We have finally uploaded our photos of our holiday to South Africa and Namibia over Christmas and new year. They can be found in our photo gallery on this site in the usual place (* Gallery * Family * South Africa / Namibia 2009/2010). This was the first time that the families from both sides got together. Quite a mammoth task considering we have family in Stutterheim, East London, Durban, Cape Town, Windhoek, Newcastle UK and of course London UK.  We also managed to visit friends in the various towns so overall it was a successful holiday.

When I get a chance I will upload some HD Video that we took with our two Panasonic HD cameras. This will take a bit of time as I have to convert the video and then upload.

There is a wonderful story in the news today (many sources BBC, Metro, IOL etc) about a company in South Africa who used a pigeon to  carry a small memory card of data from one location to another while at the same time they tried sending the data over ADSL to the same location.

They wanted to show Telkom how slow their broadband connection was.

In total, it took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds for Winston the pigeon to fly to Hillcrest and to upload the data from the card onto the call centre system.

By that time, the ADSL transmission of the same data size was around four percent complete.

What a clever pigeon – Not only did Winston fly there in record breaking time, he also uploaded the data onto the system.

Winston sets off to work for UPigeonS!

This story got me thinking why the mad scientists of the world are trying to clone sheep or grow ears on hands or silly stuff like that?

Instead why don’t they genetically enhance a racing pigeon and make it like a hawk or an eagle with excellent eye sight, a powerful body strong enough to fend off predators, bad weather and equally strong enough to carry a few carefully constructed waterproof boxes or satchels on it’s back or legs, which can hold memory cards, mini hard drives or small documents. It’s incredible to think that the pea size brain of a pigeon is intelligent enough to remember great distances and locations of departure and destionation, so the scientists would not have to make major changes in the brain department.

Once the super pigeon has been developed, train them up, and give them good strong names such as Winston, George, Sarkozy, Berlusconi, and Barack-Obama and then sell them to some small choice companies who are willing to compete with the likes of Royal Mail, TNT, Fedex, UPS and all the ISP’s of the world.

I am sure there are many people, companies, small developing countries around the world who have poor mail services and equally poor broadband services. Take the UK for example (since I live here), the Royal Mail are striking at the moment (yet again). Our ISP’s sell us broadband packages and promise us speeds of 8MB or more, yet one is very lucky to get more than 2MB. There are plenty of surveys to prove this statement.

Look out for the following global brand names in the future (Royal Pigeon, UPigeonS, FedPigeon, FastPigeon, Pipigeon, T-Pigeon, PigeonBolt). I can definitely see them taking off. (excuse the pun).

What an idea hey?

What a test match? At half time the Lions were 18 – 6 up, and if they could have kept the momentum they “might” have beaten our boys, but there were too many injuries for the Lions. There were two dodgy incidents in the game, the first being by Schalk Burger who by the looks of it delibrately fingered in the eye the Irish winger Luke Fitzgerald. Burger was lucky to get a yellow card. Personally I think he should have been sent off.

The second incident was in the 2nd half when Brian O’Driscoll took out Danie Rossouw with a dangerous tackle. O’Driscoll was lucky not to be sent for off. The silly Ref didn’t even give a penalty, which was equally dumb.

There were tries by JP Pietersen, Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie flew over in the last ten minutes. With the score on 25 -25 and less than two minutes of playing time it all came down to a tackle in the air, which gave South Africa a penalty and Morne Steyn kicked the ball perfectly straight and over the poles for a brilliant finish and win. It was an excellent match.

EDIT [29/06/2009]: It is good to see Schalk Burger being banned for 8 weeks for the eye-gouging incident with Luke Fitzgerald. That was extremely dirty play and there is no place for that sort of behaviour in rugby. He got what he deserved and I am not ashamed to say that. Read about in on Sky News.

I saw this video over at Guinesspig.net and if there ever was a reason to give money to charity, then this would be it. Is this a con?, well watch the video and make up your own mind. I did a little research online and came across this website.

And if there ever was a reason to wish for Mugabe to be gone forever,  then this would be it as well. He has caused this problem.

Below applies to all those people born in South African between 1920 and 1980.

• First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

• They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

• Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

• We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking!!!

• As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

• Riding in the back of a Bakkie on a warm day was always a special treat.

• We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

• Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Steers, Nandos.

• Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn’t open on the weekends, somehow we didn’t starve to death!

• We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

• We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Chappies, Wilson ’s Toffees, Wicks Bubble Gum and some crackers to blow up frogs with.

• We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because……

• WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

• We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

• No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

• We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.

• We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

• We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on DSTV, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

• We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.

• Only girls had pierced ears!

• We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

• You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time…….no really!

• We were given pellet guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays!!

• We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

• Mum didn’t have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

• RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT AND NOT DUE TO BLACKMAIL, THREATS AND GUILT FROM THE PAST….. strange but true!

• Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather staps and bully’s always ruled the playground at school.

• The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

• They actually sided with the law!

• Our parents didn’t invent stupid names for their kids like ‘Kiora’ and ‘Blade’ and ‘Ridge’ and ‘Vanilla’

• This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

• The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

• We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

• And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Nothing like a bit of encouragement from the union boss. There are currently taxi strikes in Kwa-Zulu Natal (South Africa) and the trade unions know how to persuade their members…

With the massive credit crunch taking grip all over England and especially in London, and the untimely loss of our house (it blew over in the big storm last week), we have decided to get out while we can with the little belongs that we have.

Our pounds, which are slightly lower in value to the pounds in the city have been deteriorrating now for years. We have been playing the fool for too long thinking that our money would increase in value.

We have also noticed over the past few years that London in general is becoming like a 3rd world country or a cowboy capital (crime on the streets on a daily basis, knifing, stabbing, shooting, and there is no law and order (only on TV).

So we will be back in South Africa on the 26th of July, which turns out to be exactly 9 years to the day, when we arrived in the country. We are not moving back to East London, but instead heading down to Cape Town, where it feels a lot like England, since most of Cape Town is owned by British and Foreign investors.

With the exchange rate at almost 16 to 1, I am sure we will be able to live like kings. We have bought a penthouse in the V&A waterfront, because it’s close to the heart of Cape Town.

Imagine working on a news article or a business letter and suddenly your electricity goes off for an hour – You’re in the dark, your PC is pissed because it wasn’t shut down properly and in an age where everything is electronic, you are pretty much stuffed. Then it comes on again, and it takes a good couple of minutes to get back into the stride of things, and you are just about to finish that  article and off it goes again.

This is apparently happening on a daily basis in South Africa. How businesses are copying I just don’t know?

Someone sent me this great new CD from a little known band called ESKOM. You might have heard of them! They recommend you listen to it immediately just in case you are left in the dark.

I thought I would stay with the South African theme and put a couple of jokes I received today from Mom-in-law (thanks).

Actual writings in a Mpumalanga Hospital Register.

1. The patient refused autopsy.
2. The patient has no previous history of suicides.
3. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
4. Patient’s medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.
5. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very  hot in bed last night..
6. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
7. On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
8. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
9. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
10. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
11. Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentlly alert but forgetful.
12. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
13. She is numb from her toes down.
14. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.
15. The skin was moist and dry.
16. Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.
17. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
18. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
19. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she  got a divorce.
20. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
21. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
22. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
23. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
24. Skin: somewhat pale but present.
25. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.
26. Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.
27. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities