Annual Golf Weekend Away

Its back at work today after a 5 day getaway to Cape Town for our annual Golfing weekend. We've been doing it for 5 years now, and the event has taken us to Swaziland (where we played at the Royal Swazi Sun), Zinkwazi (Princes Grant), The Drakensburg (Champagne Sports Resort) and Sun City (Gary Player Country Club). This year, we stayed in Mouille Point Cape Town, and were treated to rounds at Erinvale Estate and Clovelly Country Club.

Erinvale is a course situated just outside Stellenbosch, and is your typical housing/golf estate, with magnificent homes overlooking the course, the mountains and the ocean in the background. Its a tight course with plenty of lateral hazards (in the form of houses and water hazards), but it is in supreme condition. The greens were like nothing I've ever played on - with a velvety carpet feel to them. And the weather played its part too - slightly cloudy and cool, but no wind to speak of.

That's where Erinvale and Clovelly differed vastly. We played Erinvale on the Friday, and Clovelly on Sunday, after the most insane winds descended on the Cape on Saturday afternoon. They only lasted for a day and a half, but did some major damage to homes and trees throughout Cape Town and surrounds. On our visit to the Rust en Vrede Wine estate on Monday, they were still chopping through trees that had fallen down over the weekend. Anyway, back to the golf - Clovelly is situated in the valley just behind Fish Hoek, and although it is not a golf estate, it is a golf club with tremendous character and stunning views. However, we were challenged somewhat during our round with the added pressure of having to deal with 65km/h winds funneling through the valley. I've never before considered using a 6 iron for a 100m approach shot, and still left it short by 20 meters. By contrast, with the wind behind us, I think I drove within 10 meters of 3 par 4 greens, and could literally put onto the green for my second shot. I shot a consistent 94 for both rounds, which I was quite happy with I guess, given the added challenges.

As for the rest of the weekend - plenty of cocktails on the Camps Bay stretch, good food in and around the city bowl (with what can only be described as a "legendary" Bo Kaap Lamb Curry on one of the dinner outings), and some sunshine on Clifton's 3rd beach. We managed to sneak in a trip to a couple of wine farms (Alto, Rust en Vrede, Spier and Lanzerac), and invested in a couple of bottles along the way.

In summary, 5 days of good golf, company, food and wine, in a beautiful part of the country. You've got to love the abundance of public holidays in April.

Cruise, Scientology and South Park

With all the hype around Scientology, Tom Cruise and the birth of his child, I came across this South Park episode. Anyone who knows South Park, also knows that it is not the most PC show out. Well, in this episode they take Scientology (and Tom) apart. So much so in fact, that apparently Cruise had it pulled from the networks in the UK, by refusing to promote the new Mission Impossible film if they aired it.

So much for that idea - its all over the internet at the moment. If you have a broadband connection, check it out here: http://www.xenutv.com/cruise/sp-closet.htm

Robbie Williams Concert

So, what did we think of the Robbie Williams concert? Well, to be honest, I was a little dissapointed. Firstly, getting to the venue required us to park 3 km's from the stadium. After a 20 minute walk, we were confronted with the ticket queue, then the toilet queue and then the queue into the upper stands. Getting in was the easy part though - it must have taken a good hour to get out of the stadium. I thought that the control and organisation around 61,000 people getting in and out of a stadium left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, we took our seats on the Eastern stand, and watched the stadium fill, to capacity. It really was something, seeing over sixty thousand people gathering in one spot, for one purpose - to relax and enjoy the evening with like minded Robbie Williams fans. Now don't get me wrong, I don't consider myself a true fan, but the boy can definitely entertain. Sure, he's full of himself, arrogant to the bone, and as vain as anyone you'll even come across, but he does have that "entertaining appeal" about him. As far as concerts go though, I would'nt exactly rate it in my top 3. It was more of a "show" than a concert. When I think of a concert, I think of musical talent extraordinaire, of band members trying to outplay each other on their instruments, and moments of solo glory. This concert was all Robbie. His jokes, his stories, his songs and his "sing-ging". The stage and lighting was pretty well done I thought, but again, nothing mind blowing. I remember being more impressed with the lights and stage setup of the U2 concert, and that was some 8 years ago. I guess I expected a little more.

All in all though, it was definitely entertaining, and I'm glad we went. K absolutely loved the show - but I think thats because Robbie probably appealed to her more than he did to me.
I'm still annoyed that we missed the U2 concert in Adelaide - it would have been great to compare the two in the space of 3 weeks.

