The news...

I realize that I haven’t blogged lately. This is mainly due to the fact that I have not been at work and therefore, have taken a break from all things remotely work related.

I went to Johannesburg to visit my dad. I had a really good time. Went to The Lost City. Now these establishments are not necessarily my cup of tea. Sorry Sol, but casinos and such never quite lose their tacky/seedy trailer park feel for me. The scale of things was very impressive nonetheless and all in all it was quite fun. We also went on a game drive in the Pilanesberg and saw one or two animals. My camera broke (again) and so I gave up photography for the weekend. A bit frustrating really.

On the Saturday we drove through to my dad's hockey match which I umpired. I was glad to have had this opportunity because there ahve been some relatively big rule changes with which I wanted to familiarise myself. I was a tad rusty but got back into the swing of things quite quickly.

On the Satursay evening I had dinner with a wonderful friend of mine who I got to meet in person for the first time. Sounds wierd, but we became friends on Mxit (Yes, you read it correctly) and got along famously. We went to The Meat Co. at Montecasino (Yes, I know). We had an amazing meal and a great time.

The following day, I umpired another match which was much better than the first (in terms of decisions). We then proceeded to set off for Cullinan because we aimed to go down the mine on the Monday morning. We stopped at Sammy Marks' mansion which is a definite must - see for anyone travelling in that area. It was amazing to see some of the things in the house (which were all over a hundred years old) and to hear what this guy accomplished in his lifetime.

On the Monday we went down the mine. Quite an experience and an entire post in and of itsself! I can't hope to do it justice here, so I'm not even going to try. Suffice it to say that I will remember it for a long time to come! Can you believe that they drive Land Cruisers around down there!?

I have begun riding again and have racked up about 340km in 3 weeks or so. I’ve had a think about the training though and this is what I have come up with: If I can commit to an hour or so (sometimes more) a day, I can hope, at this stage, to cover about 25km in that time. This gives me 125km for 5 days. Then on the weekends I can do a long one which will be anywhere from 50 to 100km. This gives me a maximum of 225km. I know also that time in the saddle counts more really than anything else since you obviously cover more distance as you get stronger so time wise I’m looking at somewhere between 8 to 10 hours a week. Theoretically speaking that is. I’m still getting there. At the moment I’m sitting at about 110km (or 6 hours) a week.

In other news, I went with Ben Carlson to judge a Cappucino and to see the new Simonelli machine. Apparently it's not necessary to tamp on it since it pressurises the coffee itsself before the shot starts. Still... Oh! I almost forgot! I bought an amazing packet of Ethiopian Harrar from Been There in Jo'burg. Honestly, I had my doubts about the place before I went but I was very impressed and the espresso that I had there ranked among the top five cups I've had. Well worth a visit. You just have to get past the arty farty vibe that permeates the entire cluster of shops though. Honestly, I'm a little bit over the art boho coffee shop scene.

This weekend coming is the SCASA regional Barista cometition and should be loads of fun! It's running at uShaka Marine World. Personally, I'm rooting for Sipho. The guy has come a long way and IMHO is the best barista in town. Cafe Jiran has definitely hedged their bets and are sure to get some decent brand exposure since Sipho, Lucky and Muzi are all from Jiran. Imagine a 1,2,3.

All right, work beckons. Photos of aforementioned trip (up until the camera broke down) to follow...

Things some people did on the weekend(s)

We've just had two weeks (with two long weekends and a public holiday) which have been very short. Of course, everybody wants to squeeze 5 days into three so as not to waste time and this results in a rather stressful three - day week. Over the last while I have been doing the UNISA assignments mentioned previously, marking, churching and helping Keith with The Tour Durban. Anyway, all of this busyness has impacted negatively on my sleep - which is not good!

The tour Durban went off well - I was in the sweep vehicle because I couldn't ride due to illness. I think it was a great way to still be involved. I just wish that I had seen the guys in my team - it would have been nice to shout a few words of encouragement. However, since you are following the last rider, you tend to miss the guys at the front - which is where the lads generally are.

Other than that, I have some photos of people who appear to have been having a lot of fun this weekend. Well, Sort of...

Greg was playing with his first aid kit...

Keith was playing with Robert's Bicycle (Robert is the guy in the cycling kit)...

Setting the gears...

I got in a double "Espresso Con Panna" or two. This amazingly delicious drink is a normal double espresso with pouring cream (if you look carefully, you can see the white bits in the crema) on top. You have to pour the cream over the back of a spoon so as not to break the crema. Hmmmm...

What a week!

My Goodness! The week (especially today) has just flown by! There has been plenty to do: voting, marking, preparing UNISA assignments, preparing for a fictitious (well, I missed it apparently) moderation, working with Keith on arrangements (sort of) and just generally being busy. I was looking forward to having a chill this weekend but apparently that's out of the question since I have one last assignment to get in before the 30th.

