Vegetables are Evil

In the early hours of this morning, my gout re-appeared after just over a week of absence, this time at my left Achilles tendon. Now I thought I had this all beat but not so as I lay in pain thinking of what I ate and drank the day before that could have triggered this episode off.

Because I was running late, I started yesterday off without breakfast but with the first of my two cups of coffee for the day. That is one cup in the morning and one in the evening. Although I drank a litre of kiwi and pear juice throughout the day and about mid afternoon a few mixed nuts to see me through. I am trying to lose weight okay. After arriving home I cracked open a beer and with some cheese as company I sat on my patio and watched the sun go down while some vegetable lasagna was slowly baked for my supper later.

Now I have had all of the above except the lasagna in the week before with no gout attacks. So that narrowed it down to the vegetable lasagna. What was in the lasagna that I didn't eat in the previous weeks? The broccoli and baby marrows were eaten before so it must be either the carrots, cauliflower or pea pods. Then it dawned on me, a friend a sent me a list of foods that are have known links to purines which cause uric acid that develops gout and on that list was beans. Yes beans and I am sure pea pods are close enough to beans. So the culprit for my gout this time was the vegetable lasagna. You can now see how I deduced that vegetables are evil. Oh and with that I will leave you with a photograph of my office in Parktown while I go off and slowly appreciate a glass of red wine to celebrate my Dr Watson moment.

Agapanthus - Lily of the Nile

Whilst all the eyes were on the purple Jacaranda flowers, the Agapanthus came into bloom. National Positions' offices in Parktown are awash with purple and is a sight to behold. With so many flowers I started playing around with depth of field. Native to South Africa, Agapanthus africanus are beautiful plants and are also commonly known as the African Lily or Lily of the Nile but they are not a lily at all nor do they come from the Nile.

Do you know who I am?

So far these last few days I have been to three year end functions but tonight was my first Christmas one. Our homies had our annual Christmas dinner of roast beef and turkey with all the trimmings at the Sim's home. Our annual dinner was kind of like a large Thanksgiving dinner, well in a way it was. We were all thankful, especially me who had lots to be thankful for.

We had two guests join us for our dinner tonight; they were Kevin and his lovely wife Andrea. Kevin is one of the pastors at BBC and with him been here we'd hope the dinner would be an orderly one, not :-P Kevin was good fun and they fitted well into our rowdy home cell group. So who do you think this is in my photo tonight?

Darth Sophia

Ever since I saw the Lego Darth Vader key ring on the Joburg Photowalkers' June 16 Youth Day Photowalk, I wanted to buy Sophia one. But the tiny Darth Vader key rings were always out of stock and only the other Lego Star Wars key rings were available.

So yesterday when I had to go to the Fourways Mall for some extra internet data to see me through to the month end, I had a look see at the Lego Shop and sure enough they'd received their Christmas stock. There were the tiny Lego Darth Vader key rings, even Storm troopers and Jedi Knights. So Sophia got an early Christmas present and she will now be known as Darth Sophia. Respect!

Rescue Greyhounds

On my way home in the wee hours of this morning, two pork pies pulled me over but luckily I don't drink a lot and after checking my drivers licence they waved me on. Trying to crawl out of bed this morning was with some difficulty but the Toy Run was already on its way, also too late for BBC so my choice was made, the Sight Hound Walk at Delta Park, that was if I could get out of bed.

It wasn't a large crowd at this event but perfect as the large greyhounds were doing their best to run down the Italian Greyhounds but the agility of the iggies kept them inside their turning radius. It was interesting to watch as the Greyhounds formed packs and Maxy reminded me as an interceptor as he honed on a Greyhound that was on the tail of an Italian Greyhound. Here is Dean's four rescue Greyhounds who really enjoyed the smaller iggies.

St John's College

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles - Isaiah 40:31

Today has been a very busy day for me. First off the starting blocks was the Italian Greyhound End of Year Picnic at Golden Harvest Park. So with my three iggies eager to get going we headed out for a morning of dog walks and braaing. There were little scallywags everywhere, running, chasing each other and just having a ball.

