mandela day

From this year onward 18 July marks a new public holiday, Mandela Day, in honour of our first democratically elected president - Nelson Mandela.

Mandela Day Celebrates The Idea That Each Individual Has The Power To Transform The World, The Ability To Make An Imprint.

On this day, we raise our hands in celebration and renewed commitment to the making of a just society. Nelson Mandela teaches us that every human being can make a positive imprint. One by one, and together, we must continue to encourage open dialogue around social issues. We must transform discourse into action. We have work to do.

Mr. Mandela has spent 67 years making the world a better place.

We’re asking you for 67 minutes.

Make your imprint now

meow MIA

I have had the most horrendous last five days. My Chloe kitty has been Missing in Action since late Wednesday evening, and I was convinced that I would never see her again. She went off after dinner after I decided not to lock her in, and never appeared for breakfast on Thursday. Very odd as she is usually my meowing alarm clock, letting me know its 'morning time'.

So I knew that when her breakfast still wasn't eaten when I came home, something was wrong. I felt sick to my stomach, because she wouldn't miss a meal if she had a choice. So I figured that she was either dead in a ditch somewhere (sob!) or hurt and unable to move (sob!). My baby, gone forever. She doesn't wear a collar either, so I knew that the chances were very slim of trying to find her.

I made some flyers which I distributed around our closest neighbours, hoping that someone either saw her ridden over or had hopefully taken her in. But I was pretty sure that I would never see again - I could just feel it. Just as suddenly as she appeared on our doorstep, barely a year later, she disappeared.

I spent most of my weekend teary eyed, blubbing to myself every time I looked at her blanket or food bowl or toys. It was so bleak, as though my child had died. I sobbed, and sobbed and sobbed. 

This morning I pulled myself together for work, and at lunch did some googling about missing cats. The general vibe was that you shouldn't assume that your cat is dead. They can wander off for weeks and return like nothing ever happened. You just got keep up the flyers and eventually something will come to light. So I made a few flyers and decided to give it one last try, it was the very least I could do.

So you can imagine my surprise when I arrived home (after visiting my lovely Mr T who is back from his trip) to see a very tired and slightly limpy cat waiting for me. My poor baby! It poured with rain last night!

So I presume she hurt herself again (fighting with other cats?) and just couldn't make it home over the gauntlet of fences - for 5 days! Or she went gallivanting, my neighbour says she is a traveller…

So a big plate of food and some anti-inflammatory drops later and my little noonoo is cuddled on her blanket FAST ASLEEP. I am so glad to have her back, it was so sad here without her.

And of course, welcome back to my other noonoo, I've missed you both so much!

goodbye real simple

For 3 and a half years, REAL SIMPLE magazine has spoiled us with all sorts of tasteful loveliness. Page after page of beautifully styled and art directored spreads…
So I was very sad to get my letter from their subscription department to say that the magazine is no more. The tough times have affected some areas worse than others, and the magazine industry hasn't been safe.

So farewell REAL SIMPLE, I hope that you are back soon gracing our bookshelves with style.

diff 2009

Its that time of year again! The 30th Annual Durban International Film Festival starts at the end of the month, so grab your programme and make your picks.

update

Winter has hit with it full force (well, as forceful as it gets in Durban). That means my little feral Chloe actually prefers it inside at night. It's quite sweet when she cuddles next to me and rests her head in the crook of my neck… cute!

We had a first official 'Craft Club' meeting. A group of us have got together to loosely plan some sort of handmade something each month. Its difficult as we all have such busy schedules, but so far the results have been rewarding, though I'm thinking we should be called the glue gun club. Those things are amazing. Our theme for June was a Durban July-esque hair piece. I'm almost there on my midnight blue feathered hairpiece, I just need the right finishing and then I post some pics.

Mr T has left for a week in Germany to have a little reunion with his old school mates. He gets to eat pretzels in the sunshine and shop at H&M, and I'll me having some 'me' time. I'll be doing some obligatory hibernating on the weekend, with a little gardening and tidying around the house hopefully too.

We have also booked our flights to Thailand later in the year, and got them for nearly half the price as last time. We had such a wonderful time last year, and look forward to exploring further up north this time, and having a total thai massage overdose. Affordable luxury, you gotta love it!

Work is busier than ever since our head designer emigrated, but I suppose one shouldn't complain about being too busy in this economic climate. Though a friend of mine in the opinion that South Africa isn't in a recession (its only affected certain industries) and instead its being used by big multi-nationals as an excuse to screw us in the ass even further.

