And there it went

Gone. At least very very soon. Gone forever. History. The past. 2009, That is.

It came as expected and it left as planned. At least there are still some guarantees in life.

We had the Confederations Cup and are now in the fast-lane counting down for the real thing. Bafana Bafana is soon of to Brazil for a training camp and the routemap to the goal. The English are over-confident it seems. North Korea is playing secret about their base location. The French have booked Knysna. The Japs will take George as their home. The Germans somewhere in Gauteng. Sometimes it seems that the world will stop after July 11, 2010. For SA it will be back to reality and normality. But first,.... it's show time.

Cheers. Viva 2010. Viva.

Victor came

December 29th. Around 630pm. Doorbell rings. There's Victor Brown. Not a name from a Tarantino movie, but a real person. A TV-man.

We called him earlier as we had some TV-DSTV-DVD set up troubles. You know,... when one machine doesn't seem to like the other one , and then another one seems confused about it all and then too many cables that look alike and all that.

Victor came and conquered. All sorted in a smooth operation,... and the introduction of some kind of switch box in between all these appliances. But the heart of the message is that Victor came on short notice, was friendly, fast, and on top of it all.

So in other words,.... Victor comes recommended: 082 4432807

That kid

It was some years ago. April or may. Somewhere deep in a forest in Liberia. A place of illegal mining for diamonds (no, I wasn't there to find some diamonds myself).

And there the kid stood and looked at us and smiled and just kept looking. With its intriguing eyes.

Words (take 2)

Champagne and candles. Ostrich meat. And some beef. And fruit-based desert. Snaps. Pope-assault. Terror-flight. Vuvuzela sounds through the night. Turkey. Ham. Champagne. Cake. Lost in translation. More snaps. Emails. Garmin. Drakensberg. Left-overs. Champagne in black glasses. Swimming pool. A Frenchman in grey shorts. A Brit with his sauce. A Sudanese and a South African getting married in 2010. Rosebank. A Zimbabwean lady. Primi Piatti with its Malawian waiter. Herb planting. Sunday Times with its mampara of the year (Julius obviously).

Before the storm

...And before the storm hit Fiji (back then in 2000 or 2001), some lovely flowers.

Words

Sun here, snow up North. Swissair. Pilanesberg. Garmin. Kanonkop Pinotage. And Amani. Saw on TV an advertisement for a combination of turkey, ham, duck. All in one roast. Walking the dogs. Weaver birds in construction fever. Tomatoes harvest. Jozi streets are calm-ish. Cape Town must be overcrowded. Countdown to June 11. Bafana Bafana soon to Brazil for training. Learning to score or the samba? Internet campaign across the UK keeps a reality tv song contest winner from the number 1 chart spot. Somebody in the US launched 'Tiger Woods condoms'. And then there is this photo from 2000 (or was it 2001?) of a storm brewing over Fiji.

Tomorrow and after that

Building a future that's better than today and yesterday is a common goal for every community on this earth.

So here in Sudan's southern 'capital' Juba, in a dirty, dusty road amidst garbage and rusty, abandonned trucks is a man starting to built the future next to a drawing of how that future should look.

Just a simple scene but the contrast between the hopefull-future drawing and the sandy road full of potholes was just two different worlds.

Up north

As yesterday was a very hot day in Johannesburg, up north in Europe (as well as in parts of the US) they got the other end of the stick. Snow storms.

Big and small

Got family hitting town tomorrow morning. And soon they're off to see some real African animals. The big 5 and the small 5 and plenty in between.

And one big one they will very likely encounter is the almighty one (talking about animals not religion!!).

Stuck in the mud

SA183 will bring a friend to OR Tambo today. A friend with whom in 2007 I got stuck in the mud in Liberia on our way to an illegal diamond mine spread out in a forest. Things you do sometimes....



It didn't take us too long to get out of our mud-pool and back on the road we were.

85th

So FIFA has just released its new world ranking of national teams. Spain remains on top and is obviously a serious contender to grab the world cup next July 11.

Brazil and the Netherlands follow in second and third place. First African nation is Cameroon on the 11th spot. The highest climber is Algeria, now 26th. Ivory Coast is on 16 and host Bafana Bafana can be traced way back down on the 85th spot. One up from the previous FIFA ranking. One spot after southern African brothers Zambia.