After a wonderful lunch braai it was a rush to drop off the dogs back home and get to the photowalk at St John's College. The walk was arranged by an old boy, Dr Richard Brooksbank, one of the Joburg Photowalkers and a good friend of mine. Walking amongst the hallowed halls of this old Johannesburg private boy's school was a like being in a fusion of old British colonialism and modern art world. The Anglican based school was founded in 1898 but had to close after a year due to the outbreak of the Second Boer War. It reopened soon after the signing of the peace treaty between Britain and Transvaal. The Joburg Photowalkers spent a wonderful afternoon at St John's exploring all the nooks and crannies of this old institution.

And now for the cherry on top, the Joburg Photowalkers End of Year Shindig. Jane was daring enough to open her home to us and after souring high like eagles at St John's we descended to her lovely home in Norwood for the party of all parties. No sushi off bellies of nubian women but we had a hoedown of note. Now for 2012...

Surreal Quiet

The weekend is finally here felt surreal as I left work this afternoon under perfect blue skies with not a cloud in sight after all the rain this week. So a perfect start. Tomorrow the parties begin, the first being a Italian Greyhound End of year picnic, then it is off on the St John's Photowalk and in the evening the Joburg Photowalkers End of Year Shindig. Sunday it gets a bit difficult as I may be having a maid come in the morning to spring clean my cottage and the choice is the Sight Hound Walk at Delta Park or breakfast at Sofie in Greenside then the Toy Run to Benoni, uhmm. I will decide Sunday morning after the shindig.

Tomorrow is nearly here but for now a beautiful peaceful evening at home before the storm of busyness. Today's photograph is of a shelf near my desktop where I am sitting now relaxing. On the shelf is a lamp, a photo of Matthew not too far, a paper crane made by Matthew with a help of my friend Karen (aka Bing) from Singapore, a photo of me taken at a Google event, a South African Revenue form and a paper iMessage note written by my friend Craig.

Bob Martin

It looks like all I am doing now is product shots. No, the problem is that I work in a small office and there is not many interesting things left that I can photograph and spending most of my time at the office doesn't leave much left once I arrive home and spend time with my Italian Greyhounds, cook supper, relax then get ready for bed. But no worries, tomorrow is Friday, yeah (air punch).

This week I ran out of my usual big bag of dog food that I buy which is Dog Sense for High Performance and Working Dogs. Dog Sense is made here in South Africa for the export market and is good quality dog food at a more affordable price than the imported dog food. But it does not come in small packages which I needed to tie me over till month end. So I went shopping. I was looking for a quality product that wouldn't break the bank. There were brands on the lower end of the scale such as Bobtail to the more expensive Eukanuba. I would have normally grabbed something in the middle such as Pedigree or Nutriphase to cover me till the end of the month but a new product caught my eye, Bob Martin Complete Condition Dog Food.

I don't pay much attention to how nutritious or wonderful the packaging tells me the dog food is as it is usually a marketing ploy and anyone can say they are an international nutritional expert, who is going to check. But this Bob Martin Dog Food packaging looked interesting so I took a bag to see what my fussy Italian Greyhounds would think of it. Maxy straight away loved fishing out the tender meat chucks while the other two, Patch and Jade where just their normal self and pecked at the food. Now it is the wait to see how well their digestive system handles the Bob Martin Dog Food and to monitor my dogs overall condition. So far, so good.

I know Bob Martin makes good condition tablets but if anyone has more information about this new product on our shelves other than marketing jargon please let me know, thanks.