On that note, the city of Durban has recently paid many, many millions of rands on a website for 2010 visitors. They announced it quite proudly in the daily paper, not expecting shock and horror from the ratepayers who think we have been seriously ripped off. The website is nothing special design-wise and the content is nothing particularly new either. Anyone even vaguely involved in marketing, design or web will know that R5.5million for a website is pretty steep, heck R1million for a website is steep. For that price they could have put a PC in every household in Durban! This is what the IT geeks had to say.
Someone saw them coming a mile away. See for yourself: www.fifaworldcup.durban.gov.za

confederations cup

Last sunday Mr T and I went to jozi for the Confederation Cup. Boy was it a long day. Airports, collecting our tickets, park and riding and of course, the awesome opening ceremony and first game.
I'm not sure if it was because we were based in Durban, but we had very little information regarding when and how to get to the stadium. We decided to take a chance on the Wits Park & Ride, and were very happy to turn the corner and find queues of cars filled with supporters. There was a bottle neck to get into the parking lot, as they only had one boom gate operating, and we were also sharing lanes with the out-going buses. It took a while to get in, but luckily we arrived early and everyone was in high spirits.

Boarding was simple, we just walked up to the first bus we saw, presented our tickets and off we were to the game.
There was such huge cross section of supporters. From elderly muslim couples to young white students to the wealthy black businessman to the regular fans. Along the way, everyone sang along to Shosholoza, at least the parts we knew!
From the moment we arrived at the stadium, we were greeted by polite and helpful marshals. The security check was small bottleneck as there was only one female policewoman at our gate, and so woman could only enter through one scanner, and no signs explaining what queue to get into. Finding our way around inside the stadium though was a breeze with well trained staff directing everyone.

The opening ceremony was such FUN! I really didn't know what to expect and was thoroughly surprised and entertained. The game on the other hand, looking back I think Bafana Bafana overwhelmed by the excitement of the event, and have definitely showed what they are made of in the games that followed.

One suggestion to the organisers. I don't want to fight and queue for refreshments at a game. And the less queues, the more you will sell. I left my seat just before halftime to grab Budweiser or even a coffee to warm up, and already the queue was 3 deep, with grown men pushing and shoving and getting angry over beer. I suggest that food, soft drinks and alcohol are all sold at different outlets, to prevent the poor sod who just wants a coke from waiting half an hour. Part of the delay was that they were serving beer out of glass bottles, and every single one had to be poured into a plastic cup. There were not enough staff to do this efficiently - next time, serve beer on tap.
I walked the entire perimeter of the stadium at half-time - there was no hot food for sale and I couldn't find a single coffee vendor. Loads of ice cream vendors though. WTF.
There were problems with the Park & Ride after the game. There was no information regarding the buses, and so the crowds just walked onto the first buses they found. Which would have been great, except with the maze of roads, the full buses couldn't move. Eventually the buses emptied and again we wandered around trying to find a bus that wasn't caught in a traffic jam.

After the game we head out to Pretoria, and spent monday doing some touristy sightseeing, checking out the Union Buildings and the Cultural History Museum.
That night we were lucky enough to be staying a 5 minute walk from Loftus and got to see some great soccer action at the USA v Italy game. I can see how the issues about security ran there course at the Loftus game. All of the entrances were manned by metro police, who did a great job. Inside the stadium there were very few FIFA certified marshalls to be seen. And we walked in circles trying to find our Category 4 seats. Eventually we found them, but there was no clear signage that we were on the right track. Once we got to our seats the wasn't a single marshal or security guard in our entire section. I was a little concerned, we could have started a riot up there!
Leaving the stadium, all the exits on one side were locked and we had to exit through a small gate down a long, unlit road that again seemed to pose a potential safety hazard. I hope these details are ironed out for next year.

I'm so glad we went, the Confed Cup is really like a dry run for the 2010 World Cup and I am super excited for next year. I've even compiled my own list of advice and suggestions for next year.

2010 (Bafana Bafana) Fan Guide

• Yellow, yellow, yellow. You need to be covered from head to toe in our colours, and the good old yellow kit is a fan favourite. Don't even mention the new green one that clearly even the team won't wear.
• You'll need a something to wave around, a vuvuzela or flag will do nicely
• Although you will need to dress warmly for once the sun goes down, the earlier matches may mean a hour or so of bright sun right in your eyes, so a hat or sunglasses are good idea
• Learn some fan songs, Shosholoza is a good one, and apparently the Bloemfontein Celtic supporters have quite a selection too
• Give yourself plenty of time to get to the Park & Ride, in case of traffic jams
• And lastly, don't be afraid to go OTT with the dressing up, its a great conversation starter in a crowd full of football fans. Mr T even made it to the front page of the newspaper!
  

Bring on 2010!

luck you too

At the previous i heart market, I treated myself to a pretty felt brooch from Sara Trickett of LuckYou handmade. Not only are they handmade, but all the felt is hand dyed too - a necessity if you've seen the choices of felt colours here in SA.

It's so pretty!

bookclub - june 2009

2 weeks ago I hosted my first bookclub at my place slash my mom's place.

Days days ahead of planning, chopping, baking, shopping lists and the best part of all - choosing books. I had an awesome time spending a morning at Exclusive Books choosing a nice little stalagmite of books to persue. I had already checked out the Booker prize lists for the past few years and had a few ideas of what I wanted. How odd though, as much of a bookworm that I am, it was the first time I had really indulged in buying books. And it was lovely.