Last; that’s on place 203; is Papa New Guinea.

Tollgate with a smile

When you are driving to your holiday destination - be it on the N1 to Cape Town or Limpopo, or on the N3 to Durban - spare a thought and a smile for the workers in the tollgates. You could get a nice smile back!!

Copenhagen vs Joburg

So the world is gathered in lovely Copenhagen to talk about global warming, and CO2, and rising sea levels, and the spreading of draught, and financial compensation, and economic growth, and recycling, and North vs South, and all that important stuff.

But then living in Joburg over the last days feels like global cooling, with grey and rainy weather,and hail storms on top of it all. It's big time EISH!!

Unconquered

Yesterday. 14.40. That's when I started watching Invictus.

And I liked it. Damon, Freeman and Eastwood will be high up on the Oscar expectations list. It is a Hollywood movie looking at an historic event with 2 Hollywood stars. That's the way to look at Invictus; not as an historic documentary. But as a movie it is certainly entertaining and moving. I think Eastwood succeeded in mixing history, deeper meaning and enterainment very well.

And I also see that John Carlin's book on which the movie is based has been re-issued under the title Invictus .

In big, bright letters

There he walked in. This man with this black t-shirt with big, bright words on it.



Was kind of funny as the politico-social event he was attending started with a Christian and a Muslim prayer.

Freedom of thought and expression is a beautiful thing.

Main street

Main street Freetown....

Freetown beach

Just another day on Freetown's beach, Sierra Leone....

The boss on the barricades

It's always good when cultural icons (although I don't really like that word) stand on the barricades for a worthy human rights cause.

South Africa has a reasonable liberal, open-minded constitution, but that's not the case in many parts of the world.

Bruce Springsteen, aka The Boss, has issued a statement in support of the so called marriage-equality law that is being debated in his home state of New Jersey, USA. Bruce rightly states that equal rights for same sex couples is a civil rights issue. He wants the voices who believe in equal rights for every citizen to be heard and to be heard loud and clearly.

Right on Bruce, right on.

Container dreams

Spotted this article on page 3 of today's The Star. A 2010 container-hotel will be built on the Houghton Golf Club to accomodate World Cup fans.

It's based on examples in Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam, and London. I also saw once a container-lodge in Juba, Sudan.

It sounds rough but the box-hotel comes with all requirements and finishes: DSTV, internet, real furniture,.... Great idea. Creativity for simple, practical usage.

And after the worldcup it will just be packed and taken away to a new location,.... so that the golfers can return to their greens and hit some balls.

Soccer City

Check this out. The chief-engineer for the construction of the brand new Soccer City stadium is a Belgian! Marc Meire. He moved to SA in the 80s and started working for a local construction company. He climbed the ladder and the company became bigger and bigger too. It got the deal to built Soccer City and that's that. As a kid Marc admired New York's Twin Towers (RIP) and wanted to built something big and amazing. With Soccer City his dream came true.

Next Sunday Belgian tv VRT will show a feature about Marc and his Soccer City challenge. You can watch the channel on the Specialist Bouquet on DSTV. The channel is called BVN, which combines Dutch and Belgian broadcasters. The piece about Marc will be in Sportweekend - a weekly sports magazine - aired straight after the evening news, which starts at 8PM (SA time).

p.s. The story was filmed by a SA cameraman.

Brazil vs Spain

So the game is on! The world cup draw is history and it’s now full countdown mode.

When I was a kid I used to check out the group draw and then guess who will win and lose. Who would reach the next phase and then onwards etc etc... to the final.

So let’s try again. Sticking out my neck and predict. There are always some surprises (positive ones and negative ones) and teams in great shape now might disappoint next June, while other teams playing badly now might surprise the whole planet next year.

Anyway. Here we go.

Group A has Bafana Bafana, France, Uruguay and Mexico. Despite my hope for SA, my gut feeling is that France and Mexico will go through.

