Simple Pleasures

After an awesome wknd where the sun shone the birds tweeted and I slept like a log when I had the chance.

Fri is always great at work, gearing up for the wknd, you can sense the energy building. Its my rest day too so I can switch my brain off for the day. I watched the Cobra's crumble in the semi, nuff said.

Saturday began crisp and clear, nothing beats the morning, nothing. Vartlek session around the vineyards of Groot Constantia ( GC )

Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, here is the MADONE 6.9 pro road.

The picture cant capture the feeling you get when you see this bike for the first time, seeing my friends eyes light up when he saw his new bike for the first time was awesome. Enjoy it...

Simple pleasures are out there seize them...

Welcome back...

Its been a while, life has been hectic and I could quote a dozen more cliques but I wont.

Some recent discoveries of mine.

Andy G had a baby, is your world in fast forward too ? I can remember playing rugby with Andy on Oakhurst in U10a days.

Donk skydived...awesome.

Your health is gift, dont take it for granted. We all do.

Use sunscreen. Not that we want to live forever the way the world is going but it helps.

BARCELONA

I know the Champions league is still over a week away but I thought I would try get it off my chest before you become so bored with reading about it you glaze over it.

I don't care about Manchester United or there creepy red jackets some guys wear thinking they are part of the vibe, makes me want to puke. A shirt I can handle, sure sometimes when you want to play football. Get it. For me a random shirt from one of the African countries or even a Pirates shirt would be way better. Anyway I seem to be getting away from the topic here. Barcelona, now that's a cool shirt, not sure if those colours work on me but its such a vibe. The Catalan thing which most of us are completely oblivious too and then there is the Camp Nou or Nou Camp. Never figured that one out, probably Spanish hey.

Anyway from my earliest days of watching football when English teams were filled with fat, greasy poms who had been in the pub all night before the game. Harsh I know, it's more for effect really. So from my early days I can remember the great Barcelona teams carving it up, playing beautiful football the way most teams dream it should be played. I remember most of the players but naming them isn't going to help either of us. I'm not quiet sure where I am going  with this but I really hope they win on May 27 in Rome.  

I enjoy Sir Alex but he has won enough for now, I know his teams are so well though out and getting quality players to buy into his dream is alot harder than any of us can imagine. He is a Scotsman too which makes me think he is nearer genius than Sir Albert ( jokes. ) 

But could I handle MAN U or THE RED DEVILS and their smug bunch of twits and creeps who hardly know squat about football winning again. Not a f...k !!! Sorry, I can just see the Argus sms column, all the fans patting each other and " their team " on the back. Idiots.

So please Barca, for football around the World. Nobody likes a monopoly. Ucha cha. 

You may have read the story about how Dutch legend and ex Barca hero Johan Cruyf had a go at British football. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/may/18/johan-cruyff-barcelona-champions-league-final.

Bingo all my problems written into one easy article. Thanks Guardian. 

So there it is people, that's why we have to cheer for Barcelona even if its just a quiet fist pump under your desk at work when you realise you missed the game but hey Barca won.  

And so did football...

http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/club/club.html

Winter Swell

Winter is here or our first big cold front is here. I am so amped for it, not sure why ?

Here is why, we live in a desert that thankfully gets brushed every winter by storms off the Great Southern Ocean. Cold, clean winds driving storms from the Antarctic giving us the most precious resource we have on our planet, water. Good clean clear water which sustains us over the dry summer months when the earths axis tilts again and those storms drift past our continent.

Surfers also watch these storms as they bring the big winter swells which make our country a mecca for surfers from around the world even though we are in winter. Hardy souls from around the Cape will be donning their wetsuits to brave the conditions while the uneducated will continue with their merry existence. Blissfully unaware that out there in our freezing waters people are getting stoked. I love that word stoked.   

http://www.wavewatch.com/Surf-Forecast-Region.php?RegionID=52

So check out the storm arriving this weekend and whatever you do get out there and get stoked.

Days of our Lives. Episode 2

You gotta love Eddie Jones. Not only did he help or should I say win us the World Cup but he shoots from the hip. 

Read this classic Eddie stuff about various Aussie rugby subjects :http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-14/2410138/Eddie-Jones-labels-Waratahs-clueless

Ha ha brilliant hey. So thats why I tied it into the whole days of our lives thing. No way the Japan angle will work. Watch this space for the outcome of the big SANZAR meeting.

