Change of venue - change of Continent...

So what could I possibly have been doing in the last 5 months since my last post?

Well, I would bore you with the details, so I will skip them, and rather refer you directly to a new Blog... Yes another...

I now find myself back in London. Living in Wimbledon and having just moved into a house share and finally having a room of my own, I feel I can start sharing my experiences once more.

So follow me, join me, and experience London with me at Living in London... (Name has a ring to it, don't you think?)

Homecoming Revolution Christmas evening

I was very fortunate to be invited to the Homecoming Revolution year end Christmas party, held this evening in Rosebank, Johannesburg.

It was not only an opportunity to catch up with old friends and acquaintances that I first met in London in 2007 at the 2nd London Event last October, but also a very fulfilling experience spending time with other South Africans who have retuirned from prolonged periods spent overseas.

Homecoming Revolution (HCR) managed to secure Ben Zander as a guest speaker, and he spoke of the ideals, energy and passion that South Africans exhibit on a daily basis and in the most routine of circumstances, and how he has enjoyed experiencing South Africa on each of his previous 8 visits to the country. He was truly inspiring, energising "Homecomers" as we mostly were, and giving a very positive message from the point of view of an outsider (an American citizen) It was also the first opportunity I have ever had to sing a Christmas Carol, with an international conductor at the piano!

It was a very memorable event, reminding me once more of the invredible things that await the returning South African. There are many negative messages being distributed around the world with regard South Africa and the "situation" here.

But there is no other place on earth just now that affords one to make a very real difference.

I am very appreciative to the HCR team for the invite, and look forward to working with them again next year.

An outstanding apology - and some big news

Yes, this is an open apology to the good people of Johannesburg...

Last Saturday I washed my car... and ever since it has absolutely poured with rain in Johannesburg - the kind of rain you would usually find in Cape Town - not on the Highveld.

And so for the last week I have been hiding - fearful of what my rather drenched neighbours might say - or do!

Actually that's not true....
YES - it has been raining, but no, I haven't been hiding. I have been working on a small project - something new... And it is just starting to develop and grow, and so I hope you will share it - even let me know what you think.


If you have followed the last 107 posts to this blog, then I am hoping you will join me at my new website - www.livinginjozi.co.za! I have recreated this blog there too (except I am having some technical problems... I can't understand my new code language!!!), and over the next few weeks will be migrating from here to the new website - hoping of course that you will move with me!

I do hope you will go and visit - and let me know what you think.

Make a difference with a shipping container

If the billboards around where I live are to be believed (and they are just an advertising campaign) then a child dies every 6 seconds in the world from hunger. Indeed, a recent study has shown that 2,500 children die in Africa alone on a daily basis just due to a lack of access to clean water.

So where am I going with this?
Well, just as I chellenged my fellow bloggers to promote the cause of the Blogger Bakeoff, it would not be appropriate if I myself did not promote the cause on my blog.

And so here I am... promoting.

The fact is that I have been hungry today. Very hungry. It was my own fault - I hadn't had the opportunity to eat all day. But then I went to the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. And there is the difference, or at least the difference that Breadline Africa want to make. Every $10,000 that they raise can be used to convert a shipping container into a bread kitchen for an African community - a community that don't have that same opportunity to go and make themselves a sandwich when hungry.

So what am I saying...
Well, by clicking on the little box on the right, you will be taken to the Blogger Bakeoff website, where you can make a donation in Dollars, Pounds, or more importantly in Rands. And even if it is just R5 or R10 - it is more than nothing.

So make a big difference with a small action.

That was the week that was...

Yes, I know... I have been absent without leave for at least 9 days... But a lot can happen in 9 days... (And very little at the same time)

Let's start with the very little... Work... Not that very little work was done - a lot of work was done, but all the same - the drudgery of completing the year end financial accounts. In my case, much of my time was taken up by learning what exactly I had to do, having been out of the country, and thus not exposed to the South African way of reporting.

Outside of work...
Well, for one, Ulricha and I have found ourselves a new little flat to rent, which we will take occupation of on the 1st December. Yes, I will once again be packing my life into a few cardboard boxes (some of which haven;t yet been unpacked from the last relocation) but this time the move is just down the road, and somehow there is a different significance to this one. We are really looking forward to our new place, and have already started lookign around at furniture, and bathroom accessories and other bits and pieces for "our home". It is all rather exciting!