In group B I think Argentina will take the lead spot, followed by Nigeria. In group C my bets go to England and Algeria. Next is group D where I think Germany and Ghana will go through. In group E I see the Netherlands and Cameroon succeed. Group F will have Italy and Slovakia pushing through. In group G I think Brazil and Ivory Coast are the winners. And in group H I see Spain and Switzerland proceeding to the next phase.

In what is called the Round of 16 you will then have France vs Nigeria, with France pushing through. England against Ghana should be a great game but England will take it. Germany vs Algeria could be full of surprises but the German machinery is a hard one to beat. Argentina vs Mexico is a regional affair with Argentina probably pushing through. Holland against Slovakia will see the Dutchmen winning. Brazil vs Switzerland will be the end for the Alp-boys. Italy vs Cameroon might be the end of the cup holders Italy if the West Africans believe in their strength. Let’s go for Cameroon. And Spain vs Ivory Coast will be a tough one, but Torres will take Spain through.

That takes us to the Quarter Finals. The heat is on now! The 4 games I predict are:
Holland – Brazil, with Brazil winning it just. Tough game. France – England. With the Irish supporting the English. England should win this one. Argentina – Germany is a classic from note. Germany will probably deliver.Spain - Cameroon would be a fast game, but my gut feeling is that Spain will be on a high.

Football madness growing now as the Semi Finals are on. Brazil vs England and Germany vs Spain. Which then I guess and hope will lead to a Brazil against Spain final. And then all bets are off.

Freeman and Damon

December 11 will see the launch of Invictus, Clint Eastwood's movie about the historic rugby final in Joburg back in 1995.

It's the true story of how Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) strategically uses the world cup rugby final clash between the Springbokke and the All Blacks to unify the nation.

And on top of it all the Bokke won!!

There was this amazing, historic, unique, emotional moment where Mandela wearing captain Pienaar's number 6 jersey hands over the cup to Pienaar himself. And then the stadium rocks the nation.

Matt Damon plays Pienaar in the movie.

So from December 11 Invictus can be enjoyed in theaters across SA.

Simply Samoosas

She had been making them for many years. For the family, friends, neighbours, colleagues. Just like that. For the love of it.

And they were always excellent. The samoosas I mean. You would take one. Fall in love and take another one quickly. And then a 3rd one before the plate goes empty.

We had been saying it for some time that she needed to share this quality samoosas with more and more people. Let the world enjoy them. And so finally she did. She started making more and more of them and thus now you just can call her and place an order. Call “Simply Samoosas” on 083 2369112

Highly recommended,... if you didn’t get that by now.

Rituals

Nice. Rituals Coffee House at the Port Of Spain airport has free wireless. Besides very good coffee and tasty croissants. That's really great service. And also great sofas to relax while sipping coffee, enjoy a snack and cruise the web.

Somebody at OR Tambo should do the same. It really attracts customers.



Oh,.... and (once again) BA crew really needs an urgent lesson in smiling. It's nice for passengers! Maybe the BA staffers should take an SAA flight once and a while to remind them the difference between a smile and an ice-cold face.

The Serenade

Check this out. The Serenade of the Seas, the cruise ship brought to Port of Spain for extra accomodation during the Commonwealth summit.

It's like Las Vegas on the high seas,... in the 70s. And so kitsch!!

SAA

At least with aircrew on board SAA flights you can have a nice chat or a quick joke. And they will also smile and be overall friendly. Having just had the BA experience where everybody is robottic cold and seem to avoid any conversation with passengers.
The difference with SAA air staff really feels amazing.

A smile and friendly chat really goes a long way for customers.

Cabin 538

World gathering in a small town on a small island leads to not enough hotel rooms. And thus the organisers brought in a cruise ship into Port of Spain to increase pillow capacity.

I'm in cabin 538 on 2nd deck.

Terminal 5

The little screen on the back of 54G showed the progress through the night and into dawn: Lusaka, Kinshasa, Kano, Tunis, Cannes, Lyon, Paris, London. Like a smooth bird from the African continent into Europe.

And then facing reality as an autumn London is warmer than a spring Johannesburg. Strange but true. Maybe for some it's all about global cooling instead of global warming.

