RSS Feed

Premium rate...

N phoned the South African embassey the other day to book an appointment for renewing her passport. It took 10 minutes of interactive "press 1 for this, press 2 for that" etc. and the w*nkers charge you £1 per minute. So they make a nice bit of extra money on each renewal. ie. £10 plus. Moneygrabbing scumbags.

Rant over.

"Quantum of Solace"

I'm not too sure whether I like the title to the next Bond film... seems a bit clunky to me. At least it is a title to a Fleming short story and not made up. Anyway Daniel Craig rules as Bond and this new one starts off an hour after Casino Royale finished.

Films for 2008 that I'm looking forward too (apart from the above!) are:

Sweeney Todd
Cloverfield
Rambo
Iron Man
Batman The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones 4
Star Trek XI

Cape Town III - Part 5

A popular motor vehicle in South Africa is the VW Citi or City Golf. They are basically a continuation of the old MK1 Golf which appeared in the 1970s... It was one of these automobiles that I ran into the back of whilst not paying proper attention when coming up a slip road off of the M3. Fortunately I didn't damage the woman's car or indeed our Polo hire car... thankfully!

We were on our way back from Cavendish Square shopping mall having met up with Na on her lunchbreak when the accident occurred. This was our last day - so it was only a few hours later that we found ourselves back at Cape Town International Airport ready for the 12 hour flight back to London. Little C came in her pyjamas and dressing gown and had a good scout around the cafe in departures. After a farewell "high five" from my 16 month old niece and sad goodbyes with everyone else we went through passport control.

Films seen on the return flight were: 28 Weeks Later (Rating: 7/10) and Shoot 'em Up (Rating: 7/10).

I will return in... Cape Town IV.

The Beach at Hout Bay


Cape Town III - Part 4

As I have mentioned previously - eating was a predominant feature of my 3rd holiday to the South African capital. Thursday's dinner was at a local restaurant called Tango's... here I managed to scoff my way through a truly superb 250g (10 oz) fillet steak served on a skewer which was suspended vertically from apparatus that resemble a retort stand similar to the type I used whilst at secondary school in chemistry and physics experiments.

A special note:
I want to make it known... especially to L - that I thoroughly enjoyed my holiday!!!

To be continued...

Wilderness... after having just eaten a large breakfast!


Cape Town III - Part 3

The Barnyard is a children's zoo and restaurant which is situated very close to Pollsmor Prison (as featured in Ross Kemp's Gangs)... it was also where we took little C on Tuesday morning for a brunchtime visit. During the afternoon we went to see N and L's grandmother and of course little C came along as well (as if she would be left out!).

Dinner that evening was at L's and I managed to gorge myself through an excellent crayfish curry.

The next day we spent the morning on the beach at Hout Bay. We originally tried Fishhoek but it was too windy. I of course took the relevant precautions and was suitably shielded under a sunshade and a thick film of factor 50. Lunch was at Mariner's fish & chip shop.

That evening we went to Cubana and met up with S and P. Incredibly just as she was arriving at Cubana, P's car was rammed by a scooter. Fortunately no one was hurt and she was still able to enjoy the evening. Afterwards we dropped off S at his apartment in Sea Point and had a coffee. S has a superb view of the ocean from his lounge windows and is fortunate to have a large balcony.

After a long day it was home to bed!

To be continued...

Cape Town III - Part 2

I am writing this next part from my sister-in-law's house. L is preparing dinner and N is bathing Little C. The usual "banter" is filling the air between L and N. Do not cross L!

N and I arrived back yesterday from our three day trip at Wilderness which is along The Garden Route. It took about 4 or 5 hours to get there from Cape Town and the journey was very straightforward. I'm not too keen on the way South Africans move over to the hard shoulder to let faster cars overtake as it can be rather dodgy to say the least! Truck drivers seem to be very considerate unlike their ignorant scumbag UK counterparts.

Wilderness is a pleasant place to stay with numerous restaurants and as excessive eating is a hobby that N and I both share we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I have some photos to upload later so you can get a flavour of the place. We spent the following day in Knysna (silent K) and went on a boat trip across the estuary which apparently has the most dangerous openning in the world. Lloyds of London will not insure ships to pass through and there are in excess of 400 wrecks on the seabed.

The following day we spent in Plettenberg Bay which is beyond Knysna and of course I inevitably ended up getting burnt. On the way back we stopped off and watched several people do paragliding - I had my camera ready in case any accidents occurred. One tandem glider had to abort a landing and narrowly avoided splattering themselves over the cliff face. That evening we had a 5 course dinner including a bottle of wine for GBP24.00 for two of us... pretty good value for money!

The journey back was quicker as I had mastered the art of the hazard lights by then and after a brief stop to watch some lunatic bungee jumpers we arrived back in Cape Town late afternoon.

To be continued.

"Sir" Michael Parkinson

I know this is a bit of a belated rant - my only excuse being that I had forgotten to post anything earlier... anyway why the hell does some Yorkshire prat who has only ever interviewed celebrities on a TV programme warrant a knighthood??!! It is even worse than my Tom Jones rant of last year. All the guy does is ask people questions. That is it... nothing else. He doesn't act, sing, tell jokes etc. Utterly ridiculous. Yorkshire git.

Rant over.

Cape Town III - Part 1

N and I arrived safely on New Year's Day... there was no free champagne on the Virgin flight however we did get a quick burst of Big Ben over the interactive TV. Films watched were Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surf which like the first one was crap (4 / 10) and Stardust which was pure tripe (2 / 10). I considered watching 28 Weeks Later but didn't feel like a horror film and I had seen I am Legend only the other day which incidently was very good (8 / 10). However I digress. Weather is great - not too hot and a damn sight better than what we left behind. Anyway I have to go now so watch out soon for my next gripping instalment!