Motivation

So it’s time to work on the skin cancer, to run about in the sun, go down to the beach and maybe swim with some sharks.

It seems sometimes that people wait the entire year for the few summer months and the couple of weeks of leave they have acquired from work.

Now I’m not knocking the summer vacation, I prefer summer myself, but I feel that the rest of the year is neglected, used to get work in watch television and put on weight that we furiously try to lose a couple of weeks before we have to be seen without a shirt again.

So what’s the problem, I enjoy a good series and love winter food, I hate the cold and would much rather be under a duvet in the wintertime. Coziness wreaks havoc on the physic. The problem: Motivation.

So many things could be done in winter with the right motivation, learn to play an instrument, get the body you want or just get fit.

Good resistive exercise can keep you stronger into old age; it also keeps bone density up helping fight osteoporosis and strengthening tendons. There are 50 plus year old body builders who are healthier and have less carless injuries than most 20 and 30 year olds around.

See that’s some motivation right there, the problem is “but, I’m not old, so I have plenty of time to start.” Yes putting off starting something is a lack of motivation. It seems time is always an issue, in fact no matter what people want to do there is never enough time.

That is because if we ever have free time we will find something to fill it, after a while that becomes a habit and we no longer have that free time. So if you need time you have to make it, wake up earlier, watch less TV, something.

Winter has just finished and I wish I had stared something four months ago but I’ll just do it now.

Davin

Kind of nice nê?

So here we are. The motion sickness pills were a good idea. One night in and it’s already been worth the five-hour-straight drive. We went for a walk to the view deck about 100 meters from the house. They say a picture paints a thousand words. So here:

Knysna view

 Did you know that a blunt nose is better for re-entering the earth’s atmosphere than a sharp one (When it comes to space shuttles)? National Geographic is on. I thought Richard Hammond was a Top Gear narrator. Anyway, I’m in Knysna! It’s a beautiful place! As you see in the picture. The Pick and Pay was packed today, and the oyster festival hasn’t even started. We queued for about 45 minutes! But where else in the world can you buy fresh large (huge!) oysters for only R6.00 each? 

Oysters

 After downing our oysters we went for a drive up to THE PRIVATE ESTATE. Basically what’s happened is that someone has decided that the Eastern Head of the Knysna Estuary is too cool for the existing residents (despite our houses being scattered upon a championship golf course) so they’ve built the PRIVATE ESTATE. They’ve also bought the golf course. So now if you wander too far down your own road, you’ll be sent packing by one of the PRIVATE ESTATE guards on their souped-up golf carts. It’s like being told you’re not elite enough to play in your own back-yard.

 But that’s fine, we’ll just stick to our side of the Head in our slightly slower but perfectly adequate golf cart.

 I hope you all come back soon for more Knys stories coming soon! 

Tommy

Kind of Semicolon

 Welcome to our blog. This will either be the first in a long line of popular, well read, and generally successful blogs; or it won’t. I just used a semicolon. I better not do it too often. Apparently they’re addictive. They also say pictures are important.

 There.

 Who are ‘they’ anyway? And why do they always know better than everyone else? I wonder what they say about them. And if they have anything to say about them, what would that make ‘them’? They²? I think I’ll make this an educational blog. 

The semicolon is a punctuation mark used to mark a break that is more than that marked by a comma.* Its use is a bit complicated, so when people think they’ve got it down they tend to overuse it. I guess that’s why they say it’s addictive. But more on the semicolon: If you don’t know what a clause is (like me) it’s a sentencey thing that’s not quite a sentence. You can cut a couple of those bad boys up with a semicolon.

 I’m running out of words. They say you must keep your blog short. So let me just mention that that guy in the cap at the front who just successfully pushed Billy in the pool was me. And no, I didn’t get wet.

*The dictionary.

Tommy

Kind of Cold

I have found myself pretty obsessed with the weather lately; mostly because it’s so damn cold down here. I realize that it’s not Jo Burg or any really cold city but I do not do well in this 5 to 10 degree range.

Cedarburg in summer

Give me the Cedarburg in the middle of summer when it’s too hot to move, and just getting to the rock pools to cool off will leave you drained, the kind of heat you can see coming off the road and you wouldn’t mind a dip in the water at long beach.

