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.

Salt and pepper

It beeped. My cellphone that is. A sms.

Something for the lovers of great food. Sel et Poivre, the restaurant from renowned chef Coco, is holding a Food & Wine evening on October 30th.
Coco is a master chef. Got Burundian-Belgian blood and learned the trade in top class French restaurants.

His restaurant is situated in the Quatermain boutique hotel in the Morningside/Sandton area. And Coco’s place is truly a nice one to forget the trial and tribulations from the outside world. Great food, great wine, great service.

For location check out www.quatermain.co.za

...and for a review in Eat Out magazine, check out
www.eatout.co.za/restaurants/restaurant_overview.asp?RestaurantID=3620

There you have it. Enjoy.

The Big 8

Size matters. We already have our famous Big 5. Now we also have the world largest web-spinning spider. Welcome to the Big 6.

And if you add the whales that grace our shores, it’s the Big 7. And we also have the great white visiting us regularly (and here and there biting chunks out of a surfboard), so that’s the Big 8. It’s a rollercoaster of Big-ness (yes, I claim copyright for this new word!).

It was my brother late yesterday that alerted me on our giant spider. He and his partner are about to land at OR Tambo in the coming weeks and spotted the spider story in some European media. Big fuss and growing fear at their home because his partner really does not like spiders. And now she is about to come to SA for the first time,... and slap bang wang, we have now also super spiders that make super webs. Like from a horror movie.

As they say, Africa is not for the faint hearted.

This super spider was found in Tembe Elephant Park in KZN. There goes the neighbourhood.



I wonder what the German football players and crew are going to do now? They are apparently already thinking of putting on bullet proof jackets against crime in South Africa when they come here for the world cup. Maybe we should warn them that spiders can crawl under those jackets! We should make sure the Germans play their games in Durban so they can get worried about the spiders from Tembe Park. I can see them already lifting their bed sheets carefully and checking their beds out before going to sleep. Spider fear rocks the German team. No sleep. Anxiously sweating through the night. Shaky legs on the pitch. Loose 4-0 against North-Korea. Coach fired.

Smooth flow

They are doing a really great job. A gap in the market in fact. Talking about the so called green Outsurance traffic assistants when the traffic lights are broken.

Had to go through bunch of non-functional, dead, black traffic lights yesterday and this morning, and there they were. The men and women in green with their little motorbikes parked on the side of the road helping the smooth flow of cars and trucks at intersections. Nice. A big Thank You to them!



And then indeed, South Africa has started the search for a new, miracle coach to save Bafana Bafana. And sadly Liverpool lost again yesterday. Misery. And a splitting headache on top of that. Some days aren’t what they should be.

Mbombela

So Nelspruit is now Mbombela. It seems a list of name changes in Mpumalanga has just been officialised and made public.

So the foreign world cup fans must be notified and made aware otherwise they are going to get confused, and maybe lost in Kruger Park chased by a hungry lion, as they are trying to find the new stadium in Nelspruit,... I mean Mbombela. Not so sure if a hungry lion would go for a tattooed, overweight, drunken English hooligan? Maybe the lion might decide to go vegetarian there and then.

I also see that Belfast is now changed to eMakhazeni. That will also pretty much confuse the English! And the Irish too! And Machadodorp is also no more. From now on it will go through life as eNtokozweni.



Oh and Santana got fired as Bafana Bafana coach. That the Brazilian wouldn’t make it into 2010 had become so obvious that I’m sure Santana had booked his air ticket home some time ago. “Hey honey, I’ll be home for Xmas”. The writing was on the wall. Bold and in capital letters.

Fletcher

And there, a few days ago, the vet just said that he might run out of tears. Just like that!

He is Tom Fletcher, my German shepherd. The vet spotted some marks on both his eyes and made the educated conclusion that it’s an eye disease that is OK for now,.... but might in the future result in a tearless Tom. Dried out. Sounds indeed sad. But medical science has special eye drops for that, so nothing too much to worry about.

As I was driving away from the vet with proud Mr Fletcher sitting on the backseat eyeballing passengers of other cars, an old Rolling Stones song came to mind. “Out of tears” from their 1994 “Voodoo Lounge” album. From the Stones’ perspective it was certainly all to do about another relationship gone bust, but it just fitted the moment for me as I was checking out Tom in my rear view mirror and thinking what he might be thinking if he would understand what the future might be. There and then.