Also exciting has been our discovery that our local goose population has increased by 4! Yes, the last time we went down to feed our little feathered fans, we were greeted by the sight of 4 new yellow feathered young ones, all equally eager to partake in the food, just as the adults.

And finally (for now anyways) we have started swimming! The weather has been warm for a while, but the water in the swimming pool finally became decent enough to not cause hypothermia, and we took full advantage of that, enjoying time over the last two days to splash about like whales and just enjoy the convenience of the pool.

OK - so that doesn't sound very busy, and not nearly enough to keep me out of circulation for so long... But it kept me busy enough,

I'll try not to be so quiet this week.

When downloading a Widget just isn't enough...

If you have been floating around the South African Blogosphere in the past few weeks, you have probably stumbled across posts and items relating to the Blogger Bakeoff - an initiative by Breadline Africa to raise $1m to "bring food and hope to poor communities in Africa by helping to convert shipping containers into community kitchens."

But if you had looked at some of those blogs where the "Collection Widget" had been downloaded, you'd have noticed that the "Donations from this Blog" still read $0.
In fact, the campaign has been running for nearly 3 weeks, and so far (at the time of writing this blog post, only collected $2,557.

Admittedly - there are a number of ways of getting involved in the initiative, and not all of them include donating money. However, how many of us have just downloaded the widget and given it not a second thought?

The Breadline Africa people that I have spoken to are aiming at collecting their £1m - and have estimated that they will need to enlist the help of 100,000 bloggers internationally. By a very quick calculation (using both my fingers and toes) I figure that every blog therefore needs to collect $10.

So why haven't we yet?
At first I know that the great big $ sign used on the blog is a magnificent detterent to donating - fearful of what the exchange rate might do next. But when I processed a donation, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could donate in Rands - and that my donation was thereafter converted on my widget. I know this is a particular matter that the good people at Breadline Africa are attending to - but it doesn't stop us donating in Rands now.

And if you don't want to donate yourself - then why aren't we promoting our widget, and encouraging OTHERS to donate through our blogs?

In total, each South African blog writer needs to collect somewhere between R80 and R100 to have their little widget clock up to the magical $10. If each of us has a dedicated audience of 10... or 20 readers - well on average we are talking a very small amount.

And yet our widgets remain at ZERO...

And what of our readers?
Readers of blogs cannot just ignore the good efforts of the blog writers. I don't really mind, nor care, if people use my blog, or someone else's blog to make a donation. The important part is that every $10,000 collected can be used to convert a container to a kitchen. So ERVERY small amount helps - from WHATEVER the source.

We all need to do our part.
I challenge every blog writer in South Africa to try to get their donations tally to the magical $10. And every blog reader to make some kind of donation. Even R10 will register on your favorite blog as a $1 contribution.

Let's stop the $0 and get into some REAL action!

Bid or Buy - or in my case Guess and Win... and Donate

You might had read my post on Wednesday, talking about the Bid or Buy auction competition, and if you did, you would have seen both my guess of the closing highest bid, and my pledge to donate any prize I might win to the Worldwide Blogger Bakeoff.

Well, in this modern age, apparently small miracles do happen, and this morning I learned that my guess of R67,467 was the closest of all the guesses, and that the prize of R300 was mine!

And so true to my word, I have donated my R300 to the Worldwide Blogger Bakeoff campaign, over and above a previous donation I made.

Thanks to Bid or Buy for inviting me to participate.
Their next competition is next week, and once more I will be participating (and donating if I win)

IEC website – the final word

It seems that the more you look at this story, the more jaw dropping it becomes… This will be my last mention of the matter, as I am bored of an organisation that refuses to listen when complaints are raised.

Needless to say, as I write this, I still cannot access the IEC website using my Firefox browser. If you think I am frustrated after first blogging about this just 5 days ago, let’s look at some other sources of information…

It would appear that this issue was first brought to the public’s attention on Tectonic on the 28th August 2008.