My money is still on U2 for putting on a better "concert" though :-)

Top 3 to date:
- U2
- Phil Collins
- Cranberries
(then maybe Robbie)

Easter Weekend Update...

Its been a pretty good weekend so far. We didn't do much on Friday, other than take a drive out to Jackal Creek and take a look at the progress that is being made on the place that we bought with Stuart. Not much as far as I could tell - looks like they are still clearing land, and have a long way to go. Whether it will be finished by March 2007 or not is anybody's guess. I tend to think that its a bit optimistic.

Took a drive out to the botanical gardens on Saturday, and had a picnic under the trees with Stuart and Lauren, and some of their mates. Frank also joined us for the afternoon which was great.

K and I then geared up for what turned out to be quite a nice ride on Sunday. We ended up doing about 33km, which is not extreme, but still quite a task given our bike fitness levels.

Today, I managed to fit a round of golf in. There was a spot in a fourball that Mickey Meade had organised, and it had my name on it. Not that I played very well, but it was perfect practice for the corporate golf day that I'm playing in on Wednesday.

And tonight - Robbie Williams. Yup, off to Loftus stadium in Pretoria in about 45 minutes for the show that K has been waiting for, for a while now. We've heard fantastic reports about the Durban and Cape Town shows, so we should be in for a real treat this evening.

Looking forward to a relaxing weekend!

OK, so its been two weeks since K and I arrived back from our Aus holiday - and a pretty busy two weeks at that. Arriving back at work after a holiday is usually quite stressful, as everything needs to be picked up again, and sorted out - the biggest of which is usually the "Inbox". After 2 solid days of wading through mail (527 unread items), I felt like I was making a bit of progress. Only problem is that unread mail isn't simply just simply opened, read, and discarded - it usually involves some follow up or action. Yup - as much as I relish the digital age, I detest the ease with which people can shift email throughout an organisation - and expect things to be sorted out.

So besides work, we also managed to catch up with some mates last Friday night - The Hoff is back in town! Forgot to take the camera with, so didn't get any pics, but he is looking fit and healthy. We also got to meet Cath at long last, and had a chance to catch up with Rich, Simona, Jo and Frank. Great evening - it always amazes me how whipped Lance's folks are - he has them wrapped around his little finger - running around serving drinks, braaing the meat, preparing the pudding - so sorted. Full marks to them!

Its also been quite a busy week socially - squash practice on Monday night, Dinner Club on Tuesday night, squash league on Wednesday night, and then another squash practice last night. Good thing we now have four days to recover!

Currently reading: The Google Story.

Home again...

K and I arrived home about 2 hours ago...dreading the pace that we're going to have to get used to again from Monday. At least we have the whole of tomorrow to recover, and prepare mentally :-)

We met up with Ang, Greg and Ann on our last day in Perth. Went to a cafe called "Soda", which is on the coastal road, about 5 km's from where Ang and Greg are currently staying, and had a good breakfast there. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, before all going out for a final supper in Northbridge. I got to finally sample the chilli mussels that Perthians are so crazy about. You see them on every menu, in virtually every restaurant in town - and for good reason. They serve a whole plateful (I'm talking no less than 30) of shelled mussels in a chilli, garlic, tomato based sauce - delicious. It was a good evening out - and a nice finish to our last 2 weeks of absolute relaxation.

They say its good to get home, and I usually feel that way, but I have to be honest and say that I'll definitely miss the lazy days in Perth over the next few weeks, as we get back into the swing of things.

Currently reading : Down Under, by Bill Bryson. Bought the book in Adelaide, and have been getting the odd couple of pages in during the past week. Managed to make quite a dent in it during the flight back today. Its really interesting, as its not only a travel diary, but also contains quite a bit of history, and some facts on Australia (like, did you know that of the 10 dealiest animals/insects/reptiles in the world, Australia has 9 of them) - although it needs to pick up a bit of pace now.

To do tomorrow: Take the mongoose out, blow the dust off the handlebars, and put some mileage on it.