“I can’t feel a thing. I can’t shout. I can’t scream.
Breathe it out. Breathe it in. All this love from within.
...
I’m out of tears. Out of tears”

(lyrics courtesy of him, yes him,... Mike Jagger)

Black Satellites

Wow. Ghana is world champion in the Under-20 competition. They beat the almighty Brazilians in a penalty shoot-out in the world cup final in Cairo. A first for an African team.

The young lions from Ghana are apparently called the Black Satellites.

Ghana’s victory has even more turned the spotlights on the first world cup on Africa’s soil next June and July here in SA. It’s going from mad to madder.

Life etc.

Gotta go to a funeral of a fine lady later today.

And with that sombreness in mind, I’m just thinking of the song “Just Breathe” from the latest album by Pearl Jam. An amazing nearly-acoustic song with these solid thoughts and lyrics.

Yes I understand that every life must end,
As we sit alone, I know someday we must go,
I’m a lucky man to count on both hands
The ones I love,..

Some folks just have one,
Others they got none,

Stay with me,..
Let’s just breathe.

Practiced are my sins,
Never gonna let me win,
Under everything, just another human being,
Yeh, I don’t wanna hurt, there’s so much in this world
To make me bleed.

Stay with me,..
You’re all I see.

Did I say that I need you?
Did I say that I want you?
Oh, if I didn’t now I’m a fool you see,..
No one knows this more than me.
As I come clean.

I wonder everyday
as I look upon your face,
Everything you gave
And nothing you would take,
Nothing you would take,..
Everything you gave.

Did I say that I need you?
Oh, Did I say that I want you?
Oh, if I didn’t now I’m a fool you see,..
No one knows this more than me.
As I come clean.

Nothing you would take,..
everything you gave.
Hold me till I die,..
Meet you on the other side.

(courtesy of Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam, 2009)

Kuyasa power

Let’s not think about Eskom as it’s shocking,... although simply unavoidable with the current state of South Africa’s electricity grid. But let’s think about nice energy saving projects. Like this one I got into my inbox yesterday.

It’s happening in Kuyasa, a part of the ever-growing Kayelitsha township near Cape Town. Around 2000 poor families here have turned to the sun to cut their power bills with more than a third. And on top of that they are doing it in a fashionable green way.

It’s all about solar water heaters. It’s an ongoing project funded by the national environment department, as well as the Western Cape Province. Nice one!

And on a larger, world scale this project got the approval stamp from the United Nations. As Kuyasa residents save money on their electricity bills, they also pollute less and thus get green credits. So called Certified Emission Reductions credits. And these green carbon credits can be ‘traded’. Already the City of Cape Town, which owns this Kuyasa project, has sold carbon credits to the United Kingdom. It’s the modern face of global trade. The money from this sale goes back into the further development and expansion of the project.

So in fact the Kuyasa township dwellers are the green counter-balance for the polluters in England. Tell that to the super-rich in London’s Chelsea district!

BRT & IRT

Enrique Penalosa has given Joburg’s Rea Vaya bus system the thumbs up. You have the right to ask yourself “Who is this Enrique dude?”.

Well Enrique Penalosa is the former mayor of Bogota, the capital of South America’s Colombia. And Joburg’s Bus Rapid Transit system was modelled on Bogota’s example. So we got the stamp of approval from our ‘teacher’. That’s a nice welcome. Penalosa was in town recently and mingled with BRT commuters.

I also discovered that the City of Johannesburg had (it ended last month) a Rea Vaya SMS competition running. Every week Jozi gave away R500 to a citizen who SMS’ed suggestions to improve the BRT system.

More on www.reavaya.org.za

And Cape Town’s spokeslady Kylie Hatton said some days ago that the Mother City is planning to roll out its so called Integrated Rapid Transit system (IRT) in the coming months.

Urban transport is changing fast across SA.



And.... eish!!!! Bafana Bafana lost again yesterday. 1-0 In and against tiny Iceland. We gotta support our national football team but it's a tough one. Our boys seem to be in a dark tunnel. 8 Defeats in our last 9 games. We could only beat Madagascar - not really a key player in international football. We really cannot enter history next year by being the first host nation to be kicked out of a world cup in the first round. That wouold be just not nice at all! I spotted in a newspaper this morning that SAFA has, unofficially for sure, given coach Santana a little bit more lifeline till after the next 2 games next month. That's against Japan and Jamaica. One thing's for sure. Time is ticking away fast.

House of War

This Thursday will see the launch of Hamilton Wende’s new book House Of War. The event is at Exclusive Books in Rosebank, Joburg.

It’s Hamilton’s 6th book or so. You might see him sometimes with commentary pieces in The Star newspaper. He is a well-travelled journalist, commentator, writer,...