Raid Automatic Multi Insect Control System

On Monday night I was invaded by literacy millions of mosquitoes and I battled to get a peaceful nights sleep. So yesterday I went to the closest Pick n Pay near my work, which is at Killarney Mall, to by a mosquito repellant. Wanting to buy something small and cost efficient, I spent some time looking at all the different products available on the shelves. What caught my eye was the Raid Automatic Multi Insect Control System. Although it wasn't high on my choice of mosquito repellants because it was too big, it caught my eye because the price on the shelf stated R79.99 but the box had a discount voucher for R80.00 on it. So I took it to the manager to query it and they said yes the price was correct and the voucher valid. So I bought it, well not quite true, Pick n Pay paid me 5 cents to take it off their hands. When ringing it up the teller only put through R8.00 discount but I had to show her that the voucher said R80.00 not R8.00. I assumed the manager also thought the voucher said R8.00.

Now if Raid had to give away their products, I wasn't quite sure if it was up to scratch. After testing it last night I went back to Pick n Pay this afternoon to take some more Raid off their hands as refills but sadly all the remaining Raid Automatic Multi Insect Control Systems had the R80.00 vouchers removed. At least I will have no mosquitoes bugging me for the next 4 weeks.

Black Tuesday

Today was a sad day for South Africa and Democracy. Today our parliament voted if the Protection of Information Bill should be made law. And the African National Congress (ANC) jeering as they trampled on what Mandela promised would never happen, voted the bill though. It was obvious the ANC were not representing the majority but were trying to cover their own corruptness. Many South Africans dressed in black to protest this bill on what is now known as Black Tuesday, the end of our Democracy. Thankfully, the bill is not law yet but that is just a few hops, skips and a jump away.

In 1977 Steve Biko was killed by police while in police custody and the news of his death was banned by the Apartheid government because of National Security. Many people have fought and died for this democracy in South Africa and today the African National Congress voted in parliament that the very same law that tried to gag the media about Steve Biko back into our law. Have the ANC abandoned everything its founders fought for? Lindiwe Mazibuko, leader of the Democratic Party asked the ANC "what will you tell your children one day - that you helped destroy democracy. We fight on!"

Even the heavens protested as even the skies turned black soon after the vote with a huge storm breaking over Johannesburg. I even tried my hand at photographing lightning but being my first attempt, I know I still have a lot to learn. On this sad day for democracy I will leave you a quote from Anonymous "Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side."

Maxy, the Italian Greyhound

On Saturday I wrote about the history of the Italian Greyhounds, well as best as we can trace it. Well this is Maxy, our first Italian Greyhound. He came to us on the evening of 31 October 2007 as a spritely puppy, sporting an impressive lineage. At first Matthew named him Max but by the next morning his name was changed to Maxy due to Y on his chest. Matthew and Maxy became inseparable best friends as also shown here waking up together, bathing together, chillaxing, being sad together, playing in the pool and watching TV and more TV. When Matthew comes round for weekends, the first thing he does is go greet Maxy.

Without Vespa Wings

The Posers Scooter Club tried to beat all the road closures today due to the 94.7 Cycle Challenge and do a scenic ride to breakfast at the Vovo Telo. So the Pretoria chapter of our Vespa club met the northern suburbs chapter at Fourways Vespa with Paulo late as usual. I am sure I heard Martin say that Paulo had turned over a new leaf and is on time from now onwards. In his defence he was only 10 minutes late.

The Poser posse consisted of Martin, our head Poser on his Vespa GTS300, Magda his sidekick or is it the other way round on her Vespa GTS300, Charlie, shown above without her wings on a Vespa GTS250, Paulo on his Vespa GT200L, Thinus on his BMW R1200GS, Marlene on her BMW F650GS and myself on the smallest bike, a Vespa ET4. With Magda taking point for the first half of the ride; we joined Witkoppen Road and rode east towards Rivonia Road where we headed south to Sandton and Rosebank passing the both Gautrain Stations. At Rosebank we stopped for fuel and from here I took over to lead them on a zig zag route made to beat the road closures.

