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!

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!

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.

"Ditsem" to Dischem!

As you may have worked out by now, ulricha and I are on a week long holiday in Cape Town.

So you can imagine how we panicked slightly when we realised that we had not gone to the Northgate Dischem to get the next month supply of a course of medication that has been prescribed to Ulricha.

So unsure of what might happen, we went to the Claremont branch of Dischem and enquired about whether we could get the next course of medication. After a few clicks of the mouse some swift hand movements over the keyboard and a confirmation of the personal details on file, we were getting ourselves the medication we needed - 1500 kilometers from where the actual prescription is situated.

It is a credit to a company like Dischem that they have a national database of scripts and perscriptions on file that allows travellers to get their medication when they are far from home.

Many thanks to the good folk of Dischem!

South Africa to lose the Springbok?

Apparently the Springbok symbol does not unite South Africans, and it has to go.

This is the opinion of Sports Portfolio Committee chairman, Butana Komphela, who was speaking at the first day of the 2-day Sports Indaba in Durban. He continued, “Minister, I want you to observe the arrogance of white people on the Springbok emblem."

Now I am not sure where Mr Komphela was in 1995 and 2007 – but perhaps I can update him as to what happened…
In 1995, President Nelson Mandela wore Francois Pienaar’s No 7 rugby jersey and witnessed the South African rugby team, the Springboks, win the Rugby World Cup at their first attempt and on home soil. I was in South Africa that day and witnessed South Africans – not of colour, or creed, but as one nation, support 15 men in Green and Gold jerseys beat a team from new Zealand. Our chests filled with pride, as Francois Pienaar proclaimed afterward – “it wasn’t 50,00 South Africans supporting us, it was 43 million”.

And I wonder where Mr Komphela was last year when the Springboks once more lifted the title of “World Champion” – this time on foreign soil? I wasn’t even in the country at the time, but even I know that South Africa was alive with anticipation and electric energy in the week ahead of the Final. Not just some South Africans – ALL South Africans.

Apparently, Johan Prinsloo (Chief Executive of the South African Rugby Union) is “not authorised” to participate in the debate, and the Springbok emblem was never on the agenda to begin with.

Sadly this once again sounds like political forces and a political agenda are being pushed into the realm of sport. It appears to me that Mr Komphela has his own agenda, wanting to remove the Springbok emblem from the rugby team.

To me it is a united team that wins and performs that leads to a unified nation supporting them. Our Olympic athletes went to Beijing and returned with a single silver medal – they participated under the Protea emblem, and South Africans felt embarrassed as results were so poor.
The South African football team are called Bafana Bafana – and cannot even bribe themselves a goal at this stage. Unless they seriously find some talent, they are in severe danger of being a national embarrassment to the sport of football, and on the world’s largest stage.

And yet, the team that has done more to unite black and white South Africans and raise public morale and energy and excitement, is being black listed and called racist because they are wearing the wrong emblem on their jerseys.

Be honest with us Mr Komphela – do you want to rid yourself of the Springbok, or of Rugby?

Road trip to the Mother City #6: Winetasting

On Tuesday we decided to head into the Winelands and enjoy our very own selection of wine farms in the Paarl, Stellenbosch and Franschoek area. This was always going to be an over ambitious endeavour, given that we only gave ourselves a day, and even the selection of 5 farms we started off the day hoping to see, quickly reduced down.

Fairview Farm
We first headed out to Fairview, a farm closer to Paarl, known not just for its wines, but its cheese too – in particular its goat’s cheese.
We tasted a selection of their white and red wines, from a number of different named brands, and quite enjoyed them. However, at the end of it all we bought just 2 bottles, and then set off to taste their cheeses. WOW! Some of their cheese were just sublime, magnificent and a taste extravaganza! Needless to say, we bought a heap of their cheeses…
Fairview is a beautiful setting though, with its iconic goat tower (complete with 4 rather lazy but no less lovely goats) and a really beautifully manicured garden around the tasting room. It certainly is with a visit just for the experience and the views of the Boland.