And then, after the admittingly good-looking Terminal 5 at Heathrow, encountering an unhappy bus driver enroute to Gatwick. The price, as it does in London for most things, a shocker. And then another bus, this time for a quick drive to the hotel. Just passing by, awaiting to catch BA2159. Another 11-hour journey with what the e-ticket calls a "technical stop".

Globetrotting.

Cruising earth

The global village. A friend's in Peru. One is soon of to Mexico. Family is watching wildlife in South Africa. Then there is the BA054 flight to catch and to connect onto BA2159. Then another friend is hitting Cape Town to be at the world cup draw.

It's like the whole world is around the corner.



France's qualification for the worldcup has re-opened the debate about using TV footage when the referee is in doubt or plainly wrong. Henry's handball that directly lead to France's qualifying goal last Wednesday evening is a black spot on the world cup fever. Henry himself admitted afterwards he played the ball with his hand and all the TV footage and photos were so obvious that the referee has really comitted a mortal sin that moment. The Irish feel betrayed by the blind referee. Rightly so. It's a human error but a serious one.

Countdown to December 4

So, that's done. All the qualifiers for next year's world cup are done and dusted. It's now all eyes on the draw in Cape Town on December 4.

The last games were nailbiting. The war of northern Africa between Algeria and Egypt was fought out in the desert of Khartoum and won by Algeria: 1-0. So the almighty African champs of Cairo wont come down to South Africa. The Sudanese government had put 400 doctors on alert last night in case the fans would go nuts.

And European giants Russia will also not come south. They lost 1-0 to and in tiny Slovenia. That hurts! France just made it against Ireland. I mean, just! And the world's most expensive player, Ronaldo, will be here as Portugal got through. Amazing come back because some months ago they looked set to stay home.

So now just Bafana Bafana needs to get the exact GPS coordinates to find the goal. The real countdown has begun....

Some more birdeye views

Some more from that lovely chopper flight from last Saturday....

From the sky

Took a chopper in Cape Town last weekend to go to Robben Island because the normal ferry to the prison-island didn't go out because of rough seas. The start of the short flight gave a great view from the Greenpoint Stadium.

Amani encounter

Smooth. The Amani Jordan Meyers 2006. A Cabernet Sauvignon - Shiraz mix from Amani Wines, near Stellenbosch.

Tasted some wines at Amani today and very nice. Especially the one mentioned above and their Merlot. Both won several awards worldwide.

Amani is also the home of the first non-white, female winemaker of South Africa: Carmen Stevens. A friendly, no-nonsense lady who knows the art of winemaking to the bone and knows what she wants.

Oh here's how the Amani site (www.amani.co.za) describes the Amani Jordan Myers 2006 vintage. The Jordan Myers Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon has a clear menthol element on the nose mixed with mocha, white pepper, toffee and licoric. The entrance on the palate is elegant yet concentrated with a fine tannin structure. The menthol aromas and white pepper follow through onto the palate and linger with a mixture of licorice and coffee. The wine's acid, alcohol and fruit is well balanced with the oak use. There is a lingering lime finish on the mid and back palate.

Euh.... I couldn't say it better.
Try and enjoy and appreciate.

Oh and Amani means.... Place of Peace in Swahili. And why a Swahili name ended up on a South African vintage is for you to discover.

95 Keerom

Still in Cape Town.

Heard about it from 2 friends earlier this year, so I had to try it out. 95 Keerom. A great restaurant in a great setting near well-known Long Street. It's at the end of Keerom Street, which is also the street with the High Court.

It's in former stables dating back to 1682. The menu is based on traditional Milanese cuisine. And I've never seen such a quality winelist together.

Hit it!!

Belgian style @ the Waterfront

Been there, done that,... and liked it. And somebody called me from there tonight.

Speaking about Den Anker, the Belgian restaurant in the Waterfront in Cape Town. Good food, great beer, nice setting. And regularly the seals are basking just along the side.

Being a Belgian establishment beer plays a fundamental role. there is no escaping to that! Be it white beer or the adventurous Kwak. And the food is simply delicious. Meat and seafood, and of course perfect chips with mayonaise. There are still guarantees in life.

Oh, and finish the meal of with some Belgian chocolates. The real thing!

Show time

Still rollercoasting on. Oh, and what a typical Joburg weather show. Thunder and lightning show last night. Summer's truly here.

