Archive for the ‘community’ Category
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 |
My sister and I went to our old neighbourhood to cast our votes today.
We chatted in the car about Patricia de Lille – my sister votes for her regardless of which party she is in.
As we arrived in the neighbourhood, my sister asked if I knew who the candidates are. I didn’t.
“It’s uncle M.” An old neighbour.
And lo and behold, there was his poster – an ANC one! Thank goodness I could vote for someone I know!
So we saw and chatted with some old neighbours, which was fun.
We were in and out of the polling station in no time at all. No queues, or anything.
I was happy to cast my vote today and appreciative towards the people who fought to give us all that right.
Can you believe there was a time we couldn’t?
my ballot
Posted in community, politics | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 |
This morning I woke up at exactly 07.05 – bit later than I normally would as I’m on holiday.
As usual I looked up at the digital clock to check the time, only to be greeted by flashing numbers.
A sure sign of a power failure!
The numbers on the clock indicated that power had been restored an hour and 5 minutes earlier.
But it was raining and the wind was howling. An explanation only a fellow citizen of this fine city will understand. (For the rest of the planet: in Cape Town rain affects our brain functions.)
And being me and Capetonian and from the Southern Suburbs, I immediately went into panic mode.
“What if power hadn’t been restored before I had my coffee?” Heaven forbid!
“I have to go out TODAY and get a flask, camping light and gas stove.” All this while still laying in bed.
Half an hour later…
“Better go make that coffee. NOW!”
Which I did while checking Twitter on my Blackberry.
(Better add a gas charger for my phone to that list.)
Turns out I wasn’t the only concerned Capetonian. But what surprised me more than anything was the fact that there were Capetonians up at 5am when the power failure occurred.
“Who are these people”, I wondered. “Immigrants from up north?”
A mug of coffee and no sign of another power failure restored some sanity.
But I wondered how our two nuclear reactors were doing. (See, we treat those reactors at Koeberg as family members. Their health is of extreme concern to us. And we get occasional updates in the media.)
“Unit one is having routine maintenance,” might seem, well… routine to the average South African.
The average citizen of Cape Town frowns worriedly.
“Routine my arse!”
“The ANC is victimising us again.”
“There’s a reason Koeberg was built in Cape Town.”
Or
“What are they not telling us?”
Let me tell you: our legendary laid back status is conditional. It only applies when we can wear shorts, both Koeberg units 1 and 2 are fully functional and when it’s a working day.
I don’t know how the rest of the country survives these blackouts, but here in Cape Town we take it personally. Some of us even take winter personally.
Btw. I did go out to the shops today, but came back with a pizza, coke and Doritos. I have to stock up on necessities in case there’s another power failure.
Posted in cape town, community | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 |
This blog had it’s first birthday yesterday and I forgot! I can’t even believe it.
Anyway, it’s been much more fun than I could have ever imagined. Especially early in the year with elections.
When I started this blog I decided to use my real name and state my opinions – whether popular or unpopular. And that’s how it’s been.
I felt that if I couldn’t stand by what I wrote, I should not write anything at all.
Unsuprisingly, political posts were not amongst the most popular of this blog, although they were probably the most controversial and commented on.
I was called an idiot often during that election period - but I took that to mean ‘job well-done’.
The most popular post over the last year just happened to have been Emma on 7de Laan’s weightloss.
South African celebrity weddings were also popular, especially Cindy Nel’s and Bryan Habana’s.
Most visitors loved the Vodacom Single Ladies Advert, making it the third most popular post.
A few times I’ve nearly run out of bandwidth – the last time in November this year. So during my break from my day job, I will have to rethink how much I want to the blog to grow and whether to upgrade my hosting package.
I look forward to another year of blogging.
Thank you to everyone who popped in over the last year. You’ve made blogging one of the best experiences of the year.
Posted in community | 3 Comments »
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 |
Today, like every other day of the week, I received notification of my lottery winnings.
Not any lottery – but the UK one. And the amount is not a small one either.
There are a large number of zeros involved.
The only problem is the fact that I have never played the UK lottery – actually I seldom play our local one that costs R3.50.
But that’s besides the point.
My colleagues and I now and then discuss what we would do if we had to win the lotto – especially on a Monday morning.
Or gorgeous days like today when the sun’s shining and nobody feels like being indoors at the office.
My colleagues always have elaborate business ideas.
Not me.
I don’t want my own business, or anything that I have to be responsible for anything or anyone.
All I want to do is have look at my financial statements, go to gym and travel.
Hmmmm maybe I should rather enter the Top Travel competition and try to win a Rmillion worth of travel vouchers!
That is if my lottery winnings don’t pitch up in my bank account soon 
Posted in community | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 |
No longer will citizens of that white homeland called Orania have to put up with visits from Julius Malema.
All they have to do is claim refugee status and seek assylum in Canada.
And not only the great citizens of Orania…any white South African can claim to be so overwrought with living in a country ruled by black people and Canada will accept them.
Who knew?
Maybe they got the idea from the UK – that group of nations that give refugee status to sportsmen from South Africa, especially cricket players.
Does the Canadian government have sporting ambitions beyond ice hockey?
We better watch out because Australian sporting teams are struggling these days.
Gone are the hey days when their cricketers dominated every cricket match and their rugby team hasn’t won a Tri Nations match since their opening game of the 2009 season.
Their sport administrators could well be meeting with the Australian government to offer refugee status to a few South Africans in the near future.
The possibilities for first world countries with a dwindling population are endless…
Posted in community | No Comments »
.jpg)