Vrede en Lust
Having had our fill of cheeses, we decided on a change of our original plan, and headed off to a farm that Ulricha had suggested, Vrede en Lust. A beautiful old farm from 1688 and one of the original Stellenbosch wine farms. Through a chequered history though, the farm has also been a fruit producing farm, only recently returning to its original heritage of being a wine farm.
The tasting room was a sumptuously decadent room, with oversized couches overlooking their vineyards and the mountain backdrop of Stellenbosch. This beauty faded though once we started tasting their wines. Such a beautiful mix of light and easy drinking wines, put together like a symphony, with wine maker Susan Swartz the orchestra leader. I must say though that Yvette, the wonderful lady helping us in the tasting room was brilliant – with a full knowledge of her product and able to bring the wines to life by telling us where they came from and what they were good with. She was also a really good sales woman, and we left with 6 bottles of wine!


We then enjoyed a wonderful lunch at their restaurant, which was brilliant, and a lovely break in the day – accompanied of course by a bottle of wine!


Boekenhoutskloof
Deciding to follow Yvette’s advice, we headed off to Franschoek, to a small farm called Boekenhoutskloof. This is a little known farm, located at the foot of the mountains around Franschoek and a completely new experience to us. Their wines however were well known to us – Porcupine Ridge and Wolf Trap. And so we got stuck in, enjoying our fair share of their red wines. We were then introduced to a fantastic wine, called Chocolate Block – a wonderful red wine. Impressed? We certainly were, and left the farm with another 5 bottles of wine! So impressed were we, that we returned to Franschoek to enjoy a late afternoon bottle of the Chocolate Block at a local restaurant called Reubens.


It really was a wonderful day in the Boland – enjoying some fine local wine and cheese and feeling that we had come away with a little bit more culture and appreciation for our local wine making heritage…. Or was that just the wine talking?

Road trip to the Mother City #2: What benefits from tolling our roads?

Can someone explain to me what the benefits are of toll roads in South Africa?

I have just used the N1 from Johannesburg to Cape Town, and was fortunate enough to only have to use 4 toll roads along the way.

Now my idea of a toll road is that I am required to pay an extra charge for the use of the road, but that the road provides me some extra benefit. So therefore I understand paying a toll for the Hugenot Tunnel near Paarl – where the tunnel through the mountain saves 12 kilometers off the trip, and significantly reduces the stress of the trip, that you don’t have to drive over the Du Toitskloof pass.

But what such benefit do the Grasmere, Kroonvaal or Verkeerdevlei toll roads provide?

To my mind, all I can see is that the maintenance of these national roads has been outsourced or subcontracted, to outside contractors, rather than a government agency or department. But I was taught at high school that roads are a “public good” (in the sense of being a commodity) and as such, I always thought that the government should be providing the public with good, safe roads – not just providing the public with arteries to travel, but delivering good transport links to the country’s economy. And this service is funded using the tax money that us good natured tax payers so happily pass over every pay day.

So perhaps then the toll should might rather be seen as a “pay as you drive” tax, something which targets those members of the public that most utilise this resource. So the more you use this, the more you would pay.
But surely this would mean that the taxes derived by tolling the users of the road, would therefore not have to be collected from the general public – meaning a reduction in tax paid by the public – either on their salaries, through fuel tax, or motor vehicle tax.

I am unaware of any such tax deductions having been passed over to the South African tax payer.

So what then do I get from paying a toll to use a motor way?

And the saga gets worse…
Between Springfontein and the Orange River there are no less than 3 stretches of road works where another toll road just looks destined to pop up it’s greedy green eyes in the near future.

I recently downloaded a map of the Toll Road locations throughout South Africa from the National Roads agency website, and it lists no less than 51 Toll Road locations. Some of these are sub-sections of the main toll roads, just to ensure that enough of the country is covered by tolls.

So please – with this phenomenon seemingly being so popular, please could someone tell me what benefit I derive from paying tolls on South African roads?

African Art

Apart from being a business woman and putting up with me all the time, Ulricha somehow finds time to also be an artist, and a rather talented one at that.

So I thought I would share with you some of her artwork - in particular a series of African related artwork that she recently completed.

Wherever I lay my hat - London versus Johannesburg

An article on News24 was brought to my attention, comparing living in London with living in South Africa. The author of the article, Georgina Guedes, tells of her latest two week experience in London, and of some of the comments made by South Africans over there with regards the trade off between the weather there and the crime in South Africa.

Her article has in fact evoked such a response that the comment facility on her page was closed within a few hours of it appearing... Pity that, now I will have to comment here - and hope she sees it.