Rottnest Island

Today was spent on the very pretty, unspoilt island of Rottnest. K and I caught a ferry from Hillary's Boat harbour, to the island situated about 20km off the coast of Fremantle. The island is about 11km long, and 5 km wide at the widest point - and the best way of getting around, is by bicycle. So we hired two mountain bikes, and spent the whole day cycling around - stopping at the various bay's and coves, either to take in the scenery, or to explore a little. It really was a fantastic day out - lots of sunshine, white beaches, cool waters, and exercise. If you're every in Perth on a nice day, and have a day to spend, then this trip is worthwhile doing.

Adelaide in summary...

Well, we're back at the airport now, waiting to board our flight back to Perth. We gained two and a half hours on the way here, so even though we leave at 7:45pm, we land in Perth at 8:35pm. That's the beauty about travelling West...you feel like you're gaining time.

So what did we think of Adelaide? Well, for one thing, its very different to Perth. It has a much older feel about - the people as well as the buildings. I think that we've seen more pensioners in Adelaide than anywhere else. Having said that, there are parts that feel very young - the student town kind of vibe. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground though.

This is what we saw and did:
- Monday: after landing, we checked into our hotel, the Mercure Grosvenor on North Terrace. We then took a stroll down Rundle St Mall, and ended up at "The Stag", an old hotel at the bottom end of Rundle St where we had a couple of drinks, and listened to a couple of students playing in a live band. After that, it was off to "Daniel's" for dinner. Food was ok - nothing great.

- Tuesday: set off mid Tuesday morning on the Glenelg Tram, to the town of...yup, Glenelg. Glenelg is a small coastal town, with lots of history. It has been a port town for about 200 years, and is filled with old buildings, galleries and museums. We spent most of the day on Jetty Road, which is lined with shops, restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and bars. Stopped at "Good Food" and had a fantastic organic vegetable pizza, before heading back into the city. Whilst back in the city, we went to the Museum of South Australia, and took a walk through "The Bradman Collection" - definitely worthwhile. Next, we took a stroll through the botanical gardens, and finally made our way back to the hotel. We then freshened up, and went in search of some Indian food. We found a great spot, again on Rundle St, just opposite The Stag called "Taj Tandoori". Ordered a lamb dish, chicken tandoori dish, vegetable jalfrezi and some garlic naan bread. What a great meal!

- Wednesday: after packing our bags, we headed off to the tourism centre around the corner from the hotel, and booked ourselves on a half day tour. The tour took us up to Mount Lofty, which gave quite a good view of Adelaide. We then spent the afternoon in the German town of Hahndorf. We were a little late to sample the "Wurst", so ended up having tea and cake at the Hahndorf Inn. On our way back, we got to see some Koala bears in the wild, as the tour driver stopped in the side of the road after spotting them in the local gum trees. From there, we headed back to hotel and caught a taxi to the airport.

So, the verdict on Adelaide...well, like I said, its very different in feel and character to Perth. Much slower, and older - which can be a good thing I guess, but not my cup of tea at this stage in life. It would have been great to catch U2 at the Adelaide Oval, but that was not meant to be. Definitely worthwhile doing the trip though.

I picked up some local CD's - The Whitlams, and Pete Murray and transferred them onto my MP3 player last night, so looking forward to listening to them on the way back to Perth.

Off to Adelaide

Sitting at the Perth Domestic airport at the moment, waiting to board our 9:40 am flight to Adelaide. Thought it would be a good idea to reflect on the past few days.

- Friday: Well, the wedding turned out to be fantastic. The weather cleared at the last minute, and the gazebo up in Kings park provided the perfect setting, overlooking the city, and the Swan River. After the ceremony, and whilst the photos were being taken, Ang had organised a tram trip through King's Park for the guests, which was a really good idea as we got to see and learn about some of the history. The reception was then held at Fraser's restaurant - where some good food and wine were consumed during the remainder of the evenings celebrations. Well planned, and executed Ang and Greg.

- Saturday: We set off on Saturday to do the Swan Valley Wine tour. Departed at around 10am, on a ferry, and headed up the Swan river for about 2 hours. We then got off at Caversham Hotel, and boarded a bus, which took us to about 4 wine estates, an ice cream parlour, German brewery, and the Margaret River Chocolate Factory.



Needless to say, by the end of the day, we had drunk enough wine, and eaten enough cheese and other food to last us a while. Very pleasant though...no complaints here. Western Australia certainly does produce some fantastic wines.

