According to the ER staff, they have been having time issues with Ampath for some time now.

Finally the results came back three hours later. I asked the doctor on duty about our extremely long wait for Lynda’s tests results and he answered that her tests would normally would take 30mins but now on average it has been one and a half hours. Why three hours, maybe it is time to start blaming IT and the network or maybe the traffic in the early hours of the morning.

We finally walked out of the ER at Life Fourways Hospital at 5:30 in the morning, their pharmacy was as expected closed and the closest one open was at their competitors hospital Netcare Olivedale Hospital, so off we went to buy the prescribed medication before arriving back at home just after 6am.

A quick wash, coffee, and it is off to work I go.

With all the warning signs around me this morning in a very quiet hospital, let this be a warning to you, don’t go to Life Fourways emergency room unless you have no other choice. Life Healthcare management have some ulterior motive to make sure their ER doesn’t work efficiently. In the end you have to go to Netcare Olivedale Hospital just to get to an open pharmacy.

Teen Selfie

Well as expected teenagers love selfies, and these three teens are no exception. Lesedi on the left is a 2016 Miss Teen South African contestant and her mom works here at Bosasa, so Lesedi and her two besties, Tumi and Tandu, decided to visit us here at eKayaMedia.

So now here I find myself inside a selfie photograph taking with my mobile phone. Although a bit washed out, what I enjoy the most about this photo is the three different teen poses all captured in one photo if you excuse the creepy old man at the back photo-bombing.

Great Expectations

Okay the first series of long weekends are behind us, now to get back focused into work. The eKayaMedia team is continuing to grow with the addition last week of Julius, our new HOD to replace Rob who is sadly leaving us for the land of sheep, flies, and roos. I hope I am not coming across as too jealous as many of my friends have left for greener pastures where the men are men and the sheep are scared. I have stated in the past that greener pastures doesn’t always mean lush green grazing as the grass may be other a septic tank. Great, now it is out there that I am publicly green with envy.

So with that jealous rant behind me, let me welcome Julius into the eKayaMedia family, you have big shoes to fill but I know that you will exceed all expectations.

Joie Stages

Family Day, what to do on Family Day when all my family are scattered around South Africa, well other than mopping around at home, we decided to join Lynda's family for the afternoon especially if Lynda gets to be with her granddaughter, Rebekah.

Family update: Robynne and Marco had just bought a Joie Stages car seat for their nearly six month old baby Rebekah. Today's photo is of Rebekah under the watchful eye of Robynne, test driving her new feature filled car seat that will adapt as she grows for the next six years safely, and if her proud parents have any say, she will be using it until she gets driver’s licence.

Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

Today about two thousand years ago, may be the most important day in the history of mankind, the day the Son of God rose from the dead. I have no words that a king would give his life for me, and the chorus of the song "O praise the Name" is heard trembling off from my lips, "Oh Lord, oh Lord our God" as I stand before an empty tomb.

I cast my mind to Calvary
Where Jesus bled and died for me.
I see His wounds, His hands, His feet.
My Saviour on that cursed tree

His body bound and drenched in tears
They laid Him down in Joseph's tomb.
The entrance sealed by heavy stone
Messiah still and all alone

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

And then on the third at break of dawn,
The Son of heaven rose again.
O trampled death where is your sting?
The angels roar for Christ the King

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

He shall return in robes of white,
The blazing Son shall pierce the night.
And I will rise among the saints,
My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

Restrained Horses

Watching the Lipizzaner horses doing a display at the Nissan Easter Show, I was not that impressed, sorry but I wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, the control, precision, of rider and horse was beautiful to watch and not half bad as it takes lots of training to perform at this level. I suppose it was the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna which has set a very high example and I expected more than just four riders; two performing in the dressage arena and the other two who did something on the outside.

The legendary Lipizzan are breed for dressage, although elegant looking, nothing comes close to seeing majestic horses in the wild without the hard bits restraining them.

Why Good Friday?