The evening was lovely, luckily the cold weather held off and we could enjoy ourselves outside. I kept the food pretty simple, not to detract from the books of course. So to start it was 101 Cookbooks Vegetarian Split Pea soup, with Martha Stewart's Mac & Cheese (with some veggies snuck in) to follow and finishing off with a slightly burnt Sour Cream Coffee Cake from Nectar & Light.

Of my books put forward, these were chosen:

An American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
6 Suspects - Vikas Swarup
Twilight - Stephanie Meyer

Happy Reading until next month!

pic: 101 cookbooks

pic: smitten kitchen

pic: nectar and light

lovin…

These are from a few weekends ago, but still worth the mention.

The Shadow Club played in Durban last weekend, we caught them at the Winston on friday night. One of the most memorable acts from Splashy Fen this year, the are really one of the most exciting South African bands out there at the moment. Try see them live if you can.

We also went to a photographic exhibition at the DAG of the work of Edward S. Curtis. You know those old incredible photographs of American Indian chiefs and braves? Well this is the dude.

Not only was he making his own cameras from his teens, and inventing printing techniques throughout his career, but he pretty much dedicated about 30 years of his life to documenting over eighty tribes across North America.

The photographs beautiful and moving, but they tell a story of a noble nation that had lived in balance for so long, nearing the end of its existence, due to their extermination by the 'white man'. He has been accused by historians of setting up his pictures, but I don't mind because I still think they are valuable historically.
You can see some of his work on the Smithsonian flickr account, as well as his website.

On a not so lovin note, I'm going to the Confederation Cup this weekend, and I won't start on why FIFA have no ticket collection points in Durban. Instead I will be mildly disappointed in the lack of stylish fan gear for female Bafana Bafana fans. Come Adidas. Sort it out.

Jicarilla maiden

Hastobíga, Navaho Medicine-man

chloe kitty

To the untrained eye, this looks like a regular little domesticated cat. But it is in actual fact a kitty who has yet again mangled her tail on barbed wire. But we are learning - this time I did not even attempt to remove the bandage myself, though I did make the rookie mistake of giving her catnip to relax after a stressful vet visit. NOT a good idea.

No more tail accidents kitty! Mommy can't handle the stress…

36 days

When the SEACOM cable goes live in a month or so, I swear I could throw a friggin party. My home Telkom adsl line is such a joke. I can load one BASIC page at a time, and heaven forbid I should try to stream or download anything.

F*cksakes, I just want a reasonable speed internet.

There are arguments that the price probably won't come down as drastically as it should because the big players who will do anything to keep their stranglehold on the market. Greed and big business seem to go hand in hand in South Africa, so its no surprise to me.

I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PRICE, I JUST WANT ACCESS TO A PROPER BROADBAND INTERNET CONNECTION!

If you can't do it for me, do it for the hoards of europeans that will be passing through here next year. They are gonna flip their sunburnt lids if they have to deal with the internet speed that I endure every day.

Will South African Broadband Internet Become Cheaper Overnight?

Compare your Internet connection with the rest of the planet using Speedtest, and then laugh out loud…

nadja + paul

When an old friend was married earlier this month to her lovely man, not only was the entire ceremony and reception very beautiful and special, but the whole event was filled was so many little details.

Combine a graphic designer and illustrator and you get some very lovely wedding stationery!

photographer: wade howard

the early morning market

At the end of this month, all the traders in Warwick Triangle's Early Morning Market will be expected to vacate. You see, Mike Sutcliffe wants to put a shopping mall in its place, for whose benefit I'm not sure.

I went to the market during my Walking Tour of Durban, and it is a unique and special place. A short walk from Musgrave Centre, you are greeted by towers of fresh fruit and vegetables, reminding me of the markets in european cities where you pick up the ingredients for dinner on the way home. A sharp whistle warns you to move to the side as a porter zoots past pushing a cart of potatoes.

The market provides self-employment to about 700 stall holders, but also numerous porters/trolley handlers as well as informal traders - around 4000 jobs. These are people from the poorer parts of the city working hard to support their families.

Which is why I question replacing it with a chain store. Because the rich clearly don't have enough money. And with a foot traffic through the transport hub of around 400 000 commuters a day, the store manager can just lean back and put it feet up while the cash pours in. Easy money. Hmmm, I wonder if they even have a justification of how this is supposed to benefit the city, or like the street naming process, its a case of 'we do it, because we can, and you can't stop us'.

Perhaps Mike Sutcliffe should go on a citywalk, so that he may too experience the magic of place that cannot be replaced by a sanitised, fluorescent tube lit mall.

Comments, Queries, and Objections with Respect to the Public Notice of the Intention to Grant the Lease of Immovable Property to Warwick Mall (Pty) Ltd.

MG: Trading Markets for Malls

The Early Morning Market | blogpost

(pic: flickr)