I’m not just moaning here, there is a point. Today is the middle of winter, sure it won’t start getting warmer any time soon but it’s the winter solstice, and that means that at least the days start to get longer, the nights shorter. We should be a lot more inclined to an after work run, or braai, you know depending on how energetic we are feeling, and what wine happens to be in the cupboard.

Interestingly I was in the Karoo this weekend, now there is a place that can get hellishly hot, but of course with it being winter it was cold and being inland it was around zero degrees at night. The interesting bit is that even in that kind of cold it looks hot, the landscape I mean. Anyway I will put up a bunch of pictures of that weekend soon; there are some awesome places out there.

Davin

Kind of Helpful?

When I started learning draughting I couldn’t have imagined the adventure it would lead me to! I’m not just talking about the excitement of testing my CAD speed skills against my colleges during down-time at the office. As exciting as that was, it was nothing compared with the adventures that were to come.

The fun really starts when the draughtsman realises that he has a certain power over what happens on site. Let me tell you a story:

There was once a young draughtsman, drawing away on an apartment building, when he got a frantic call from the architect: ‘WHO SENT THE PLANS FOR THE TOILET UNDER THE STAIRS TO SITE?’

‘Um, I did’

‘WELL THEY’VE BUILT THEM EXACTLY AS YOU’VE DRAWN IT!’

Frantically he starts opening his issued drawings to see what he’s done wrong, ‘Sorry I was under a lot of pressure - ’ 

opening the folder, there it is, Sunny apartments-working drawings.dwg , double-click, open:

ohh dear

 Oops. ‘Uhh, so what did they do?’

‘THEY BUILT IT CLOSED’

‘So there is no door’

‘THAT’S WHAT WE SENT THEM’

‘And they just did it’

‘THAT’S WHAT THEY DO’

So what’s the moral of the story? Check your drawings before you issue them. Because once you’ve issued them, you can’t get them back.

Watch this space for more adventures of brave draughtsmen and woman who have pioneered the way; made the mistakes and taken the blame so that you won’t have to.

 Tommy

Kind of Kloofing

Kloofing, or Canyoning is a very Western Cape thing. Getting down a fast flowing river gorge, that is too shallow for kayaking, with too many shear drops into pools and boulder climes for it to be a comfortable valley hike.

Where wetsuits and hiking boots are a must, and a waterproof bag liner will keep your lunch dry.

SuicideGorge is a full day’s work, hiking, climbing, jumping and swimming down this spectacular part of the Boland; up to 17km if you pursue the full route with jumps ranging from 3 to 21 meters depending on the water levels in the river at the time. On this occasion the highest was around 17 meters. It starts with a drive of about an hour from Cape Town to the HottentotsHolland Nature Reserve near Grabouw.

Only being open in summer means it’s usually a good hot day, and it is 6km just to get to the water, so after an early start we where at the river before ten.

Here are the pictures from my last trip there in 2009:

Fire damage

 The area had a recent velt fire, leaving alot od the place bare. but the valley was as green as ever.

They start you off with a slide, faster than I thought.
 

See more after the jump!

Kind of Dangerous

The memory still haunts me. Sometimes when I sleep, I still see the blur of black and white. The malice in those bulging eyes.

Did I ever tell you about the time I was viciously attacked by a zebra?

Sea air

It’s a battle going for a ride. I have to take my bicycle apart, load it into the back of my small car, drive twenty minutes to the nature reserve, take my bike out of the car, and put it back together again. All of this for a 60 minute ride. The first ten minutes is on a tarred road, and then the fun starts: Up and down in the dust, baking in the sun, breathing in the hot air, only to break out into the sea mist at the beach. With the cool brine air filling my lungs with ozone- it was all worth it!

Ominous zebra

This day was different. I got as far as the tarred road. Blocking my path like a malevolent white picket fence was a rank of Zebra. The leader took a step toward me. Ominous. I immediately countered, swerving to the left, he reversed, I went right, another step- it was too late- I braked! Facing the beast, there was a moment. All was still. I backed off slowly, head low, right back to my car- dismantling my bike, frustrated- driving home, ignorant of the degree of danger I had been in. Until I googled zebra attacks.

With a 1908 Times headline: ‘HANDLER KILLED BY ZEBRA’ on my screen, I reflected on how close I’d come, and how my caution and natural instincts had saved my life.

Tommy