Update: The article I wrote about this event has been published in the Reserve Force Volunteer magazine of Summer 2013. Here is the PDF document. The article was also published on the Reserve Force Division website – here is the PDF document. On Saturday, 15 September 2012, the Defence Review Committee (DRC) held the final…
A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to be a roving journalist-photographer at an unusual and historic event that took place in the township of Nomzamo outside The Strand, near Somerset West. The Defence Review Committee, which is chaired by Mr Roelf Meyer, was holding an imbizo, or public meeting, at the local hall…
I am delighted to report that bookings for the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010 at the historic Castle of Good Hope in central Cape Town have finally opened at Computicket. Yayyy!! The nightly performances will take place from Wednesday 3 November to Saturday 6 November 2010. The official performance starts at 20h00, but the gates…
Finally, after waiting in the Visitor Centre for a while, 12h00 came around. Clutching our little ticket stubs (they had run out of the wristbands they’d been using so far – Darn! I wanted one of those!), we joined the large and excited crowd that pushed and shoved its way through the narrow gate. We…
Last Saturday morning (15 May) dawned bright and beautiful. I had heard somewhere that the Visitor Centre at the Green Point Stadium – sorry, that should be the Cape Town Stadium, which is its official name – was running its last series of tours, at 10h00, 12h00 and 14h00 that day. The next week, the…
I know, I know, it’s already May 2010 and almost, not quite, time for the Cape Town Military Tattoo of 2010, but I just haven’t had the time to sort through all the photos and video clips I took last year to put them up here. But tonight, I finally completed one of my editing…
On Saturday morning, after a brief hike in Newlands Forest, we headed down into the Cape Town City Centre. Neither of us has been there for… um… months? Years? Well, the last time we were near the centre was in November for the Cape Town Military Tattoo at the Castle of Good Hope (which I’ve…
On Monday morning, bright and early, we “rushed” down the N2 (or rather, as slowly as the early-morning commuter traffic allowed) to make it to the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Observatory, Cape Town, around 8h00. The sun was hiding behind a solid grey blanket of cloud, which fortunately did not release any rain.…
Background On 6 May 2009, four containers arrived at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Observatory, Cape Town. These weren’t just normal containers, though. These were very special containers: high-tech, RFI-shielded containers, especially designed and outfitted to accommodate all the complicated equipment that will be needed to control, operate and process the data from…
In June this year, I wrote about the “New 7 Wonders of Nature” campaign. The second phase of the campaign is now complete, 28 Official Finalist Candidates have been selected, and the campaign is now in its third phase. You can now register your vote for 7 of the following: Amazon Rainforest in South America…
Table Mountain has been selected as South Africa’s representative in a campaign organised by the Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation to choose the world’s New Seven Wonders of Nature from 222 countries. It is the only South African entry to make it to the second round. Currently, you can vote in the second phase of the New7Wonders…
I met Noorjehan Abbass many years ago, in my past life as a legal secretary at an attorneys’ firm in Cape Town. I can’t remember exactly how long we worked together, and I lost touch with her afterwards. She phoned me once in the intervening years, and told me that she had had two adorable…
My cousin has just told me a most disturbing story of promises broken and trust betrayed that I want to share with you because it ruffled my tailfeathers too. Sometime at the beginning of this year, a gentleman by the name of Ari Seirlis was asked by the Independent Democrats to stand as a candidate…
This morning, the high-tech containers for the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) project arrived at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Observatory. Shipped over from The Netherlands, these four RFI-shielded containers were especially designed and outfitted to accommodate all the complicated equipment that the KAT team needs to control and operate the brand new radio…
It is a sad indictment of the priorities of our ANC led government that they have, once again, allowed money to overrule morality. The history of our country – one of the richest and most beautiful on the African continent – has not been a happy one. Since the bad old days of colonialism, it’s…
Grains of Sand 
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