I warned them to put away any visible jewelry as we had to cross some unsavory areas but due to a rumbling in Paulo's belly we had to forgo some scenic stops. From Oxford we turned left into Anerly Road and crossed over the M1 motorway with all the cyclists below and headed though Houghton to Louis Botha Ave where we turned right towards Yeoville. Here we made our way to Bezuidenhout Street and quickly skimmed pass Yeoville and down the Steward Drive Pass into Bertrams. Passing under the cyclists on the Joe Slovo Drive, we flew pass the Ponte Building through Doornfontein, Hillbrow, Braamfontein, Gautrain at Park Station and under the Nelson Mandela Bridge with the cyclists pedaling past.

Yes I know it was a roundabout route but what the heck it was a sight. After stopping at the Auckland Tower for a few photos, the posse headed north to breakfast in Parkhurst. Arriving hungry at Vovo Telo on 4th Ave, we found that it was too full and they put us on a waiting list of about an hour. This wasn't going to wash with Paulo because now he was chewing the strap of his helmet. So we strolled down 4th Ave until we found Nice, a quaint street side coffee shop. And here we tucked into awesome breakfast, the Poser way.

Italian Greyhounds

I have been stopped many times and been asked are my dogs Whippets. No they are not Whippets nor are they miniature Greyhounds or even rescue township dogs and defiantly not a buck; seriously I was asked once if Maxy was a baby buck. I should put little horns on Maxy and confuse everyone. Italian Greyhounds have been around a very long time, and perhaps they could be one of the first domesticated dogs, not for working but as pets.

Yes you read correctly in ancient times dogs were domesticated as working dogs, for hunting, retrieving, guarding and even war but Italian Greyhounds were the first pets in a sense. The history is a bit obscure but they have been found in the Egyptian pyramids, in hieroglyphs and even in Pompeii. It is believed that the Egyptians took the smaller working hounds into the palaces and temples as pets. Anubis also known as Lenpw, the Egyptian god, gatekeeper of the underworld looks similar to Italian Greyhounds. Even when they lie down you can see the shape of the Sphinx. But that is where the Egyptian connection ends.

The Romans are thought to have found the small canines in Egypt and the aristocrats took them all over the Roman Empire as pets. And in the remains of Pompeii you can find mosaics of the Italian Greyhounds and signs that were inscribed in Latin "Cave Canem" which means "Beware of the Dog". Well not because they were vicious but beware that you don't trample them underfoot.

The Italian Greyhounds should most likely be called Latin Greyhounds but they came so popular in Renaissance Italy that their name stuck. Only the royalty could afford animals that did not help support the household. Queen Victoria had Italian Greyhounds and there was not a Welsh Corgi in sight. Even the Russian Empress Catherine the Great had the beautiful Italian dogs.

Okay history lesson over. So how did I get onto this topic, well since I only got my Vespa back yesterday after been out of commission for two whole weeks, I was desperate to take Sophia, the name of my belle Vespa, on a long run and I needed to see a previous client at the Old Nederlandsche Bank en Crediet Vereeniging voor Zuid Afrika building in Pretoria Church Square. After getting there a little early I took a walk around Church Square admiring the old buildings and statues. The square is dominated in the centre by a large statue of President Paul Kruger guarded by statues of Boer commandos. The magnificent artwork was made by sculptor Anton van Wouw in the late 1890s and paid for by Sammy Marks. But what caught my eye was astounding. In a plaque showing the swearing in of President Paul Kruger May 1883 there is an Italian Greyhound. No lies, I even zoomed into the photograph to show you. It looks like my dog Patch, well I never knew he was a Time Travelling Dog. Now I am wondering who did the dog actually belong to, Paul Kruger or the person that is battling to hear? Who is that hard to hear person? He obviously owns the Italian dog and is facing away from the swearing in of President Paul Kruger. Was he Sammy Marks? More research is needed.

Amo la mia Vespa

With news yesterday evening that Sophia, my sexy Vespa ET4, is ready, I was excited all morning and could not wait until lunch time to slip out and fetch her. When I arrived at Vespa in Wynburg, they were all busy unpacking their latest shipment of Vespas, perfect photo opportunity.