- Sunday: K and I headed down to the beach on Sunday morning, and spend some time in the sun, before going into town and checking out some of the shops. We then went for a drink at the Windsor Hotel on Mill Road, went across to AppleCross to watch the sun set, and then spent the evening with K's granny, and Alva (K's mom's cousin). Alva took us to a restaurant called "Thai Corner" - the food was absolutely awesome. We had four or five dishes, ranging from garlic prawns, chicken green curry, sweet and sour noodles, to vegetables and checken and beef kebabs. Really enjoyed the food, and had a great evening.

Well, that about sums it up. Still enjoying the fact that we're on holiday, and that even though it is a Monday morning, we have nothing more to worry about, other than which seats we're going to fight for on the plane - we have the choice of a middle seat, and a window seat. Hmm...wonder who will win this one? Life is good!

Some of the wedding pics

Here are some of the pics from the wedding yesterday.

Wedding Morning

After a restless nights sleep, I'm sitting here, on the bed whilst the hair and make up production line kicks into full swing. Yup, this is wedding morning, and the primary reason that K and I came to Perth - Angela and Greg's wedding.
The weather isn't too great at the moment - had some showers about an hour ago, but the forecast is that things will clear up this afternoon. I hope so for Angie's sake, as the ceremony takes place at King's Park, which overlooks Perth and the Swan River. Its a great setting, but could get quite chilly if the weather doesn't clear. We're holding thumbs Ang.

Had a great day yesterday - Ann, K and I caught the train into Perth, and then jumped on another that took us to Fremantle, or "Freo" as the locals would say. Freo reminds me a bit of Melville in SA, with that arty, student feel about it. Its loaded with history, and we decided to take a tour of the Fremantle Prison, which was just fantastic. It was used from around 1855, through to 1991, was built by the convicts over a number of years, and although not at first, it eventually became the maximum security prison in Western Australia, and was the scene of some 44 executions. Really interesting to see the solitary confinement cells and gallows, and to think that up until 15 years ago, this was all very real.

And no, there is no subliminal intent in starting this post off talking about wedding days, and ending it with a description of a prison. Its just coincidence that it worked out that way :-)

My duties for the day:
a). Make sure that I get to Kings Park on time
b). Get ice for the drinks bag
c). Drop drinks bag off at Frasers, for tram trip
d). Get as much of the ceremony as possible on film

I think that's about it. Hope so.

Off with Annie now - the production line is slowly chugging away, and this is no place for a man to be. I'll rush in later, shower, change, shave - and make my way to Kings Park.

We're in for a great day.

Its good to be on holiday

Been in Perth for 5 days now, and really starting to relax and get into the slower paced life that is lived here. It helps to be on holiday of course. The one thing that I'm battling with, more so than K it seems, is the change in time zone. Its taken me almost four days to get used to getting up in the morning - I feel like I should still be sleeping. Mind you, the fact that I had a 24 hour day on Saturday (Greg's bachelors - or "bucks" as they call it here) didn't help the cause.

Anyway, some news of what we've been up to:
- Sunday was spent recouperating from the previous evening, where copious amounts of Bourbon and cola were consumed. Thanks for introducing me to that Gareth...Greg and I felt great on Sunday :-(
- Monday was pretty relaxed, didn't relly get up to much. Went down to the beach with K, and had a swim on the ocean. We then went to fetch K's aunt Annie, and spent a good hour on the highway due to a fire that had broken out further up. After having been diverted, we then fetched Annie from the Burswood hotel. Was good to see her again - we realised that this was the 3rd continent that we had met up on.
- Tuesday was also pretty relaxed - ended up going for a haircut, and getting some meat for a braai that Angie had planned for later that day. We all then met up at the place that Ang and Greg are currently renting - all of us being: Greg, Ang, Annie, Ross, Shelley, Danika, Gran, Alva, Greg's mom Ann, K's folks Roy and Sharen, and K and I - all in all a great evening.

- Today, we went through and met up with my cousin Michelle, baby Connor, Rose (my aunt) and her parents Bob and Shelia. It was the first time that K and I have met baby Connor - really happy child. They're out here for another couple of days, and it was quite fortunate that our schedules coincided, and we were able to meet up - as they stay in Milton Keynes in the UK. So yeah, its been a real family gathering for both K and I.

Tomorrow, we intend to go through to Rottnest Island, and have a walk/cycle around there if the weather holds up. Its been between 35 and 37 degrees celcius for the past few days, but had changed for the worse today. Quite cold and windy at the moment - but I'm sure it will clear up soon enough.