Having lived in London for more than 4 years, Bristol for just shy of 2 years, Cape Town for more than 25 years, and Johannesburg for around 3 years, I think I am well placed to comment with regard the comparison of living in London, or the UK and South Africa.

Firstly, let it be known that while Georgina complaints of "the fine drizzle perpetually soaking" everything, it is a true fact that Johannesburg's average annual rain fall is HIGHER than the average annual rainfall in London! If you don't believe me, either refer to the following:
Johannesburg statistics versus
London Statistics, or look this up yourself – you will find that Johannesburg receives nearly 40% more rain per year than London.

So now that we have that misperception cleared up, what is true to say is that it is generally grey in London and fairly often grey. But let's be honest - who in the world is not aware of that these days? To go to London and complain about the weather is to move to Johannesburg and complain that you miss the beach!

People do not move to London for the weather. Therefore the change in lifestyle that the weather brings about is part of what you accept when you move to London. If you are a sun bunny - you will hate London, so don't even get on the plane.

People move to London for the experience, the opportunity, the new doors that living in a cosmopolitan city can open up for you. A change of lifestyle is probably part of the plan if you are contemplating moving to London.

Georgina says that London Life is hard – and it is expensive.
I am not sure what she means by “life is hard” – I currently work a 40 hour week, whereas my UK contract only required a 37.5 hour work week. South Africans are in fact valued for their work ethic and the hard work they put in. It is part of being a South African. And expensive? Well, perhaps it was specific to me, I may be speaking out of turn, but I never found it expensive. Once you are earning Pounds, spending Pounds becomes more comfortable. And you can shop at Marks and Spencers – or at Lidl. Life is as expensive as you choose to make it – like shopping at Woolworths or Checkers. And Georgina may want to take a peek at my Cost of Living blog, where there appeared to be an interesting outcome.

For my own part, I loved London. I enjoyed it more than any other city I have ever lived in, I loved the public transport, I loved the fact that things generally worked, though the wrong kind of leaves on the track could bring the public transport system to a grinding halt. I loved the fact that there were so many parks to go out to, to walk in, to see families walking in - and yes, they WERE donned in their rain Macs Georgina, but that is part of the joy of being outdoors for me. Walking through Richmond Park - amongst the deer, or across Wimbledon Common to the Windmill, or along the lake in Wimbledon Park.

Like everything in life, London is what you make it. But if you want to see the sun, don't go!

Despite all that, I am now living in Johannesburg. I returned to be close to members of my family whom I needed to be close to. I have myself a lovely life, a great job, a beautiful girlfriend. I have a lot of things I didn't have in London. I get to feed geese 3 times a week, I get to lie by the pool pretty much any day of the week, I can walk with rolled up shirt sleeves at 6:30 in the morning.

And yet - for all that, YES, I miss London.

Every person will love or hate London. It is a Marmite city - there are no half measures.

But every person should at least decide their opinion for themselves.

Fair enough, Georgina hates it... But that's not to say you must.

The public holiday that was...

A lovely day is coming to an inevitable end.

We have had a very relaxed day. Our plans for going out to a local park for a picnic, changed into just having a lovely picnic at home in the gardens, enjoying the lovely sunshine and the simplicity of a home cooked lunch.
The animals joined us, with the dog and 2 cats circling us in ever tightening circles as they smelled the food, though didn’t want to just ask for a tit-bit.

Ulricha’s parents have been on holiday for the last few days, and her father asked me to look after the pool. Given that my technical know-how is very limited, this was a rather ambitious request.
What has made it worse is that the pool appears to have noticed that he has gone, and so has started playing up – with the pool cleaner stopping for no reason, the winds whipping up loads of leaves and dust and dumping it into the pool, and I swear I have started noticing marks on the pool floor that weren’t there before!

I have also found out that today was Heritage Day here in South Africa – hence the reason for the Public Holiday. I am not sure entirely what that means I should be celebrating, other than the obvious “Heritage”.

And so ends our little oasis of relaxation in the middle of this week. Tomorrow we are back to the grind, but thankfully just for another 2 days.

Personal thought on political situation in South Africa

A friend from overseas asked me this week what I thought about the ruling concerning Jacob Zuma, and I guess the next question that follows this weekend is what I feel with regard Thabo Mbeki and his resignation.

I am no political commentator, and I know well enough that what I think one thing is going to happen in a political arena, another generally does!