I was more relieved getting Sophia back in perfect working order. Now to plan rides for the weekend. But before I go let me teach you some Poser Scooter Club language, okay are you ready... Tu hai una bella Vespa - You have a beautiful Vespa and one for Charlie with Wings, with wings ja... Lo guido come e' ho rubato - I ride it like I stole it. Ciao!

Margherita

First thing this morning on my agenda was to drop Sophia, my Vespa ET4, off at Vespa South Africa. I did so with fear of expecting a huge bill, but that is still to come. Anyway for this reason my heart was heavy as I buried myself in SEO reports all day. Being a very hot day and sitting for long hours behind a computer screen, I started to nod off by mid afternoon. I needed oxygen. I needed to wake up. Looking forward to this evening I was spoilt for choice of what to do. On one hand there was the Robotic Orchestra and on the other was a Creative Conversation on the Art Directors Club and Wacom Power. 

The Robotic Orchestra featuring no humans is a robotic concert by electronic and mechanical means only with carbon based life forms restricted to the audience only. The robotic performers were designed by the Wits Interactive Media students along with the Wits School of Electrical Engineering.

My other choice was the Creative Conversation on the Art Directors Club and Wacom Power held at Morning Star Designs in Linden. There was a couple of friends that I hadn't seen in a long time going to be there and this swung the choice of evening do in this direction although I would have loved to have heard the robots play Beethoven. Anyway it was good to see Jim from DDS based in Cape Town again and of course Mo. 

Above is Margherita who introduced herself to me at the Creative Conversation as an Inventor. I heard about people like these but thought they were myths. Well here is one in the flesh, a girl inventor. Although I am not 100% sure of exactly what does she invent. I think, if I remember correctly something to with telecommunication. 

During the course of the evening I got an SMS from Paulo stating that Sophia is fixed and ready for collection tomorrow. Apparently one of the variators was damaged and they replaced the rollers. I am not sure what a variator is but I am sure the inventor would know.

On a Hot Summer's Night

Would you offer your throat to the wolf with red roses? Late afternoon I went to pick up Sophia from Paulo's mechanic and the plan was to join our small group of Vespa friends, the Posers Scooter Club for another evening run. But it was all disappointment when Sophia with a new clutch still had a problem. She is trying to take off in third gear which is not right. This time a roller is expected to be the culprit.

Now being posers, that didn't stop us still doing an evening ride. So Paulo and I loaded Sophia up onto the back of Sassette, my bakkie/pickup, and off we went to join the others for a hot summer's night ride. The wild and free poser posse consisting of three Vespas, including one on the back of a bakkie and a Hog headed for the Schwarma Co. in Norwood for supper. With Meatloaf rocking from the bakkie and Neil Diamond from the Hog, we were defiantly the Posers Scooter Club.

Later on we sat at a side walk cafe called Piccola Prima Donna, being simply good friends. You took the words right out of my mouth.

Shotgun Tori

And she played bare feet, yes Shotgun Tori played bare feet, she always plays this way so if you haven't heard her sing yet, you better get out of your cardboard box and come listen to our own home grown indie folk singer. Or better still Shotgun Tori has just tonight launched her new EP called "are we fine yet?" so go, yes go demand it from your local music store.

It was awesome just sitting there amongst close friends and family of Victoria at the launch of "are we fine yet?" I first met Tori at a tattoo parlor, no you don't get to ask if I have a tattoo 'cause I don't want to disappoint you. She was like this sensual being who floated into my peripheral and never went away. Anyway tonight I just closed my eyes and let the indie folk music wash over me as thoughts of Zooey Deschanel, Lisa Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks and would you believe it Kimya Dawson came streaming into my mind. No they not all indie folk singers but Tori came across as a combination of all five. Well done Tori on a successful launch of you album and may your career be as awesome as the artists whose names flowed through my mind as I heard you sing.

Richard

With news of Sophia's new clutch parts arriving today and that she may be ready by this afternoon kept my spirits up throughout Monday but towards the end of the day the news came in that the mechanic didn't have time to get to her, suddenly I wanted to unlike Monday, unfriend her or even block her but Monday was nearly over so all I could do was limp home with my tail between my legs.