On the 1st September 2008, Aslam Raffee, Chair, OSS and Open Standards Working Group, Daniel Mashao, Chief Technical Officer of SITA and Helen King of The Shuttleworth Foundation laid a formal complaint about this digital discrimination with the South African Human Rights Commission.

Mr Raffee however notes in his blog entry of 1st September, where the full text of the complaint letter can be found, that “After we were not able to get a satisfactory response from the IEC, we have gone ahead and laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.” In other words Mr Raffee had already tried a full process of correspondence with the IEC on this matter, and received no feedback.

You will hardly be surprised then to note Pamela Weaver’s comment at the bottom of his blog where she states, “I complained to the IEC about this more than a year ago and received no response.”

As mentioned before, there are a number of technical reasons for this type of programming and code in websites being unprofessional. However, the website also contravenes the South African government’s own approved “open source strategy” and published “Minimum Interoperability Standards for Information Systems” government which commits government and its agents to open standards.

If the IEC is willing to ignore all these people, organisations and even the government when it comes to accessibility of information on their website, then what hope do we have of it ever being answerable to anyone for the more important tasks it is meant to perform?

Bid or Buy for Breadline Africa

Here’s something different – I have been invited to take part in a competition! Well, who am I to scoff at an invitation!

The competition is open to South African bloggers and is being run by Bid or Buy – an online auction website based here in South Africa.
It revolves around the auction of a VW TenaCity Golf that starts on Thursday, 23rd October. The winner is the blogger who best guesses the final winning bid – in other words guesses closest to the closing bid. There is a monetary prize for the winner.

Well let’s see… I think that the closing bid will be R67,467.

But here’s something else…

Right now there is a “Worldwide Blogger Bakeoff” happening. This is an initiative of Breadline Africa, and aims to convert shipping containers into locations for food production and distribution. These sustainable community kitchens will not only provide foods such as bread and soup to those in need, but also opportunities for skills development within these poor communities. Under the banner, “Bake Bread – Give Dough”, Breadline Africa has a number of ways that you can get involved:

* Join the campaign.
* Submit your bread baking recipe.
* Make a donation to Breadline Africa.
* Vote for your favourite recipe.
* Bake a loaf of bread and blog about it.
* Bake many loaves of bread and host a bake sale.

For my part I have added the fund raising widget, displayed to in the right hand column of my blog.

So back to the Bid or Buy competition... As I am not in the habit of advertising or promotions, should my guess at the closing bid in the auction be the closest and by some strange tear in the stitching of our universe, I win the monetary prize, I will donate it to the Blogger Bakeoff.

There but for the grace of God....

Every so often there is a news story that, even though it doesn't affect you directly, still strikes a chord in you, and makes you stop and think...

You may know that I am working my way (slowly) toward my Private Pilot's licence, and that since returning to South Africa I have been flying out of Rand Airport, in Germiston.

So when the news breaks of a plane crash at Rand Airport, my attention is certainly caught.

While I know none of the 6 individuals who lost their lives in this tragedy, my heart goes out to their familes. On a personal note this story stands out as the pilot himself had earned his Private Pilots licence two years ago and was flying himself and colleagues to the Orange Free State. That is the type of situation I would like to find myself in at some poiht in the future. Not flying colleagues, but perhaps myself and my family - going on holidays or day trips to places. My greatest wish when I was learning in London was to fly across the Channel to France - just to have lunch, before flying myself home once more.

I am due to fly this Sunday as I continue my progress toward my licence test and my licence itself. This certainly is a time to stop and think, "There but for the grace of God go I."

100 up!

This is quite a celebration…

I have noticed that in fact this is my 100th post to “Living in Jozi” and I thought I would just take a short moment to celebrate that fact.

It has been quite a journey, these last 100 posts, from when I started on the 12th June this year – contemplating my boxes in my room in London, (eventually even giving them names!)

Then blogging from Heathrow at some ungodly hour of the morning, waiting for my plane to Amsterdam and then Johannesburg.

My arrival and the adventures and misadventures – getting myself a drivers licence, a new car, settling into a new job and finding myself a girlfriend – now my fiancé.

Along the way I have contemplated the Cost of living comparison using a blog that Paul Chambers had posted on Homecoming Revolution as a template (thanks Paul!)