But the transition of power from Mbeki to Zuma was always going to happen, and the two questions really were when and how. These are now answered, though the “how” remains a little clouded in mystery.

With regard the view of myself and people around me, I think we generally feel that this was going to happen, that perhaps a new energy will be injected into the government, and yet at the same time, perhaps a new direction – and it is perhaps the direction more than anything that is a concern.

It was very worrying to me to see the mass action that was threatened prior to the announcement of the ruling in the Zuma case. I certainly got the feeling that, regardless of where guilt lay or didn’t lie, the country got a better result through the case being dismissed – as for it to have gone ahead would have triggered mass action and public demonstrations that have long not been seen here. Possibly with violent outcomes.

And one has to wonder if that will be a theme going into a new era in South Africa?
President Mbeki has just made a speech on national TV, lauding the achievements of successive governments he has been part of since 1994, and saying how these governments have always upheld and defended the judiciary in the country. Whether this is true or not might only be revealed in any subsequent judicial findings – but more to the point is whether this defence of the judiciary will continue in the future. Certainly there were some worrying signs in the past few weeks.

South Africa continues to be a strong economic force in Africa and within the global market, and this must continue in the future. For the sake of the country and the future of its people, there surely can only be one direction that the government can choose.

Let’s hope that is the direction chosen.

How to get a South African drivers licence - ex pats

If you have read previous entries to this blog, you might have read how I battled for several weeks to get a South African drivers licence sorted out for myself. A seemingly easy process, which was so mired and fraught with red tape, that at one point I considered that returning to the UK would be easier.

However, after a struggle, I managed to find the correct methodology for this process, and am now awaiting delivery of my new South African credit card style drivers licence. That being the case, I wanted to share the methodology with others who might find themselves in a similar, unfortunate position. Perhaps you will have less trouble than I did.

First things first – the credit card style licence became compulsory on 30th April 2003. If, like me, you left South Africa PRIOR to this date, but had not converted your ID book licence, then you are in the same position I was in, and this is for you.

Before you can even APPLY for your credit card licence in South Africa, you need the Department of Public Works in Johannesburg to change your licence details on the computer system. This will allow the Traffic Department to make the appropriate application.

In order for the computer system to be changed, the following items must be submitted to the Department of Public Works:
* Certified copy of your ID book
* Certified copy of your drivers licence in your ID book
* Certified copy of your passport, clearly showing the departure stamp when you originally left South Africa
* Certified copy of a letter from your overseas employer stating that you were employed by them on the 30th April 2003.
* Supporting letter from yourself, motivating why you are now applying for the credit card licence.

Once the computer system is changed, THEN you can go to the Traffic Department in your area and apply for your new licence.

Just take a pair of scissors to slice through the red tape!

Charity surely begins at home?

I caught a very small snippet of news last night on the local 24 Hour news channel, and very strangely, I cannot easily find this item on the internet – except on BuaNews.

It appears that South Africa has signed a cooperation agreement with Burundi to support the rebuilding of their local health system.

The news article on BuaNews and the item I saw on the TV differ slightly.
BuaNews appears to indicate that the agreement will allow Burunidan patients to more readily access medical treatment in South Africa, and assistance with training specialists and hospital managers.

The cooperation agreement also makes provision for the referral of Burundian patients to South African public health facilities as well as the short-term capacity building of specialists and hospital managers.

However, when eTV interviewed the South African Health Minister, and asked about the utilisation of already limited South African resources, the Minister argued that this coorperation and the spreading of a scarce commodity over a greater demand was an example to the rest of the world of how African countries could work together.
The implication of what she was saying sounded to me more like South African specialists and hospital managers would be being sent to Burundi to assist in that country.

As I work in the health industry in South Africa, I can see the impact of these scarce resources – doctors, nurses and specialists – being stretched to breaking point… They simply LEAVE South Africa for greener pastures – mainly the UK and Australia.

So if you were informed by the South African Health department that you as a nurse were REQUIRED to spend some time in Burundi – a foreign country, with a new language, a new culture, and far from your own home, but for the same salary, why wouldn’t you choose to move to Australia – a foreign country, with the SAME language, a SIMILAR culture, far from your own home, but for potentially a higher salary?

Surely South Africa should focus on ensuring that we have the infrastructure locally to service and support our OWN people and population, before we make gallant gestures to our neighbouring countries, and even those that AREN’T our neighbours?