Ahh but I shouldn't forget, my boss, the CEO of National Positions South Africa did allow me to take a photograph of him. So this Monday wasn't so bad after all. On this rare occasion Richard must have let his guard down or got tired of me pestering for a photograph or even felt sorry for me that my Vespa was still out of commission, anyway whatever the reason it was nice of him. Thanks, for the silver lining on what would have been a unlikeable Monday.

Gout Cocktail

I limped into the chemist this morning to get some relief from this awful pain. The pharmacist reached for this pre-prepared cocktail of pills labelled gout which he said will make me feel right as rain within 15 mins. Well it took an hour and my left ankle was feeling much better but by evening the gout was returning. I don't think I will be able to live on pills. I have cut out most common known gout causing foods and drinks already. What else, maybe the dairy products next.

Acute Gout Attack

I started getting gout early last year and I identified the cause after eating some health bread and yogurt which I then cut out of my diet. From June this year the gout returned with vengeance and I haven't yet put my finger on the dietary problem. The gout medicine and health products don't seem to cure my gout which is coming more frequent. I woke up this morning after a terrible night without sleeping, well because of a sudden return of the gout to my left ankle. I then overdosed with pain killers and took my Italian Greyhounds for a walk or was it a run with Matthew and some dog walking friends at the bottom of my garden. The pain was about gone when I returned from the dog walk so I caught up with some well needed sleep. Late afternoon Matthew and I went over to Paulos to join some of my friends for a braai (BBQ)and during the evening the pain killers started wearing off. Ouch, what a painful drive back home. Sorry not staying up too long to write a post but I need to overdose again :-(

Canon Ceres

Ahh product placement, I think I need to raise some money for the upcoming Canon Expo from the 9 to 11 December 2011 at the Sandton Convention Centre here in Johannesburg. So first Canon gets a great mention on my blog, cough cough, Roger Machin I could do with a new lens even if it is for test purposes. Yes that may be a wonderful idea, the Joburg Photowalkers testing Canon lenses, I surpose then we can write reports on loaned Canon equipment. Now for the Nikon photowalkers, argh shame! Sorry for you, I don't know anyone from Nikon.

Matthew, shown here is starting to get his head around advertisement and product placement as he shows his Ceres 100% Apple Juice fresh from the eden of the cape. I am sure Matthew and I can do with some more delicious Ceres fruit juice all the way from the valley of fruitfulness to our fridge. Oh course the Ceres placement photo was taken with my awesome Canon 550D with the Canon 50mm f1.5 lens.

36°C

With temperatures in the mid 30s, Johannesburg wasn’t the place to unless you had air-conditioning. Our office’s aircon is on the blink but luckily Sassette, my blue smurfy pickup had. Since Sophia, the Vespa, is in for repairs, I have been using Sassette and this messes with my fuel budget but the aircon has been a blessing. I am sure Pretoria would have been much hotter than the 36°C here. And Malema received his 5 year suspension from the ANC but I am sure he will be back soon. Hurry up, Friday, my patience is wearing thin.

Jacaranda mimosifolia

This past month saw the Westcliff Heritage Trust, the Johannesburg Photowalkers and the Pretoria Stadstapper Fotoklap do walks under the majestic purple flowers of the Jacaranda trees. Sadly I missed the walks this year but to make it up, this is the view just outside my office in Forest Town. After a rainstorm, the fallen flowers make the roads look like they covered in purple snow.

The Jacaranda mimosifolia are not native to South Africa but where introduced when seeds were brought over from Argentina in 1888. There are now estimated more than 70,000 Jacarandas in Pretoria alone which explains why it is also known as the Jakarandastad. It is said that there are now more Jacarandas in Johannesburg than Pretoria and the Joburg Photowalkers will tell you they are much more beautiful than the ones in Pretoria.