I have met new friends who have left comments – and that is so rewarding. You know, all these posts would just be meaningless ramblings (OK – most are meaningless ramblings!) but without people leaving comments and participating, this would be no fun at all, and I may as well just take up graffiti painting!

And so, on to the next 100 posts then – and beyond. But thank you for reading these first 100 – I do hope they have brought you some level of enjoyment!

A new arrival...

Well, we have a new addition to the family…

On Sunday, we got a puppy. Or more exactly, William got a puppy, who promptly stole all our hearts – so I think puppy more got a family!

Shadow, or Puppy, or Baby, or Mama, or Shady – ok, I think you can see that we haven’t quite got the name sorted out yet – is a cross Pekinese and Pug (or was that a Chihuahua?) She is about 6 inches tall in total and is still learning what those four things are that are sticking out under her body…


She has the cutest little face and a fondness for flowers – you know, the kind you can bite off of people’s prize flower bushes. I am not so sure that felix the cat is too impressed by this additional little bundle of fur – and this evening she made quite a point of making sure she lay with Ulricha – ensuring that she didn’t miss out on any attention that was being handed out.

But there you go. We have a puppy.

Now if only we could agree a name for the poor mite.

IEC website accessibility - follow up

It would appear that my posting of yesterday, IEC website only open to Internet Explorer users , has certainly caused a storm of interest.

While this was not the intention of the posting, it is nonetheless reassuring to see the effective of online media to draw attention to a particular matter and to involve the wider community.

There have been some interesting comments left, on this blog and other websites.
One of the most controversial was left anonymously, and alleges that the IEC is not as independent as first appears. While this remains just an anonymous comment, my friend and fellow blogger, Eishman, has picked up on this sentiment in his post, Corporatocracy alive and well in SA?

Having looked again today at the IEC website and found myself faced with the same error page, I wonder if my anonymous commentator has only JUST been assigned this "urgent" assignment to ensure that the website is compatible with all browser types?
if this is the case, then one has to wonder how long this has been the state of affairs? and indeed, with the popularity of browsers OTHER than Internet explorer - just how many people have tried to access the IEC website while it has been "under construction"?

A web designer, Mokokoma Mokhonoana has looked at this issue from a web design point of view on his blog, pointing out several errors that this type of error page is committing from a professional web design point of view. This makes you wonder what type of web budget there is in place - or what the money is being spent on?

Having decided, against my will, to refer to the IEC website using Internet Explorer, I found that in fact I was not missing out on too much. While I could download the Constitution and Electoral Acts, I couldn't immediately find answers to the questions I had.

The website is kept up to date though - with the latest posting being made on the 14th October 2008 - detailing the Municipal by-elections in Gauteng.
Does this really mean that the IEC have been updating this website - but for Internet Explorer users - and blissfully unaware of those of us with any other browsers? Seems the narrow mindedness knows no end...

IEC website only open to Internet Explorer users

With all the interesting things happening in South African poilitics just at the moment, I decided to check out the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) website, to find out how our constitution might impact the date of the elections and when they can be called and how a new political party would have to register for the 2009 Elections.

To my absolute horror I was confronted by an error page, politely informing me that

"the current website is only compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer V4 (and upward) on the Windows operating system."

EXCUSE ME?
Is it not my constitutional and democratic right to use whatever browser I should choose, and to access their website with this piece of software?

It is not that they are unaware of the browsers... They polite me inform me that

"Our server detected that you are using a browser or operating system (e.g. Netscape, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome etc.) which is currently incompatible with our website."

I certainly hope that this is rectified in the VERY near future!

They do however still allow me (even with my Firefox browser) to check if I am registered to vote.

I just may not have much information about the election I am registered to vote in!

Breaking News - we are engaged!

Yes, the lovely lass that for the last while has carried the title, "girlfriend", has said "Yes" and Ulricha and I are officially engaged!

And so begins a road of excitement and terror and stomach turning nervousness as we start preparing for our wedding, which will be some time late next year. We have some ideas for a venue, and for a time, but we will still plan these things. We have already been looking around at wedding dresses, and I think Ulricha has just about every wedding website on the Internet bookmarked on her laptop.

It is an exciting time, a nervous time, and as the eventual date slowly creeps closer, those feelings will be magnified many times over.