And this morning that 5 minutes of storm madness with buckets of water coming out of the sky like there is no tomorrow. Traffic will be worse this morning.

And today is exactly 20 years that the Berlin Wall started to come down. People power! Revolution against insanity. Celebrations and commemorations in the German capital all week.

Rollercoasting on

Rollercoastin'. Aliens arrival. AF990. N1 nightmares, but I guess it's for a good cause (2010 and beyond).

Standing in OR Tambo's arrival hall I must admit it looks nice and big and full of light. Compared to many other airports around the world, even in top cities like Paris or London, the new ORT looks very welcoming.

Rollercoasting on. Bell Gables resto. Still great. And they are upgrading Beyers Naude at the Zandspruit township. Good!

On we go. Rosebank Market. Some things are just obligatory alien territory.

Meanwhile keeping an eye on the Berlin Wall festivities in the German capital. It's been 20 years now that it was pulled down, hammered down, bulldozed down. And the world changed.

Rollercoasting on. Cold front for Cape Town expected, while Jozi wakes up to a sunny sky.

Benni

So Benni McCarthy has been called up again for Bafana Bafana. The new/old coach made his first new move. We’ll see if Benni comes because he’s a bit of a rocky character. All eyes are now on SA’s friendly game against Japan. A new start. But with a deadline ticking closer and closer.

The big test game against Japan, qualified for the world cup, will be played in PE on November 14. And then 3 days later in Bloemfontein, Bafana Bafana will play its last game of 2009 against Jamaica (not qualified for the world cup).

These are crucial games for the spirit of the nation. The bad vibe of Santana needs to be outlawed and a new dawn needs to rise.

Not that Benni is making big waves at his English club Blackburn Rovers these days, but Bafana Bafana’s goal scoring has been the biggest headache and thus all help is welcome. We live in hope. The (expected) return of Benni feels abit like the return of the lost, wild son. If Benni's for real he just needs to prove it on the pitch. That's all. It's up to him now!

And not that Perreira was a miracle man either when he coached Bafana Bafana in his first visit to SA. We didn’t qualify for the Africa Cup in Angola as a starter. But South Africa has this thing about expectations and a brighter future. So we live in hope. Indeed.

Dreamfields

Was thinking about it this week as a colleague was looking for some nice football story angle.

Some (most) of radio listeners across SA will know John Perlman from his morning radio show on SAFM (no more) and his current afternoon gig on Kaya FM.
What probably and unfortunately fewer people know is that John is a passionate football fan. And has a big heart.

He is the man behind the Dreamfields Project. The aim is to invest in township and rural schools so they can join the world cup dream. So these kids too can feel the 2010 passion. So John and his Project try to provide better football pitches and football kit to these forgotten corners of the nation. It really brings a smile on these kids and let them really enjoy the love of the football game in decent conditions and with real balls and real outfits.

Dreamfields’ long-term goal is to get a school football league running across South Africa. A great idea!!! Thumbs up for John and his project!

For more check out www.dreamfieldsproject.org



...and did you see that goal from Liverpool's Babel in and against Lyon last night. WOW!

The Dec. 4 buzz

In 1 month’s time, on December 4, we will know in what group Bafana Bafana will be during the World Cup’s first round. Exciting.

Still several qualifying games to be played in Europe, Africa and the Americas but all spotlights are moving steadily towards the draw at the ICC in the Mother City on Dec 4.

It makes a hell of a difference if you end up in a tough group or in an easier one. At least, perceived easier, because there are often some serious surprises at world cups.

So in the coming 2 weeks, Bafana Bafana will play friendly games against Japan and Jamaica. And this while Bafana is under old/new management. See what happens! And then also the final qualifying games across the globe. Especially looking forward to the Ireland-France clash on the 14th (and return game on the 18th). And also Portugal vs Bosnia-Herzegovina of course, as a world cup without the world’s most expensive player (aka Ronaldo) would be a bit sad.

Memories while @ Picobello

Had a nice lunch yesterday with some oversees documentary makers. The lunch was at Picobello on 4th Avenue in Melville. Nice and relax.