So what is good about Good Friday when it is a dark blotch on our history? In German it is called Karfreitag, Sorrowful Day; maybe we too should call it Black Friday, or Bleak Friday, or even Sad Friday as it is the day that we remember Jesus the Messiah suffered Roman torture and ultimately death on a cross. It was a Friday a few hours before Shabbat was to start, about two thousand years ago; a man from Galilee who we believe was and is the Son of God, looked up from a Roman cross on a craggy hill outside Jerusalem and cried out “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”

Today we decided to bake our own hot cross buns which I must say turned out a lot of work but the result turned out, well wonderful. After mixing all the ingredients there followed a lot of kneading of the dough then waiting a few hours for the dough to rise before baking. The smell of fresh baked buns wafted throughout the cottage which was beautiful. But the memory of the day was all but beautiful.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus died that sorrowful day; accounts tell us that the earth trembled and a huge curtain known as the veil that early Jewish tradition stated was 4 inches thick was torn top to bottom. That veil separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple and only the High Priest was permitted to pass beyond this veil once a year and make atonement for the Jewish nation. The time fabric was torn and broken on this Friday.

And today, about late afternoon, Lynda and I found ourselves on a craggy hill with a single cross overlooking the valley, not outside Jerusalem but Magaliesburg. It was hard going climbing the rocky path and the thought of what the Messiah did for me and you on another hill far away, a long time ago sure hit home. That day when God’s Righteousness met God’s Grace and became Good Friday.

Night Out for 2

Tsogo Sun’s Silverstar Casino has a promotion that started mid January and was about to end, where for only R250 you and your partner could have a night out for 2. Well we decided on a date night so Lynda and I went out to Silverstar for a meal at Billy G’s buffet which normally costs R165 per person, then treated ourselves to a romantic movie. We are both not into gambling but all the rest was totally worth it.

Sho’t Left

Forget going places with sho’t left, the taxi industry derived saying to tell the driver to stop at the next corner. Now here I find myself on leave watching the huge full moon with a sad face rise over the valley over my left shoulder. Beautiful just sitting here enjoying the view that the full moon brings while the bats swoop chasing their supper and somewhere down by the river jackals are howling. Sho’t left driver, the next stop is my home.

Check and double Check

Towards the end of last year Pick n Pay decided to mix all the shelving around at the Northgate Hype which made us swear never to shop there again as getting lost and never knowing where things are simple frustrated us so much.

Yesterday, months later we dared to venture into the Pick n Pay Hyper at Northgate only to throw our hands up in despair. The order of the shelving just confused us and on top of it all the price labelling of the items left a lot to be desired. Take the 6 pack of long life milk for example, the label used to have the total price plus the price per one litre which helped us find the bargains. Now the milk had the total price plus the price for the pack of 6 which duh is the same which helps no-one except the lazy price marker person. Then Clover milk had no price anywhere, nada, nothing. Now I know that Clover is on promotion at another Pick n Pay for a good price so instead of simple adding the Clover milk to the trolley, I had to cart the box of 6 over to a scanner a few rows away only to find that the Clover here was way overpriced, hence the price label missing, clever Pick n Pay.

The missing prices where all over the store and we struggled to shop wisely with all the price increases everywhere. Pick n Pay was not inspiring us at all. We had to triple check all the items that we put into our trolley. Take the Safari Sundried Cake Mix 500g was marked on the shelf as R25 something but on the scan it was R49 something, wow what a price difference. At the till we had to call the supervisor who changed the price on the till just to R25.00 straight. We feel that if we didn’t check Pick n Pay's prices, they would have gladly ripped us off.

Arriving home, we went through all our purchases again only to find that one slipped through the cracks, the frozen 1kg frozen vegetables which we were certain cost about R21 and on our slip it R31.49 so today I had to go back to Pick n Pay to check and then rectify the price difference. So Daniel shown above kindly helped me, the price was R21.90 on the label, it goes to show please check everything especially at Pick n Pay, inspired not.

What about the Mannequins?

It may be Human Rights Day here in South Africa but it doesn’t mean we can now exploit mannequins as slave labour, shame on us. We use mannequins everywhere, in shop windows dressed to the tees, and now as slutty dressed and holding auction direction signs.