For now, it is just exciting and warming to be engaged, and we are enjoying that feeling and that status to the maximum!

Summer is here – because it is raining

It had finally happened – the Summer rains have arrived and on each of the two previous evenings we have enjoyed the spectacle of Highveld thunder storms, complete with magnificent lightning shows and rolling thunder that shakes you right down into your belly. And beautiful rain, lovely rain, quenching a very thirsty earth that has been crying out for some kind of moisture since I arrived back in South Africa in June.

Ulricha and I were sitting by the pool on Saturday morning just enjoying the sun, the water that is slowly becoming warmer, and more friendly for swimming, and the aftermath of the previous evenings storm. Somehow everything seemed cleaner, brighter, more alive. A small weaver bird was starting to build a nest in a palm tree, clearly eager to impress some young weaver female with his handiwork.

Actually, speaking of Weavers – I have found a very similar blog to my own – detailing the return to South Africa of an ex pat after a period in living in the UK – The Weavers Nest . In fact, our return is so close in terms of time, we may have been on the same plane! I am enjoying Kirsty’s honest and open writing as she tells how she and her family are getting back into South African life. If you have a chance, do go have a look and a read.

As for us – well we are having a quiet weekend, trying to still recover from our holiday last week. It’s ironic really how you can go on holiday and sometimes return more exhausted than when you left.

What shall we do with a wayward Springbok?

What shall we do with a wayward Springbok?

I always thought that pulling on the colours of your national team was supposed to be the stuff that dreams were made of – dreams of young children when they watch their heroes on television or see their photographs in the newspaper or in magazines.

So what then when a member of a national team describes how his national team colours cause him to feel nauseous, that he feels like getting sick on his national jersey?

Now I know that there is much debate in South Africa just now about the Springbok emblem and whether it should stay or go – and I myself have waded into this debate not so many days ago. But this has little to do with the Springbok…

When I watch a national sports team march out onto the field of competition, I like to feel that they are bursting with pride at the prospect of representing their country; that pulling on their national colours still brings a lump to their throat, regardless of how many times they have done it before.

So what then when Luke Watson, a Rugby World Cup winner and current member of the national rugby team, describes how the green and gold of South Africa makes him want to vomit? What then?

I cannot but help to think that sportsmen and women should be role models both on and off the field of play. That they demonstrate not only the very best that their sport has to offer in terms of talent, but also as an ambassador for their sport and their country.

Just what kind of role model is Luke Watson being?

How many other rugby players in the country would dearly love to dislodge Mr Watson from the national rugby team and pull on his jersey themselves – their chests filled with pride though unlike his?
And I cannot help but to think how many young boys have in the last few days proclaimed that they want to “puke on their [replica] rugby jerseys” that their mom or dad has bought them. I know that if I spent all that money buying a jersey that Ulricha’s young son could wear on match days, and he told me he wanted to puke on it, I would be furious! Not at him, but at this so called role model we have in the national team.

I am sorry, but I cannot bring myself to feel any sympathy for Mr Watson. I cannot trust a national team member who doesn’t really want to wear the national colours. Is he truly playing his very best when he is representing his country – or merely going through the motions?

There is currently an investigation underway as to the circumstances of his comments, and whether they were made at a private function or as part of a public address.
I don’t see that it makes a difference.

Our national teams should be full of people who want to be there, who are proud of their national colours, and who will always give 100% for their nation.

Mr Watson should be removed from the national team set up.

Perhaps he would prefer to wear the gold of the Australian Rugby team?

Road Trip to the Mother City #10: The Long Road Home

Sunday was our drive home…
We set off again in the early hours and managed to arrive in Laingsburg just as the sun was rising and about to blind us.
By the time we arrived in Three Sisters Ulricha and I were both exhausted. We had already driven for just shy of 5 and a half hours, and knew the longest stretch of rode was still to come. Already the temperature was starting to reach toward the 30 degree mark – and that was at 9 o’clock, as we enjoyed breakfast in an air conditioned greasy spoon.

We decided to take an alternative route home – hoping to avoid the 6 sets of road works that are currently under way on the N1 motor way between Three Sisters and Springfontein. Instead, we opted for the alternative route through Kimberley, a route we had not tried before. We set off, Ulricha at the wheel, toward Kimberley.

