girlfriend

I know I said I would post a picture of my girlfriend here when she finally materialises (LOL) but for some reason, I just can't bring myself to doing it. I have no idea why...

Bear with me please...

haha!

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Yesterday I spent most of my time walking up and down Long Street. i went into every other arts & craft shop there.
For those of you who don't know, Long Street is basically what you might consider the main artery (excuse the pun) of Cape Town. That's basically where you'll find most clubs, restaurants, and some really cool locally designed stuff.
During my walks, I came across a store that sells hand made bags and sandals and other little accessories like ear rings and such.

Allow me to just shift off-topic a little: I had always promised myself that when I finally do get myself a girlfriend I would spoil her with all the things I think my girlfriend should have. Simple things, killa one-of-a-kind type of things.
The main reason for this being, I like to believe I'm a pretty original guy, I don't always like what the majority loves, I have my own taste in things, be they decorative or otherwise. I just love having things that you wouldn't find easily. I buy things where people wouldn't expect me to. Buy at prices people wouldn't expect me to. And armed with that, I am able to have things most people wouldn't normally have.
Now that I've got that out of the way...

So I saw this killa handbag made out of an old vynil LP. (I don't actually know what it's really called, just that I'm from a generation of tapes, CDs and MP3s.) And in keeping with the pledge of getting spilling my sense of style over to my girlfriend (LOL), I bought her this:

I'm not too sure why, but when I saw it, she was the first person I thought
I should buy it for. So I did.

She was flippin extatic when I handed it to her...

pfft... girls!

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There's no parking in Cape Town

So I was in Cape Town yestersday for an interview. This was my third trip to the Mother City.

My first trip was back in '95, almost a year into the new South Africa, and my grandmother took my cousin and I to meet our extended family in Elsie's River (or something like that).
For the very first time in my life, got the chance to run around in the cold and salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean (it was in June by the way), hooked up a serious collection of sea shells, and a whole lotta sea water. I'm still not too sure what the fascination is around bringing back (i.e. into the mainland) sea water. But I think it's supposed to bring people some sort of luck. At least that's what most Black people think...

Anyway, my second visit was last year in April. Was more of a business thing. I went for about a week. Luckily I was now old enough to truly appreciate the beauty that is Cape Town.

Damn!

I totally love Cape Town. I love the people there, the food, the beautiful women, the chilled out nightlife, I don't know I just totally love the atmosphere around Capetonians.

I love the laid back culture the people of Cape Town have. For some reason when you're there you just don't see people rushing all over the place. People don't bump while destracted by the confines imposed by the concept of time.

There seems to be an understanding among the people that they all seem to follow in perfect synch to one another. The pedestrians don't have to wait at the pedestrian robot for the green light. For some reason speeding isn't really a priority to Capetonians.

Turns out parking is also not much of a priority. I spoke to a coupl of people (literally 2), about migrating from the busy Jozi life to the more toned down Cape Town state of mind.

And they both said the same thing. They both said the cost of living as more or less the same and accomodates most peoples' pockets. But two thing will always remain a factor in living and working in Cape Town...
1. Property is expensive.
2. There's no parking in Cape Town.

Basically that means, you can sorta afford a decent place, but when it comes to buying car, you might wanna think long and hard about where you're gonna park it. Becase - as I came to notice during my leasurely strolls - there really isn't much parking in the city of Cape Town.

There are actually parking attendants who walk around with a meter thingy around their necks. What they do is, when you wann a park your car, they will gladly assist you with your blind-spot checks and slow reversing, then afterwards, they take down your number plate, punch it into that wonderful piece of machinery, then you can merrily go about you day.

When you return, after however many hours (or minutes, if you're from Jo'burg), he punches in your time, and a nice little receipt pops out and you give him the money stated on the paper. Which is usually close to around R30 (acoording to my sources) for an 8 hour parking spot.

So a large percentage of people who don't have parking allocated to them in their places of employment prefer using public modes of transport and leaving their cars behind.

Why?

Well, it's simple really, parking is damn hard to find, and when you do finally find a place to park, you end up paying a lot.

Either that, or there's just no parking in Cape Town.

Do I still wanna go live there? Hell yeah, but not now. After they rethink their public parking strategy.

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Black on black...

In light of all the kak that's been happening in South Africa lately...

I've been trying to blog about this since the Monday. I've srapped so many posts, I just couldn't find the right words to sum up what's been happening lately.

Someone just emailed me this. And I think it puts everything nicely into one sensible thing...

I might not be a South African

But I’m black, my skin is the same as yours
My colour is the same as yours
My genes are African, nothing but African
When your leaders were beaten by whites
I was there to shelter them
I was patient with them
I offered them food, shelter,
Most of all, I offered them protection

I might be a South African

I can’t speak Zulu, cause I’m Vhenda
I can’t speak Zulu, cause I’m Shangaan
I don’t know what an elbow is in Zulu
As much as you don’t know it in my language
Since when was Zulu the only South African language?
Yes……………I’m not from Gauteng
I was not born here, but I’m South African
Where should I go if you beat me
I’m not beating your father, mother, brother or sister who works at my area in the mines
I’m not calling them makwerekwere though they can’t speak my language.

I might be dark in complexion

I might have the foreigners looks
I might have the foreigners body structure
Now I am scared to go to the only place that I call home
I’m scared of working down the street without my ID
Whites wanted me to do that centuries ago
Now you, my black brother is acting white

Why should you Black South Africans do this?

What makes you think that you better than me?
Who told you that I’m responsible for your unemployment?
Who told you that I’m less human
If I need to go back to Vhenda...let all the Zulus go back to KZN
Let all the Tswana’s go back to Botswana
Let all the Sotho’s go back to Lesotho
Let all the Ndebele’s go back to Kwandebele
Let all the Xhosa’s go back to Eastern Cape
Yes... let all the Swati’s go back to Swaziland

Is this not ignorance?

Your unemployment is your responsibility
Use your intellect
Get up and work
Let education empower you
Seek humanity

Before 1994 you blamed whites
Now you are blaming me
Who are you going to blame after chasing me away?
Who are you going to blame after killing me?

For what it’s worth...

I’m sorry I was not born here
I’m sorry I can’t speak Zulu
I’m sorry for being too dark for your Joburg
I’m sorry for cleaning the toilets you don’t want to clean
I’m sorry for doing your garden
I’m sorry for repairing your shoes
I’m sorry for protecting your leaders while they were in Exile
Yes... what you call Exile...is my country
And most of all... I’m sorry for building South African infrastructure

Please my brothers let there be peace and prosperity amongst black African people.

Written by a Teary Black African...

I don't know who wrote the original piece, so I'm not too sure who to credit.

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