It looks like we have already forgotten the many attempted Auton invasions by the Nestene Consciousness who were stopped by the Doctor. The mannequins are all around us, and this one be it a simple doll or an Auton is rather too close to my home.

Buffelsfontein

Buffelsfonyein’s 100% braaipap or as us English speaking South Africans would understand as Buffalo Springs’ 100% ground corn porridge for eating with barbequed meat. Eish doesn’t quite come across the same does it now. Mans huil nie ons lei ons baarde nat.

Touring the North West Province we came across these bags of roughly ground corn or what we call in South Africa mieliemeel. As jy nie kam nie, is jy nie ‘n man nie. 100% braaipap. 5lb rof en grof met semels.

Bederf jouself, jou rowwe bliksem.

Lamp to my Feet

Wow, the first of a series of long weekend is upon us and here I am at the end of the day with my feet up chillaxing without even taking a photo for the day. This must be the sign of what this first long weekend is going to be like after all that stressfully hard digital marketing strategy that I was working on the past few weeks. Thankfully the completed strategy was handed over yesterday which was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I suppose that is why I am in this vegetative state, a dull noise from the TV, and this antique lamp standing just under two metres tall lightening up the sitting room with soft light. Oh I better take a photo before I forget again.

Knitting for Granddaughter

Since ever I’ve known Lynda, she has been into her knitting especially knitting for babies. This knitting enthusiasm has been re-ignited since her daughter announced the arrival of her granddaughter Rebekah. Above is a little woollen poncho and below her current project, a little jersey, as we all know winter is coming.

Two in the Rain

The relentless rain seems to have no end, although thankfully the weather bureau states that it will start to clear tomorrow.

In the meanwhile we just have to make do with the few umbrellas that we have, as Terrence and Rob shows us how to share a brolli.

Unpleasant Pheasant

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day, this pheasant doesn't like the rain. Here is one sad looking pheasant seeking shelter on my windowsill. I am not 100% sure what type of pheasant he is as he looks like a juvenile Common or Ring Neck Pheasant but does not have the red facial wattles around the eye. So whatever pheasant he is, he sure finds the rain unpleasant and wants in.

Late Afternoon

It has been once again a rather busy day with me stuck behind my laptop all day without much of a break. As I walk out after work, late in the afternoon, I noticed that it is starting to get dark earlier, well the echo of the cry that winter is coming is becoming ever so louder.

Walking from my office up to where I have parked my pickup, my route takes me through some awesome garden scenery. Thankfully the wave of rainy weather seems to have tailed off, leaving behind some lush greenery. Let us hope that it has broken the back of the drought and that it will smooth sailing going forward for the boere that grow our food.

Flappy Bird

It feels wonderful, arriving at work on a Monday to be greeted by a beautiful Grey Crowned Crane, well I have posted about Johnny before and sorry I can’t help myself so here is another post with a video.

It is strange when a bird starts purring like a cat when it is close to me especially when I stroke her waddle. But be warned, Johnny is rather jealous of anyone or animal coming too close to me. Noma has stated that Johnny is emotionally unstable as he or is it a she, attacks anything coming in between us. Maybe she needs some serious therapy from the animal whisperer.

Growing up

Matthew is growing up so fast that his teenage years are flying past. Soon he will have to start adulting. Along with been a teenager comes all the problems that teenagers face, like music genres that differ so much from mine. So what has happened to the punk, metal, rock, and pop music of our youth? All the good music of our day has been replaced by strange sounds of Japanese anime music coming from Matthew's earphones. Well I suppose that is one way to learn Japanese.

Cat Fish

This is one that didn’t get away. As the sun was setting, Matthew cast the line out, the lure was a fluffy thingy attached to the end of the line. He didn’t have to wait long at all, as a large cat fish bounced on the lure. It took some effort to carefully reel the cat fish in as this was one feisty fighter.

Mpho about to Pop

Yip just a few more days now and Khumo will be born. The family at eKayaMedia held a surprise baby shower for Mpho with cake, cooldrinks, and best of all presents. And she was surprised as the ladies just over a week ago held a party for her but this time it was our turn, the eKayaMedia family.