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...