I got an advanced copy of House Of War from publisher Penguin. It’s a good read. Northern Afghanistan and the former Soviet states bordering it are at the centre of the book, but there are also flashbacks to the characters’ lives in the US, South Africa and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. The book is a fast-paced journalistic journey with Alexander The Great’s historic, and bloody, passage through that part of the world as backdrop. The story is well-woven together with ancient history, flashbacks and modern times journalistic adventures as pillars throughout the book. I liked it and thus can recommend it.

Kicking that ball

Went to a wedding on Saturday on the outskirts of eastern Tshwane.

The party was at the Lombardy boutique hotel. A nice setting. Old farmhouse transformed into restaurant and wedding venue, and extra bits built on as hotel with lovely, large rooms.

The wedding was traditional but not pompous and kept reasonably small and straight forward. A nice formula. Good food too. Great atmosphere. And it didn’t rain despite gathering dark clouds. Met some people I hadn’t seen for some years. One thing that the hotel really should change with a matter of some urgency (also, but not only, because of 2010) is that its directions still mention the N1 to Pietersburg. As we all know, Pietersburg changed a while ago to Polokwane. And since the ANC gathering there at the end of 2007 which lead to Zuma’s ascend, the provincial capital gained extra name-recognition.

Oh and the same day we got a message from a friend who was counting down one year to 10/10/10 when she is getting married. 2010 Will clearly not be just another year.

Speaking of 2010. Last weekend was world cup qualification madness around the globe. And some of the bigger football countries that recently looked like they were about to stay home next year, have come closer to buying their air tickets.

So the USA, who surprised us at this year’s Confederations Cup, will be back. They got their qualification in the bag. Same for their southern neighbours Mexico. Chile too is now a confirmed attendee. Down in South America Argentina is not qualified yet but a step closer. A world cup without coach Maradona won’t be the same. Brazil and Paraguay were already qualified some weeks ago.

From Europe already The Netherlands, England and Spain had bought travel guides to SA. They will now be joined by Germany, Denmark, Italy and Serbia. Ronaldo’s Portugal are back optimistic after clinching 2nd spot in group A. Slovakia and Switzerland look set to win their group too later this week. And then it’s the final do-or-die phase in Europe. The eight best second placed will be drawn to sweat it out in play-offs (home/away), from which the four winners will come to SA too. Those eight teams fighting it out will likely be France, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia, Slovenia, Portugal, Greece, Republic of Ireland and then Ukraine or Croatia.

In Asia and Oceania we already had Japan, Australia and both (!!) Koreas qualified. They will be joined by either New Zealand or Bahrain who are battling it out on Wednesday.

And finally here in Africa there are still lots of qualifying to do. Host Bafana Bafana is obviously already qualified, as was Ghana. Now Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast, probably Africa’s best team, has joined the flight o SA too. Cameroon is reasonably hopeful, as is Tunisia. Nigeria on the other hand is likely to stay home. But the big African qualifying clash this week will be Egypt against Algeria in Cairo. Egypt needs to beat Algeria with plenty of goals to jump to first spot in group C and book their tickets to SA. It looks like African giants Egypt might well miss the 2010 circus in South Africa.

Meanwhile South Africans themselves are wondering if their Brazilian coach Santana will survive the end of the week after another defeat. This time Norway beat Bafana Bafana 1-0. On Tuesday SA plays a friendly in and against Iceland. There have been confusing sounds coming out of SA’s football community (players, media, SAFA,...) regarding Santana’s faith. One thing is for sure, Bafana Bafana’s track record is a scary thing as we are counting down to be the host to football paradise.

There will be plenty of more football drama this week.

Customer service

They often say that service isn’t what it should be in South Africa. A generalisation for sure. And thus when good service sticks out it’s worth mentioning.

Even if they are simple acts of service. Little drops. But drops that show it is possible. Drop by drop. I encountered this week 2 acts of straight forward, positive customer service. 2 Acts beyond the day to day call of duty. Simple acts, but very welcomed.

Both were, by accident, in shops located in the Johannesburg Cresta shopping mall. First one was in the hardware store Mica. One of the attendants said that the specific lock I was looking for would be arriving that afternoon. He said he would call me and gave me a card from the store and wrote down his name. He was called Respect.

I have many times encountered that black Africans across this continent have interesting first names. With interesting I mean that I wonder what specific idea and hope would have crossed the parents’ minds at the moment of birth to give their little baby that specific name.