And as we were talking about Afrikaners and some perceived stereotypes people have of other people, I remembered a funny event some years ago in a desolate area in northern South Africa close to the border with Botswana.

Me and my 2 colleagues had car trouble. It was my fault. I was driving too fast with a rental, hi-tech Range Rover over dirt roads. The computer on board the 4x4 that constantly recalculates the suspension couldn't cope anymore and gave up. Result of that ‘surrender’ was that it lowered the car to its maximum and thus we were scrapping the dirt track and thus some red lights started to flash on the dashboard. And thus we were forced to stop.

In the middle of nowhere as it goes and without cell phone signal. We looked a bit around and saw a farm in the distance. The Range Rover stopped flashing warning signs but was still very low to the ground. We drove very slowly to the farmhouse. A young Afrikaner couple came out. Very friendly. We explained them our conflict with high-tech car technology. They saw our TV equipment in the car and a brief chat erupted about media. And to our surprise they said they were regular viewers of the international news channel Al Jazeera English, which you can catch through the DSTV decorder (channel 406). We were really taken by (positive) surprise.

Here we were in the middle of nowhere, without cell phone signal and on an Afrikaner farm,... but they were watching Al Jazeera English. How preconceived ideas can be easily forced out of the window!

The 4x4 started to lift itself (and by itself) to normality and of we went. Slower than before, but without hassle we reached Joburg some hours later.

Leftovers

Saturday afternoon. Discovered Avondale Shiraz. Nice. And the lamb leftovers for the 2 original gangsters below: L.U. & T.F.

JZ

It dropped in my inbox and is worth sharing around.

Next Thursday, November 5 (at 630pm), at Exclusive Books in Hyde Park (Jozi, not London) witness the launch of Xolela Mangcu’s new book “The Democratic Moment: South Africa’s Prospects under Jacob Zuma”.

Political commentator and opinion-ist Mangcu is known, amongst others, from his columns in The Weekender (which have stopped recently unfortunately). His book looks at the powers that brought Zuma to power at the now historic ANC conference in Polokwane, and 16 months later gave him to the key to the Union Buildings.

Guest speaker will be Peter Bruce, editor of Business Day. The book is published by Jacana Media.

Could be an interesting read....

Foolin' around with WW2 history

I had to go and see it. As simple as that. I’ve been a fan of film director Quentin Tarantino since his cult movie Reservoir Dogs.

So I just had to go and see his new release Inglourious Basterds (yes, spelled like that!).

I had seen negative and positive reviews. I had seen a promotional trailer. I like most Tarantino movies for their kick-in-the-face approach, creative structure and dialogues. I thought the simplicity of Reservoir Dogs and its hardcore dialogues was just fantastic. Pulp Fiction’s structure and editing was the real deal. Jackie Brown was a straight forward thriller. The Kill Bill duo was the biggest cocktail of styles and structural variety ever put together by Tarantino. So I’m kind of hooked. Not madly, just like the way he approaches the art of movie making.

I guess that his films have a love-it-or-hate-it feel to it and I guess that’s why the reviews for Inglourious Basterds were so out of sync with each other.

Well, I like Inglourious Basterds. Maybe somewhat slower than his previews movies. And I missed a little bit his usual use of music. But his new effort still has that in-your-face punch. And fooling around with world war 2 history is something Tarantino is clearly not afraid of. Based on some reviews I had expected much more blood and gore (not that I crave that) and boring moments. Many reviews also claimed that the duration (around 2h1/2) was way too long. Well the blood was maybe once or twice hardcore but nothing over the top. Certainly not when you are watching a Tarantino creation. And it certainly did not feel too long or with boring gaps. Just nicely cruising along.

So if you are a fan, don’t miss it. If you don’t like his previous work, don’t bother. It’s as simple as that. Really!

Team building exercise

Tomorrow, FIFA and the government will launch Football Friday. They want to bring SA alive and kicking in support of the world cup and Bafana Bafana (as you know now under an old-new coach) by asking people of the rainbow nation to wear a football jersey every Friday till the kick off next June.

The launch of Football Friday will take place tomorrow at the Union Buildings were deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe will kick some balls. The government also hopes more South Africans will learn to sing the national anthem. And maybe they will also try to convince us to eat more biltong and pap. Or to blow the Vuvuzelas every Tuesday at 7PM for 5 minutes. Not so sure they will ask us to toy-toy every Monday at 6am? That might be a bit disruptive.