If you are looking for a doctor and can’t find one – might I suggest you go to your local international airport? They are probably sitting in the international departure lounge.

Proof - the Sun really DOES rise in Sandton City

I was on my way to the office at 6:30 on Wednesday morning, when the following sunrise greeted me as I drove down through Balirgowrie....

I couldn't help but wonder whether some clever advertising executive hadn't missed a perfect opportunity to market Sandton City just a little...

Off to the 'Berg: A Golden Return

I know that the name “City of Gold” relates to Johannesburg’s mineral wealth and the mining industry that developed here on the Highveld.

But driving back home last evening, greeted by the Golden Sunset as we approached Johannesburg, I had to wonder to myself whether or not the City of Gold was called that for other reasons too

Counting the Cost of living

Recently, the Telegraph in the UK published an article relating to food price inflation. Within that article was a basket of groceries that were priced up based on the prices at a variety of UK supermarkets.

A friend of mine who writes the Homecoming Revolution blog, used that information to compare the cost of living in South Africa to that in the UK, and came to a very interesting conclusion.

However, Paul used a direct financial comparison, utilising a exchange rate of the Pound to the Rand to compare the South African and UK grocery baskets. That got me thinking – I once was told about the Big Mac Index, and I wondered what happened if the same baskets were compared not in monetary terms, but in terms of common items available in each country.

Rather than guess the Big Mac price in each country, I researched the cost of a 2 litre Coca Cola and the cost of a litre of petrol. Here are my results:

Cost of basket in UK – £27.03 (average per table)
Cost of basket in South Africa – R336.83 (per Paul’s research – Pick n Pay)

2 litre Coke:
Cost in South Africa: R12.00 (from my local Spar)
Index*: 28.07
Cost in the UK: £1.49 (per the Tesco Price Check website)
Index*: 18.14

1 litre of Petrol
Cost in South Africa: R10.20
Index*: 33.02
Cost in the UK: £1.149 (per the PetrolPrices.com website - using London as a base)
Index*: 23.53

*Index represents the cost of the basket, divided by the cost of the item – in other words the number of the item that equates to the basket.

On this basis South Africa turns out to have a higher cost of living, as the basket equates to MORE of the item.

But then again these are just statistics…. And I am sure that 10 other people could find 10 other calculations and 10 different results…

How many men does it take to change a (traffic) light bulb...?

In the midst of a particularly long and harrowing commute home, I came upon this scene which caught my eye and tickled my sense of irony.

So how many men DOES it take to change a traffic light bulb? In Grayston Drive in Sandton, the answer appears to be 15.....

Starting a Revolution

It's that time of year again...

Homecoming Revolution, a non-profit organization, sponsored by First National Bank, aimed at encouraging and helping South Africans living abroad to return home, is once again hosting its annual "Wosa Ekhaya" London Event.

I attended this event last year at the Kensington Olympia, and found it a very worthwhile endevour. The London Event is an excellent opportunity to find out all you need to know about returning or immigrating to South Africa.
Personally, attending the event provided me with an insight into what was going on within the job market, as I had been out of the country for five and a half years, and the enviroment had changed.

It also provides excellent nwetworking opportunities, not just with potential employers, but recruitment agencies and property consultancies. I made some great contacts, some of which helped when I relocated back to South Africa, and some of which assisted once I was here.

I would really commend this event to you if you are thinking of relocating back to South Africa, or just want to know more about what the current market is like in South Africa.

Woza Ekhaya takes place at the Kensington Olympia Conference Centre, London on Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th October 2008.

The boxes have arrived!

Yes, after a journey of 8 weeks or more, that took them through Liverpool, Europe, and the islands off Morocco, and then 10 days in customs being looked at... John, Paul, George and Ringo, my 4 boxes sent from London, have finally arrived and been delivered.

It;s a strange sensation, there isn't really anything within them that I urgently need, and yet to be re-united with them and their contents, I was like a kid in a candy store opening them up and checking nothing was broken, and excitedly taking out objects... It was like Christmas for adults!

I was also treated to my first experience of super efficiency in Johannesburg. The delivery was scheduled for a time between 9:30 and 10:30 - and yet at 8:30 the driver called me on my mobile to say he was already parked outside my front gate.

So pergaps efficiency does exist - just not in the drivers licence department....