In Zimbabwe I once met a lawyer whose first name was Justice. Or a lady in South Africa named Precious. Or a driver called Prince, or another driver called Nearest. Or the former (still???) Deputy Minister of Information in Zimbabwe who goes through life with as first name Bright. I find that all very interesting.

The other act of welcome service came from a shop assistant in the music store Look & Listen. I went in earlier in the week to find the new cd by Pearl Jam. The lady looked in the backroom and on the computer and told me it was expected soon but that she would give a ring as and when it happened. And she did. As simple as that. So now I’m the happy owner of the new Pearl Jam album.

Jozi

Here’s a bit of a quick glimpse and tour of great Johannesburg blogs and sites I discovered over the last weeks . Many with plenty of amazing photos. Jump into the world wide web for a bit and explore Jozi, aka the City of Gold.

There is for instance therealjohannesburg.blogspot.com which brings updates on the rejuvenation of the city.

And stop at urbanjoburg.blogspot.com for nearly daily updates on events and happenings around town. Nice mix of photos and commentary.

Take a hike (in a positive sense) to jhbdaily.blogspot.com. This site tries to capture the rhythm of Jozi and it’s contrasts through photography. Nice one.

From the contrast through photos to walking the streets of the urban sprawl is just a click away:www.jhburbanwalks.blogspot.com

And why not visit the official Joburg city site too. It’s informative and well done:
www.joburg.org.za/

I for instance discovered there some contacts for dune surfing. People from Joburg are a creative bunch. They don’t have the beaches of the Cape or the surf waves of Durban,... but it doesn’t stop them for organising thrilling ‘snow’boarding activities on the old, high mine dumps. For real! Check it out and call Pure Rush Industries (the name says it all): Marco on +27 82 605 1150 or Duncan on +27 72 443 7000.

And yeah, don’t wait till June 2010 to try out some of these sights and adventures...

To the rhythm of the music

To start the world cup with a loud bang and in swinging African tradition, FIFA has announced that on the eve of the kick off there will be a big concert at Orlando stadium in Soweto. So that’s on June 10th. And in the brand new Orlando stadium!

The list of the performing artists is not known yet. The international events company Control Room (they organised for instance the Live Earth gig) has been appointed to make this show a memorable blast. And the hunt for big names is on. Beyonce and Jay-Z are already in the rumour mill.

And the proceeds from the concert tickets will go to the “20 Centres for 2010” campaign. That’s a FIFA project to build 20 centres in disadvantaged communities across Africa to deliver education, health services as well as football/soccer training. Nice one.

Music and football/soccer. Nice mix. South Africa will be big time on the world map next year!

Puppets on the web

On October 2nd I mentioned Archbishop Emeritus Tutu’s birthday (TODAY!!!) and the launch of his lovely children’s book God’s Dream.

The Star newspaper has a nice supplement today on the Archbishop’s book and his amazing life so far. Let me repeat what I said on October 2nd: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! And thanks for being a beacon of sense and hope throughout and against the world’s madly spin.

Moving on.

Finally after 10 years in the making internationally acclaimed cartoonist Zapiro’s TV show is on air. At least on the web.

Influenced by the famous 70s, British TV show Spitting Image, Zapiro (with the help of friends) has put together the ZA News Show.

After controversies and failed deals with local broadcasters SABC, M-Net and e-TV, the puppet satire is finally alive and kicking on the web under the slogan “Because here we can”. Watch it on www.zanews.co.za

It will have 3 minute clips from Tuesday till Friday and a longer version on Saturday. The show is sponsored by Kulula and the Mail & Guardian . You can also watch the show via their sites. SA political, TV satire finally has arrived.

Landmark

Have you ever been on the corner of Menton Road and Park Road in Richmond, Johannesburg?

It’s kind of stuck between more known landmarks like Melville and the SABC hq. It’s the corner with that pink shop. It’s The Chef. A great place for coffee and breakfast or a snack at noon or in between. And friendly staff in fitting pink tops on top of it all.

Plenty of NGO types and journalists seem to hang out there. Fresh almond croissant with an espresso. Or a seriously-sized omelette with ham, onions and Emmenthaler. And so much more. Including fine confectionary like so called nut triangles. Can eat in or take away.

And if you see a big lad in The Chef,... well that is The Chef.

Go there and enjoy. Been there, done that. Many times.

The Rosebank

Sad. Apparently in Franschhoek amidst the lovely valleys and near 5-star restaurants, a group of women had been making leather soccer balls for some time. Great initiative that created jobs while riding the 2010 fever.

