The Voortrekkers who built the wagon track we rode up and down today were hardcore, and clearly they were desperate to reach the orchards of the Witzenberg Valley. The trail, and I use that term loosely, winds 1000m into the sky over about 10km. At times it looks no more than two and half metres […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle
Absa Cape Epic: Update from a steep, filthy gulley
“When in doubt, go up” is useful dictum to use when one is unsure of which route to take in the mountains. Securing the high ground and keeping it keeps you from plunging down the wrong gulley and having to climb back out of it later. In theory. I think the chap who plotted the […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Lurking and loving it
I’m pretty sure Dan Brown lost that symbol of his on Twitter. I know this because, unlike active twitterers, I lurk in the shadows and read what they tweet. And sometimes they tweet things like, “RT @spytap: @wildurst @antichrista Yay! #shoutout #it’sbeenawhile #justsaying”. This now passes for a sentence on Twitter — a series of […]
Posted inLifestyle
En route to Afghanistan
I was offered a job in Afghanistan. Exactly what kind of work is not at issue. It was everyday stuff, though the context was unusual. Unsurprisingly the family was not impressed and I had to decide whether the job would be too dangerous or not. From the word go I struggled to get a straight […]
Posted inLifestyle
Don’t leave voicemail. Just don’t
I have a confession to make. I don’t listen to voicemail. Ever. No, wait: that’s an exaggeration, I do listen to it from time to time, usually weeks later, when I’ve long since communicated with you anyway or you’ve given up trying to get hold of me. I decided to come clean after reading this […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Lifestyle
Powering madness
For a while now I’ve been trying to wrap my head around how recent events in Japan and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are similar in some way; what’s the link between them? I’m not talking about some weird conspiracy theory, like the one linking the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami […]
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Would you like to have coffee with me?
So I had a brief chat to someone on Facebook the other day. I’d met him once a couple of months ago and we’d never got around to following up. During the course of our exchange, he suggested we “go for a coffee some time”. I found this interesting. Coffee is quite clearly intended to […]
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My Steri Stumpie moment
I estimate my Cape Epic partner and I have downed about 100 chocolate, cream soda and strawberry flavoured milk drinks in the last six months. This has been my greatest, most deserved pleasure. When SMSs have flown around between friends — Are you surfing tomorrow? Wind’s looking perfect, let’s meet at Lakeside at 8.30; reserve […]
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Mud, Alchaholic drinks and money (sometimes)
This weekend I laughed more than I have laughed in a very long time. My mother was tidying out drawers and found my Std 2 Guidance schoolbook. It’s a slim A5 drawing book, and it makes for fascinating reading. For me, at least, because it’s a telescope through 26 years to an earlier version of […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Ek is ‘n Boer…or am I?
By Anton I Botha A while back I wrote a little piece on the Afrikaner as villain which was meant to be a light-hearted reflection on my own cultural identity and its portrayal in the popular media. More recently the comments made by Jimmy Manyi and others again made me think of race and culture. […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
An open letter to Kulula (Or is it Khulula?)
I didn’t know who to address this to so I decided to write an open letter. As you might have noticed, this has become a very popular method of addressing officials in high places. (Did you see that pun? “High places”. Hahaha! Funny huh! OK, maybe it’s just me.) I thought that I should probably […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Are you looking for Jesus Two?
No matter how advanced we become, no matter how far up the evolutionary ladder we think we have clambered, there is one thing we continue to do. Look for the next man-god. Someone we can put on a pedestal. Someone to worship. A perfect being who can do no wrong, who will carry us in […]