The road itself to Kimberley is in good order, but the scenary is slightly different. As Ulricha said, “This is truly the Karoo” Mile after lonely mile the road stretched, like a piece of liquorice draped over a dry and thirsty earth. There was much less traffic and often we would find ourselves the only car on the road – with no companion vehicles as far as the eye could see.

By the time we had reached Kimberley, our illusions of having selected a more convenient route had been shattered, by a more than useful family member who informed me that there were no less than 5 sets of road works on the N12 motorway. My spirits sank, but fortunately, I negotiated all 5 with only a delay of 7 minutes where we had to wait for the oncoming traffic.

The quality of the road surface had deteriorated though, the yellow line hard shoulder had all but disappeared, and the driving on the streth from Warrenton to Klerksdorp was very sapping and exhausting. Once again we swapped the driver, and Ulricha “brought us home”.

By this stage we were all but exhausted. The type of exhaustion that deflates you, when your spirit is so low, and all you want to do is get home. It was then that the N12 served up its trump card – traffic lights and stop streets!

It was a good experience, and cheaper than paying for the 3 toll roads through the Free State – but exhausting, and more stressful.

But we got home. We arrived safe and sound.
We had a fantastic week in Cape Town. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously. We took nearly 1,000 photographs in that time! (I apologise that this has perhaps been more of a PHOTO BLOG in the last week than anything else – but when you are surrounded by beauty, you simply have to share it!)

But as much as we enjoyed ourselves, we were just happy to once more be home.

Road Trip to the Mother City #9: Boland visit

On Saturday, our last day in the Cape, we decided to actually NOT spend it in the Cape, or at least not in Cape Town itself, but headed inland to Worcester, to an old friend of mine who has moved there this year.

Rather than taking the Huguenot Tunnel on the journey up, I took the old duToit’s Kloof pass – something I have not done for many years. The weather was clear and warm and we enjoyed spectacular views of Table Mountain and the Paarl Valley as we travelled. I say the day was clear – and it was – but the lack of wind meant that there was a rather nasty smog cloud across the peninsula. Still, despite the black smear, the mountain looked beautiful.

It’s when you look out over that kind of landscape that you understand just why people flock from all over the world to spend just a few days here in South Africa, and more particularly the Cape. And sometimes those of us who live here every day take that for granted.

Having negotiated the pass, and taken untold number of photographs, Ulricha and I stopped for a coffee at the du Toits Kloof lodge, where we sat next to the Molenaars river, flowing forcibly after the recent (lengthy) rainy season in the Cape.

The day was rounded out with an amazing afternoon spent catching up with old friends and reminiscing and swapping blogging hints and tips. Arthur writes his own blog too, Online Trek, and so it was fun to exchange blogging stories with him.

Our trip back to Cape Town in the evening was uneventful. But that didn’t matter – we had truly had a wonderful day out in Worcester, and a dull drive back was just what the doctor had ordered!

Springbok Emblem does unite South Africa

It is ironic that yesterday Butana Komphela, proclaimed, with a fair degree of arrogance, that he could not find one piece of empirical evidence to support the notion that the Springbok was a unifying force within South Africa.

Ironic, because today, just 24 hours later, that little emblem has unified a nation against Mr Komphela and his ideas.

Today the ANC and the Democratic Alliance – so both the governing party and the opposition, came out in support of the Springbok emblem, saying that insufficient debate had taken place to make any decisions as to its future.

Whereas yesterday Mr Komphela had said that there the discontinuation of the Springbok emblem was “not negotiable”, today he might be contemplating that he had in fact NOT negotiated with ANYONE prior to raising his voice in such an incredulous manner.

One must wonder just how a person can misjudge the mood of the country? Especially when that person is the chairman of the Sports Portfolio Committee. I have to therefore wonder what his function and responsibility actually is? To my mind, and this is a personal opinion, but he has over stepped the mark and embarked on a strictly personal agenda in this venture – and for a public servant to act in their own interests and not that of the people they are representing, must surely warrant that person being removed from their office?

The Springbok emblem has been around for more than 100 years. It was around BEFORE Mr Komphela was born, and I suspect that it will be around for a long time after he has gone…