But I just heard that their activities were stopped recently as they could not find people, or shops, or companies to buy their soccer balls. Sad story because it just looked like such a simple but great local initiative.

From the wine region back to highveld and the City of Gold.

I was in the revamped, renewed, done-up Rosebank Hotel yesterday for a business meeting. It’s now officially called Crowne Plaza The Rosebank. You really cannot recognize anything from the old hotel anymore. It’s totally different. The old one was like time had stood still in the early 70s and you expected Starsky and Hutch to walk in with some Bee Gees music playing in the background. It was a time warp machine.

The nouveau Rosebank is modern with am obvious 60s touch. Stylish. The large lobby feels like you are in a trendy London hotel. It would fit a James Bond movie. It has a Sean Connery-as-007 feel to it. But with that modern extra to it.

By the way, very nice colour panels in the elevators to the basement garage.

Check it out. It’s worth it. And certainly for those that passed through the old hotel, it’s worth the positive shock treatment.

Oh, and the glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc was pretty nice too. And delivered with a smile.

The dream

If you are in Cape Town on October 7th this would be a great one to attend.

Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel Peace Prize winner (1984) Desmond Tutu will launch his wonderful children’s book God’s Dream. And the moral voice of our nation will read from his book in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.

And on top of that the Archbishop will be exactly 78 years young that day. Happy birthday already from me in advance of it all!!

Just had a lovely Tutu-memory popping up in my head. In December 2006 I met the Archbishop in his office near Cape Town. I remember specifically 1 line from that moment. “I am happy I am not God”, he said, “because God created Osama Bin Laden as well as George Bush Jr.”. And then his oh so lovable laugh followed. What a man! Much respect!

So God’s Dream is published by Jacana Media in all of our 11 official languages. How nice! It will make it accessible to all of the children of the rainbow nation.

For details about the book and the launch, contact the Centre of the Book in Cape Town, or I guess the publisher.

252

A new month today. October. And 252 days to go to kick off at Soweto’s Soccer City in June next year.

FIFA just finished a tour of the newly built stadiums across the country. The world cup will be spread over 10 football/soccer temples in 9 cities, but 6 of them are brand new and near completion. All are smoothly on track it seems. Smiles all over!!

Officially Soccer City in Soweto was “only” upgraded, but to be honest the whole old stadium was put down and a totally new one was built from scratch. So for me that fits the brand new category.

And so far already 650527 tickets have been sold. World cup fever guaranteed.

I am slightly surprised that by now only 11 national teams of the 32 that will be present here have already the qualification in the bag. By end of November all 32 must be known because on December 4th in Cape Town the groups for the first round of the world cup will be drawn. So I guess in the coming weeks we will see a lot of do or die matches across the globe to grab qualification – or to lose out. Tensions are rising for sure. Travel agents anxiously awaiting final whistles. Footballers’ wives hating the doubts if it will be a (winter) holiday in South Africa or a beach show off in Bermuda. It’s tough living a stress full existence! Sandton shopping mall checking out which ladies will come and spend the husband’s earned millions. The men sweating on the training grounds as the ladies run around shiny corridors with overloaded shopping bags. Now I understand why VISA / Mastercard is an official sponsor of the world cup.

Here’s a little, sporty update amidst the fever. I was curious and did a quick search.

So, if I’m right, for now the only teams with already guaranteed presence in SA are Bafana Bafana as host, star-attraction Brazil, Paraguay, Spain, North (!!) as well as South Korea, Ghana, the Netherlands, England Australia and Japan.

It’s unlikely the world’s most expensive player will be here. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal is facing a nearly impossible task in their qualifying group. In Africa Nigeria is nervous as they might miss the world cup too because Tunisia is leading in their group. Same stress for African giants Egypt. They are currently second, trailing 3 points behind Algeria. And for Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast it all just seems a formality. Am sure they booked their air tickets already.

Back in Europe, little Switzerland is making a strong chance of visiting SA. Germany and Russia are pretty much guaranteed presence too. A world cup without Germany seems near impossible. France is sweating it out. They are currently second in their group behind Serbia, but have Austria breathing down their neck. Italy, despite disappointing matches during this year’s Confederations Cup, looks likely to be back in the country.

Others likely to grace us with their presence are the USA, Argentina (hopefully still with coach Diego Maradona), Mexico, and maybe also the All Whites from New Zealand.

If rugby fans are a bit drunk they might think this upcoming world cup is a rugby competition as England, SA, Australia, and maybe New Zealand and France too will be battling it out on a grass pitch.