What do our journo's do ?

Days of our Lives

Ahhh the saga continues and this guy continues to get his mug in the press running the South African side of the SANZAR family's name through the mud.

Look I am not taking sides here but you cant help wanting to take out your frustrations on this poor irritating little man. Granted he has been trying his hardest to get us to agree with his lofty ideals which for some reason we cant seem to understand. Poor Johnny, he deserves more from us. Read the article http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/news/2401387/South-Africa-bluffing-over-move-north

Who knows how we behave behind closed when deals like this one are being thrashed out but something tells me, and this is purely I hunch that this fella is taking us by the scruff of the neck and demanding we eat humble pie. The Kiwi's have been pretty muted over the issue but they have alot of problems back home and one that they don't want is to lose their biggest rivals SA. Sure we come and go sometimes but when we're on, we can give it to them better than anyone in the world, and we never smug about it. Tsk tsk Aussie rubbish. I read an article how the Kiwi rugby old schoolers led mainly by Pinetree himself were saying to hell with John O'neill we need SA in competitions. The other reason is OZ only supply a paltry 18% of the entire tv viewers in the Super14.  Why are we listening to Johnny if this is the case. 

The SA rugby chaps are in a tight corner too, I mean imagine coming home without the Currie Cup there will be a small revolution. Call it what you want, but its very important to us and both the ARU and NZRU are extremely jealous of our beloved Currie Cup. The Kiwi's are still smarting from the loss in value of the NPC. I used to watch those games and drool, the Ranfurly shield matches just spiced things up beyond belief. Imagine that in the Internal league, its hard enough being the Nadoes without another tag around the neck. 

Anyway just something to think about as the meeting looms. Who's going home with the Kahunies ?

  

Welcome to JZ

I was reminded this morning by my digs-mate’s flawless shower-time rendition of Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica, that South Africa is indeed a passionate place.

It evokes emotions and moral dilemmas which first-world countries cannot fully grasp and our problems are the drivers of our passion:

“It is only as one grows up that one learns that there are other things here than sun and gold and oranges. It is only then that one learns of the hates and fears of our country. It is only then that one’s love grows deep and passionate, as a man may love a woman who is true, false, cold, loving, cruel and afraid.” – Alan Paton (Cry the Beloved Country)

It’s easy as South Africans to get sucked into theoretical arguments about trias politica and the state of our justice system and whether the new JZ shower gel should be pulled from the shelves.

 

I think we imagine that winning all these little debates would set South Africa straight and we would all live in the ‘burbs, free of all forms of prejudice and that Ventersdorp Afrikaners would soon be engaging in elaborate handshakes with ex-PAC cadres.

 

The reality is that our problem is bigger than that: Some years ago, under a cloud of jealousy that she had had something as perverse as Apartheid to fight against, I asked my Reverend Grandmother what she thinks today’s fight should be. Her response was powerful in its simplicity: “It is exactly the same.”

 

Of course it is: South Africa’s story through 2009 is one which has created dire slums just 10 minutes from the wealthiest part of Bishopscourt. I believe South Africa’s passion is born from the struggle between addressing this inequality, yet at the same time trying to ensure that I am OK thanks ... Jack.

 

High levels of inequality have historically been addressed in two ways: “Through legislation redistributing wealth, or through revolution redistributing poverty” (Will Durant).

South African has thankfully attempted the legislative approach (hailed as the South African miracle for its lack of violence) utilizing ‘Black Economic Empowerment.’ Unfortunately very few have benefitted to date and the elusive black middle class, which Botha, De Klerk, Mandela and Mbeki have tried, but failed to create, suggests that ultimately – and dauntingly – our crossroads is still to come.

 

This is the huge challenge facing the new ANC government and our soon-to-be inaugurated president.

 

Let us then not be concerned with which of his wives JZ chooses to invite to his inauguration tomorrow (... although I hope for his sake he has a good excuse lined up for the residual ones) or whether Mugabe is cheered or heckled when he arrives, or even whether Julius celebrates with half a peri-peri chicken.

 

Let us keep focused on the South African issue. Let us remain passionate and let us contribute. History still has a story to tell and we need to ensure South Africa redistributes wealth and not poverty.

 

Here is wishing JZ good luck.

 

Charlie