The bonus about being on holiday, is that we only have to worry about what we're doing tomorrow, tomorrow!

How to dismantle a perfectly good plan!

From www.u2.com

It is with great regret that tour promoter The Next Adventure announces the postponement of the final ten dates of U2's Vertigo '06 tour. This action is unavoidable due to the illness of an immediate family member of one of the band. The effected dates are listed below.

'Any fan of U2 will realise that this decision has not been taken lightly', said TNA President Arthur Fogel. 'We will announce further details as soon as we have them.'

The effected shows, which are all sold out, are: March 17th & 18th, Ericcson Stadium AUCKLAND; 21st, Queensland Sports & Athletics Centre BRISBANE; 24TH & 25TH, Telstra Dome, MELBOURNE; 28th, AAMI Stadium ADELAIDE; 31st & 1st April, Telstra Stadium, SYDNEY; 4th, Nissan Stadium YOKOHAMA; 8th Aloha Stadium, HONOLULU.

2 line update...

Been a bit quiet lately in terms of posts - apologies for that. Truth be known though, is that things have been pretty busy on the work front, and pretty quiet on the social front. We're gearing up for our trip to Australia at the end of next week, so as usual, there are a ton of things to get wrapped up before leaving. Its K's birthday next week Friday, so we'll try and organise a bit of a celebratory dinner before leaving. She's also taken the day off on Friday, so it should be a good one for her.

Podcasting...

There is a whole world out there, just waiting to be listened to. Everything from news reports, personal messages, music compilations and poetry, to sporting tips, training techniques and technology lectures. Yup, what I'm referring to, are podcasts.

So, what's a podcast then...? Well, I guess you could say that it is a recording (usually audio, but could also be video) that is available for download, usually to a device like an iPod, for instant, or offline listening. The term podcast is derived from the process of "broadcasting" to "iPods". The difference between a podcast, and any other download though, is that podcasts are usually subscribed to, and the latest content is then delivered to you.

Podcasting has been around for about 2 years now, but South Africans have been quite oblivious to the technology, largely because of the lack of a decent broadband offering. With the explosion of ADSL over the past year or so in SA, podcasting is gaining popularity - so much so that I now read that Tony Leon will be adding podcasting to his list of "campaign tactics", and that Derek The Bandit has also resorted to providing one show a month, via podcast. Check it out here, its pretty good actually.

So anyway, I've found quite a couple of decent podcast sites and resources, so here are a couple, if you're interested in listening:

- no iPod required : an introduction to podcasting
- www.podcast.net : the ultimate podcast directory site, literally hundreds of thousands of recordings.
- MTBcast.com : Mountain biking news
- Active.com : Sporting/Training tips and interviews
- SoundRepublic : DTB's site
- The Onion Radio News : List of "The Onion News" podcasts on podcast.net. One that is worth listening to is - "President Bush Escapes From Weekly Bath"

Oh, also found this interesting snippet on the popularity of podcasting in Wikipedia:
The word about podcasting rapidly spread through the already-popular weblogs of Curry, Winer and other early podcasters and podcast-listeners. Fellow blogger and technology columnist Doc Searls began keeping track of how many "hits" Google found for the word "podcasts" on September 28, 2004. On that day, the result was 24 hits. There were 526 hits on September 30, then 2,750 three days later. The number doubled every few days, passing 100,000 by October 18. A year later, Google found more than 100,000,000 hits on the word "podcasts."

S14 at Ellis Park

We're well into the Super14 season now, and had the opportunity to go and watch my first game last night - took Stuart with me, as I was given an extra ticket. The Cats played the Chiefs, and although the Cats won the game, it was not a very interesting game to watch. In fact, the Cats were lucky to win, as they did not score any tries, and missed 4 penalties. A win is a win I guess, but it wasn't pretty. We then stayed on, and watched the next game in the suite - Bulls vs Brumbies. The quality of the game was about 300% better that the Cats game, and quite a battle right up to the last minute. The Brumbies managed a last minute try to take the game - what a quality side though. With players like Gregan, Larkham, Mortlock, Smith and Giteau, you need to play really world class rugga if you want to win your game.