So it’s a call to (un-deadly) arms to built up support as the first world cup comes to Africa and the host team needs an extra boost (a big one) to face the almighty, other qualified nations. May the force be with us!

So from now on Friday won’t be just another Friday. It will be a Football Friday. There you have it!



It changed name. It changed location. But it’s still alive. Batuke restaurant has recently moved to Illovo and changed into Salsa. It’s all a bit confusing,... but at least the food is still very good.

A mixture of Mozambican cuisine with Mediterranean touches. It’s casual,.. but with style. I went a few times to Batuke when it was in Parkhurst. I didn’t exactly know what happened when Batuke was no more. Now a visiting friend from London (you know, that faraway, expensive metropolis with that rainy weather) mentioned Salsa in Illovo. A quick internet surf on SA’s EatOut site showed the Batuke connection. Mystery solved.

Off we went and we enjoyed it. EatOut gives it 4 on a scale of 5 for ambiance, food, and service. That’s a nice round up! Go!

www.eatout.co.za/restaurants/3598/search/johannesburg/light-meals-seafood-grills-contemporary-continental-international-mediterranean-african-italian-portuguese/salsa

The High Line

Got this picture in my inbox from a friend who went for a brief visit to New York City. You know that big metropolitan on the other side of the pond (more known as the Atlantic Ocean).

It’s a very creative, green, interesting, smart, original idea. A long, old, elevated train track that has not been used for many years has been turned into a green walkway. Indeed the city of NY has turned an old train track that was running above the streets on the city’s lower West Side into a pedestrial route. So you are walking above the busy streets of NY. What a fantastic idea. It's called The High Line.

This old line was built in the 1930s to keep freight trains away from ordinary traffic and thus an elevated track was constructed. But the train traffic on this line stopped in 1980 and since then the tracks lay abandoned and nature had taken over. So instead of taking it all done the city decided to keep this historic structure and turn it into a green walkway. An elevated public park. It’s just fantastic. Great idea to copy in other cities across the globe!



And read more about it here: www.thehighline.org

Torres' magic

Sunday braai at Mr Brown’s place was nearly rained out but then Joburg stuck to its summer tradition and kept the rain shower brief. Company was good, meat was tasty, salads were fresh, beer was cold. Had to keep it short as had to run off to Melville for a 4pm encounter of note.

Bunch of friends. Wide screen TV set. Beers. Liverpool vs Manchester United. The place was the Portuguese Fish Place on 7th Street. Remember the name because when the world cup comes to hit SA this will be a good place to hang out and watch the games. The t-shirt might be a sweater as temperatures will be lower, but the chance of rain will be much less to even close to zero.

Oh.. and thank you Torres for that magical kick that brought the Reds back from a bleak couple of weeks. What a goal! And Torres’ magic will be hitting our shores next year as Spain is qualified for the world cup. Nice!

Wings

I discovered that you can paraglide near (and maybe partly over) Joburg.

If you’ve done it before you can do a classic solo flight, if you are new at this adventure then the typical tandem option is available.

Check it out on www.flyza.co.za

And obviously you can do it too over and near Cape Town. With its beaches and mountains it’s probably a more scenic flight.

Visit www.extremescene.co.za/paragliding


And pass by the Table Mountain cable car and give its occupants a little freight!
And once you flew over the City of Gold and the beaches of the Mother city, why don’t you give it a go too in and around Durban.

www.blusky.co.za

The man on the bus

A man from New York came and said the BRT is world class.

There you have it. From an expert’s mouth. Walter Hook is a transport consultant from what is called the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. A mouthful, but an expert who can compare Rea Vaya with other similar systems around the globe.

He also said the busses were very clean. That’s a nice compliment. Obviously the busses are still very new, but let’s hope they stay spotless and in good shape.

So Walter came to Jozi, took a BRT ride and smiled. And if a transport expert from the Big Apple smiles then that’s a welcoming smile. Thumbs up. Let’s keep it going and let’s roll it out further and further across the cities and into the townships and communities.