I’m glad Christmas is over. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-Christmas, but I’m just glad that it’s over. The Christmas period used to be very special to me as a child because it meant holidays, new clothes and an abundance and indulgence in food, which is one of my favourite things still, but Christmas […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle
Just call me Ms …
Listen up all you telemarketers, banking consultants, conveyancing attorneys, and the like, because this one’s for you. Don’t, ever, call me “Mrs”, at least not before you’ve taken the trouble to ascertain whether I am, actually, married. Let’s just take some time out and think about this. Calling someone you’ve never met before “Mrs” implies […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Local Facebook number decline halts
Yes, you read correctly, local Facebook numbers have been dropping until today. Today is the first day that the number of Facebook users from South Africa stopped declining since January 3. Well it’s probably been longer, according to Tyler Reed, but I only started tracking them after I saw him post a comment on Twitter. […]
Posted inLifestyle
Free inspiration
It’s a new year! How splendid. And in honour of the new year, I’ve got a new blog angle: these are a few of my favourite things. Basically, I’m going to be sharing with you things that I love — food, websites, quirks, funny things people say, music, moments of beauty. Sound cheesy? Well, maybe […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Double-barrelled surnames — just blame them on Felicia
For a nation that has so vehemently cast off the shackles of colonialism, we South Africans have done a bloody good job of opting for that ridiculous British anachronism — the double-barrelled surname. It’s even stranger that this rather pompous trait seems to be confined almost exclusively to high-powered female members of the ruling party. […]
Posted inLifestyle
Stories from the city, stories from the sea
I know that the holiday season is never a good way to judge a city. If I was to look around Jo’burg for something to do over the festive season, I would probably come up with very little, as many music venues, galleries and theatres shut down. It’s understandable, given the mass exodus that takes […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
‘The roots of fear’ and the leaftips of hope
Sharon Begley, an outstanding reporter/writer for Newsweek, wrote an exceptional piece on the roles and rules of fear and hope in American presidential politics (“The roots of fear”, December 24 2007). Against the backdrop of South Africa’s mostly superficial Bakelite* political analysis in which the same tawdry arguments about personalities and so-called “policy planning” (an […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Writers and the fallacy of fame
Margaret Atwood wrote: “Wanting to meet an author because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like paté.” She continued by saying “that’s a light enough comment upon the disappointments of encountering the famous, or even the moderately well known — they are always shorter and older and more […]
Posted inLifestyle
About the (un)affordability of life
If interest-rate and price hikes continue as they have last year, life will look bleak for many South Africans in 2008. It’s the most basic things in life, the kind of costs that no one can really escape, that suddenly got increasingly expensive — in short: food, petrol and rent. Our quality of life is […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Hope returns: Obama’s victory and global politics
Damn, I love Americans. Just when you’ve written them off as hopeless, as a nation in decline, they turn around and do something extraordinary, which tells you why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on earth. But too, what is happening in America and Kenya holds lessons for politicians everywhere, and […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Talent is the new oil — why SA is running on empty
“Talent is the new oil and demand far outstrips supply,” executive search firm Heldrick & Struggles, in partnership with the Economist intelligence unit, noted in its Global Talent Index released late last year. But South Africa is getting it wrong if it wants to become globally competitive.
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Alive with possibility?
Recently my cellphone rang. I couldn’t recognise the number. It was very long, but I answered apprehensively anyway. “Hey, Dad!” a familiar voice boomed, “I am standing here in First Street, United States, with my arm around my gorgeous wife and looking down at Cinderella’s Castle.