Oh well. At least tomorrow evening, the famous four will be getting together for another raz. Undecided about what's going on still, but whatever. It always ends up being fun. Well, mostly. Been having the most whack (that's a RogerGordonism) dreams lately about some weird stuff. Running through a game reserve being hunted by grizzly bears (in the middle of Africa - for Pete's sake!) because my car was covered by a mudslide. I remember lots and lots of mud everywhere. And my hiking boots didn't have laces for some reason. I remember being really bummed about the lack of laces and thinking that I could definitely have run faster if I'd had some. I suppose that the brain does odd things when you're tired (and sick).

I managed to sleep a lot yesterday. I definitely needed it though. Dealing with conflict all day definitely saps your energy!

Anyway, it's back to work for me now...

Hello

This will be a short post. I promise. Work is proceeding as planned. Well, sort of, given that the plan changes a lot, I think I've done fairly well. As long as I can stick it out I think I might just get though this week unscathed. I hate weeks like this. At the end it's always the same: collapse into bed on Friday and wake up sometime late Sunday afternoon. Well, not this time though because I've got to play on Sunday morning but you get the picture. The social life suffers. I just bought an album: The Killers - Hot Fuss. I really enjoy these guys. Just in time too: I was getting bored of all my music.

Photos (At Last)!

On the way to one of my buddy's house in Hillcrest. Just a nice photo really.

The way that "soldiers" (see my previous post) are supposed to look. The eggs were present too, although not pictured, they were waiting to be eaten by yours truly.

The view of Durban Harbour from my room. If you look carefully, you can see the MSC Melody in Port.

These photos of the school fields don't really do them justice. They are looking great at the moment.

The main field.

My Easter Vac

I didn't do much work at all during the vac, so I was in for a rude surprise when I saw what needs to be done by the end of the month. There is a fair whack, but on the other hand, I think I needed the uninterrupted time to rest and recover from last term's shenanigans. Anyway, it's shoulder to the wheel again and I've realised by now that in even the most pressured situations when you have a million deadlines, if you keep your head and work through things systematically, you will invariably come out fine on the other side. So I'm not really phased about being busy over the next while. As long as I work consistently.

I have had an interesting few days. Firstly, I went off to Southbroom with some mates: Harpur, Shonk, Tarryn, Crowder and Siobhaun. Siobhaun and I drove down on the Monday - the others had been there for a few days already. Lots of fun - I love the South Coast of Natal. Maybe its because we always went down there on holiday as kids? Anyway, that was a goodie. Spent the rest of the (very short) vac chilling with Keith and Dale and just knocking about in general.

I got some sort of viral infection which sucks since I can't cycle (or do any exercise) for +/- two months. I have been walking though - keeping the HR low but at least getting the muscles to work a bit. So Tour Durban is out. I'm bleak about this since it might have been a good ride for me. Well, I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.

On Monday we (Keith, Angie, Shonk, Tarry, Siobhaun and I) had coffee (I think I may have had tea though) at a place in Kloof called Vanille. Interesting spot. Fairly pleasant, but a bit girly to be honest. I did however, get to experience the joys of dippy eggs and Marmite soldiers - the reason for them being called soldiers is that the pieces of toast are cut straight up and down giving them the appearance of soldiers who are standing at attention. This fact seems to have been lost on whoever was making the soldiers since what was presented to me was less ranks of soldiers standing smartly at attention and more a bloody mess of torn and ripped soldier bits - possibly after having driven over a landmine in their little A.P.C. (Armoured Personnel Carrier - for the less militarily inclined among you). The runny egg yolk only heightened the perception of carnage. Perhaps it was some sort of sick joke on the part of the chef? I plan to go back and ask some time. Also, there was no Marmite. Damn it!

What else? Oh ja, watched a great documentary about a police unit in Brazil known as B.O.P.E. Not for the faint of heart, but the environment in which they work undoubtedly calls for some of the tactics used. They are quite literally at war with the drug dealers and criminals in the slums of Rio. Well worth a watch.

I also managed to see the Zhen Hua No. 23 berth in Durban Harbour on Monday morning (I think). Apparently, she is the biggest ship to have come into the harbour and she was carrying a cargo of cranes that will be use to speed up the rail transfer times (as far as I was told). What amazed me is the way that the cranes are secured to her foredeck! One can only imagine how she handles in heavy seas. I suppose she must have enormous ballast tanks. She left yesterday - the tugs towed her quite far out too, probably to a point in line with West Street or whatever it's now called.

Quite amazing to see.

I think that's all for now. Photos to follow.

P.S. My Camera is broken, so they may take a while.

Hi. Again.

Maybe some of you have read my ill - fated attempt to restart blogging in Taiwan. Maybe some of you don't know me or don't really care anyway. Either way, this is another (hopefully more successful) attempt to turn over a new leaf and do the blog thing once again. I found it to be rather a fun outlet in Grahamstown. So there we have it.