Sadly the Jacaranda have become too numerous and are said to be endangering the local plants. They have been listed as a Category 3 alien invasive plant which means that no more Jacarandas are permitted to be planted and only trees planted before 2001 are allowed to exist provided that are not within 30m of a river or dam. My grand children would still see these wonderful purple flowers but would their children see the purple snow.

Arigato Tokiko Kato

My day started out sad as I loaded Sophia onto Sassette and drove to the C2 Construcoes Moçambique workshop to deliver Sophia into the hands of the mechanic. Thankfully it was a Tuesday and no Monday blues to be had.

This evening I joined the small Japanese and the Joburg cultural community for the Siyabonga Charity Concert held at the Joburg Theatre. Tonight was special as one of the greatest Japanese folk singers Tokiko Kato performed with some of South African legends such as Victor Masondo and Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse. Tokiko Kato started her singing career over 40 years ago and is sometimes called the Japanese Joan Baez. She is well known for her passionate heart and is a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Special Envoy. The Siyabonga Charity Concert was Tokiko Kato's way to thank South Africa for their help in the disaster that befell Japan earlier in the year. Wow what a fusion of Japanese folk music and African rhythms.

Tokiko Kato sang in this soft velvety voice as pictures of people recovering in the aftermath of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami were projected onto a screen...
Are you safe now?
Aren’t you cold?
Aren’t you hungry?
Do you have a place to sleep?

Sophia down, not out

Driving home this evening Sophia decided to pack it in. She would not go any further. She had no power at takeoff and only once we got going did she purr. Luckily we were not too far from home with one slight hill which we walked up and then cruised slowly down towards home.

I went over to Paulo's home and here we discussed Sophia's symptoms over dinner and wine. We came to the conclusion that her clutch must have packed in. The clutch on the Vespa ET4 is quite a simple device and it should last a long time but Sophia is over 40,000 km already and she did Sani Pass which must has punished the clutch mechanism. Vespa South Africa being rather expensive in the servicing department has made a large number of Vespa fanatics look elsewhere for service. Paulo arranged that I drop off Sophia at his mechanic tomorrow morning so he can see if he can fix it. His mechanic services all Paulo's Vespas so hopefully he can diagnose Sophia's illness.

Arkleton

Despicable me. All my plans for today just went straight out of the window. Nothing happened, the birthday bash in Edenvale, the Medieval Fair and the Jacaranda Walk. The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. In the end I did managed to take a photo of the old Arkleton House which is now used by the High Commissioner of India. Some thing did go right. I also managed to limp my way around the dog park with my three little ones enjoying every moment of it and not to forget I watched the Dispicable Me movie at Martin and Magda's home with Paulo joining us. Aww man... My catapillar never turned into a butterfly.

Johnny and Johnny

Why Johnny? Why two you may ask, well Matthew held a small lunch party with a few select friends at Northgate today and afterwards we went to watch Johnny English's latest film Reborn that was released a few weeks ago. Johnny English, played by Rowan Atkinson, is a James Bond styled secret agent, well an inept one at that. The kids, I include myself in that term :-P enjoyed the movie.

The other Johnny was the cherry on top of the cake. Due to Johnny Clegg's huge public demand after the sold out once off 30th Anniversary concert in Cape Town, it was decided to bring it to Johannesburg for a now not so once off concert with all the old surviving members of Juluka and Savuka playing on stage. His music career actually started 40 years ago when Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu, a gardener formed a duo called well Johnny and Sipho. Later they formed the band called Juluka which means Sweat in isiZulu and was the name of Mchunu's bull. The band split in 1985 when Mchunu was recalled to his home near Kranskop by his tribal elders. Johnny went to form Savuka.

Wow it was awesome to see the two old men Mchunu and Johnny on stage, playing, singing and dancing. I doubt this will ever be repeated. It was an awesome evening with good music and history. For the record I want the song The Crossing to be played at my funeral.

I sing dela, dela ngyanya dela when I'm with you, dela, sondela mama sondela, I burn for you.