Imagining the Google Future

If you have the time, take a look at this article - its written by some top technology journalists and strategists, and takes a look at four scenario's of where Google may be heading. Scenario 2 seems most likely to me. It talks about the possibly of Google becoming "the" internet. Given the technology, the speed at which web pages are stored and indexed, and their current bank of servers (some 150,000 machines), the scenario paints a picture of people going directly to Google, their a Google browser, and retrieving their information, rather than simply using Google as the search engine - making it more efficient to use that the internet that we know today. Some of the other scenarios seem a little more creative, but they are all equally interesting.

A local literary treat

Every once in a while, you come across a really special book, and on our weekend away last week, that's exactly what happened. When we arrived, there was a "gift" basket in the room, filled with some body shop creams, soaps and a book.

The book is a collection of short stories put together by Max du Preez, a South African journalist, and although I have not finished the book yet ( I've read about 6 stories so far), I know that this is a special book - partly because it is written as a story as opposed to some history textbook, and partly because it is local and you can easily identify with what the author is explaining. Really fascinating stories so far...from the first South African to travel to London, to the relationships between the Dutch who settled at the Cape and their slaves.

The title of the book is "Of warriors, lovers and prophets: Unusual stories from South Africa's Past".

A weekend in the countryside

When I mentioned last week that we were going for a company weekend away, I had no idea that it would involve absolutely no work at all. Yup, no meetings, no planning, no laptops, no conference - nothing.

We spent the weekend at a place called Kloppenheim, which is somewhere between Dullstroom and Belfast, and about 250km outside of Jhb. Arriving at around 5:30pm on Friday afternoon, and having checked into a magnificent room, overlooking a trout dam, we didn't quite know what the weekend held in store. That was quickly changed, when at dinner that evening, the big cheese at the company I work for announced that this was a weekend of "relaxation" for all the hard work put in over the past year. Yup, that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

I took my bike with, so got up early on Saturday morning (around 4:45am early), and went off with Andre and Anton on a 30km off road trail. The rest of the day was spent fly fishing (in the trout dam pictured above), eating, reading, sleeping and picnicing. This morning, K and I were both treated to a facial - something that I have never done before, and given my experience today, will probably not do again. I can handle aromatherapy and back massage's, but oily face, mouth and nose...not for me.

The place is definitely recommended - probably best to go during winter, as that particular part of the country gets really cold. All the rooms are equipped with lots of duvets, underfloor heating and a fireplace - so it could get nice a cosy during the cold winter evenings.

I guess I complain about work quite a bit - this weekend seems to have made it all worth it (well, some of it at least :-)

Once a pirate, always a pirate?

Well, not too much exciting news this week, although there are a couple of things to update on:

The gollf last weekend was great. Played a round at Parkview on Friday afternoon with the guys from work, and again on Sunday with Grant and a couple of his mates. In fact, quite a few of his and Stuart's mates - 3 fourballs to be exact. Played at a course down on the Vaal river called Maccauvlei, which was in great condition. Stayed a bit late though - considering that we tee'd off at 9am, and at around 6:30pm (after a couple of juices) we were having putting competitions on the practice green, and longest drive competition off the 10th. A good day out though.

I've been playing in a squash tournament over the past week or so. I'm a member at Pirates sports club (which is literally 500m from where I work, so its convenient), and play league most Thursday evenings. Last year, we played against another club, Chamber Exiles, who also happens to be about 3 km from where I work. I got quite friendly with some of the guys at Chambers, and we've had a couple of "out of league" games since. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they invited me to play in their early season tournament. The thing is, its been a great tournament so far (i play in the quarter finals this week), they have 7 courts compared to Pirates' 2, and they have about five times as many squash players as Pirates - so why am I feeling guilty about abandoning my club? I think that in terms of squash, and quality of games, I'm definitely better off at Chambers. Its also cheaper, as all they do is squash (compared with all the other facilities at Pirates). My subs come up for renewal in about 2 months time, and it looks like Chambers is going to benefit from the renewal this year. Will keep you posted.

Today has been pretty quiet - went to the folks place for a braai yesterday afternoon, and today has been spent doing some work, whilst watching the cricket and A1 GP. Its been this way partly because of the work I had to do, and partly because my bike is still in the shop being repaired (I apparently broke something in the pedal axle). Next weekend however, we go away with my company to Dullstroom for a "teambuilding" weekend. Spouses have been invited, and I'm told that there is no "work" involved. So, I'm hoping that the bike is fixed this week, as I'd like to take it with. A bit of fly fishing and mountain biking is definitely going to go down well.

Till then...