I think I know why the dog howls at the

Anti Monday

Fridays are the anti-Monday. It is the start of the weekend and not to forget Matthew's thirteenth birthday. Whoop whoop! Ahhh Friday! By mid morning, I had a surprise arrived at the office, a new desk and a way more comfortable chair was delivered to Sean and I. This took up quite some time with Louise trying to make it fit just right. Other than my new furniture, I did some easy coding for a client and played around with some of the stuff that I learnt yesterday at the g|south africa 2.0 #gsouthafrica About 4pm Richard, my boss, pop a beer in front of me and that was the end of my working Friday. Let the weekend begin.

Serious Gangsta Skills

I'm starting a band babe, starting a band. What could have come over me? Well today I attended Google's g|south africa 2.0 at the Turbine Hall in Newtown and I better put the hash tag here or I'll never here the end of it #gsouthafrica Anyway, side tracked there for a bit, this is the next iteration of digital according to Google. Here they showed us an in depth understanding of their products which included Google+ (Hangout, Ripples AWESOME as it shows how your post spreads as users share it), AdWords, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Places, Webmaster tools, Website Optimizer, Analytics and YouTube.

Towards the end Google brought in three South African YouTube Stars who made it. Pieter Cilliers or aka Peter Carvell and his Sixpack Factory, Griffen, his controversial website, Wat Kyk Jy with Die Antwoord - Zef Side and please don't look at the Pink Floyd shorts, and the drummer Cobus Potgieter (In the Top100 musicians on YouTube) 30 Seconds to Mars. They made it look so easy that even I now want to start a band.

But to end this post off I will link to the Google+ Hangout video that was shown to us at the start of g|south africa 2.0 and that was when the Dalai Lama was refused entry into South Africa to attend his friend Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday by the South African government and their puppet masters China. Google+ stepped in and held a Google+ Hangout between the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. Enjoy all you Very Special People.

The End is Naai

According to stand up comedian, Mark Sampson, if the End is Naai, then the Afrikaners would be looking forward to it while us English are well in a pickle aren't we.

Tonight Craig had invited a few friends to the Theatre on the Square to watch a comedian that even I have never heard of. Who the heck is Mark Sampson, another Trevor Noah? Well off I went, not sure what to expect from what I’ve been told about this Green Comedy called Africa Clockwise. And walking into the theatre and seeing all the geriatrics out numbering us middle aged folk didn’t help at all. Are they here to learn how to turn back the clock as their time is near midnight?

Press, media, friends and grandparents night must be a hard audience for a standup to well stand up. But Mark Sampson pulled off a hilarious evening of standup comedy, well that was after climbing over all the walkers parked in the aisles. Mark had us rolling with laughter as we learnt how to be Warriors and to whatsup the Wasters with a W sign. I can now see all these geriatrics hobbling up to a large Sandton 4x4 and spraying out "We're Walker Worriers and you are Wasters". Well memory is not their strong point but they get the hand sign Wright I'm sure.

Next year in April, I think, Mark is going to pack up his family into a green groot trok and go off the grid into darkest Africa. By doing Africa clockwise he hopes to learn and teach on how Africans can live without Eishkom and be richer for it. So before he goes, make sure you get to see him on stage and of course any sponsors for the trip are welcome.

Earth will survive global warming, it is us humans who don't know how to be rich that won't. Live Long and Prosper.

Sister Emmi

This year has glided past so fast that I am not sure if it really happened. It is nearing the end of my fifth year of this blog with this being my 1766 post with 18089 page views. In numbers terms it is not a lot but you must bear in mind that it did start off slowly. Today is the start of the final month before Christmas which means one more pay day till then, as Emmelinah (shown above) said today, that she is not looking forward to Christmas this year. Emmi continues to amaze me, although it has been a hard year for her, she still has a smile for me and something nice to tell me. The cherry on top of today is that Nyasha gave birth to a lovely baby girl this afternoon at Olivedale. No name yet but Moses well let us know soon.