Welcome Ruben Gouws

It is a great privilege to announce that there was once again another boy added to the Gouws family. Mrs G is now not only the mother of 4 sons, but the grandmother of 4 grandsons. It seems like the Gouws family name is pretty strong at this stage, maybe this is just the beginning of greater things, who knows a super race might not be so far fetched. Congratulations to the proud parents Hennie & Carinne, may you still manage to sleep every now and then.

Another house, another housewarming

This past Saturday evening we eventually celebrated my relocation to Johannesburg. The dress code rule was to wear what someone of your current age would have worn in 1987. This produced a couple of interesting sights, but I have to say Marinda won by far. Here are a few incriminating pictures….

Black Eyed Peas

Another generous supplier gave me tickets to the Black Eyed Peas concert held at Nasrec. I couldn’t be rude and say no, so me and some friends went to check out the show. It turned out to be a spectacular show and I didn’t realize what a cool stage personality Fergie has. We boogied till late, and had to drive over a sidewalk to get out, but luckily we were driving a very capable rental car.

A night at the opera

Me and a couple of my culture vulture friends went to see the William Kentridge Magic Flute at the Civic in Johannesburg last week Thursday. I had some reservations as I tend to fall asleep in these kind of things. I was very impressed with the production, the décor and music was magnificent and the way the Kentridge art was displayed in a magical manner was mind boggling. I can definitely recommend that anyone with an interest in performing art make a plan to go and watch this show.

Avela & Till tie the knot

I was privileged to have witnessed the marriage of my dear friends Avela and Till this past weekend in the Eastern Cape. It was truly a memorable occasion and a very pleasant weekend followed the wedding festivities.

The weekend started of with a marathon drive from Joburg, leaving in peak hour traffic and only arriving in Port Alfred at 4am Saturday morning after running over one of Bambie’s little brother’s or sisters outside Grahamstown. At that point in time my love for nature was somewhat distorted so we didn’t even stop to view the damage, just pursued to our final destination.

The wedding started at 12pm Saturday already so there was not much time to catch up on lost sleep spent on the road, but arriving late at the wedding was actually not a problem as the specified 12pm was actually 12pm African time which means the ceremony started at about 13:30 I think which does make a difference when you only slept a few hours after a 1000km journey. Nonetheless the wait was worth it. Avela pitched up with her bridesmaids looking absolutely stunning, barefoot on the beach meeting her German prince charming dressed in a suit with his springbok sandals.

After the beautiful ceremony lots of pictures were taken and the festivities started and carried on late into the night. Unfortunately we had to leave a very energetic party to hit the road once again as we had a 4 hour drive to Kurland Estate our accommodation for the rest of the weekend just outside Plettenberg Bay.

Kurland turned out to be one of the most idyllic places the South African tourism industry has to offer. Picture an English Country Estate where the rich and famous come to watch and play polo and enjoy high tea. This is the closest you’ll get to that south of the equator. Playing chess and backgammon in front of a fireplace . . .ok I think I want to go back there . . .

The newly weds

Me and Wendy

Kurland Estate

Quads at Kurland

Parkhurst meets Pimville

I’ve always thought that I’m probably one of the most liberal Afrikaner boerseuns coming out of Pretoria, this past Saturday evening proved just that. About twenty of us whities decided to go out and see how the who’s who in Soweto do the social thing.

In a convoy of 6 vehicles (all expensive german brands of coarse) we departed Parkhurst and took to the streets of Soweto. With a few butterflies in the stomach we entered the unknown territory from the Florida side and took a scenic route through Dobsonville and a few other suburbs I cannot pronounce. I was pleasantly surprised to experience the warm welcome of the community whom was quite surprised to see the unfamiliar sight of a convoy of white yuppies driving through the streets of Soweto at night. After narrowly escaping a few accidents (as traffic rules are something foreign to this town), we eventually arrived at our venue The Backroom in Pimville.

At first it was very deserted but soon the party started to become alive. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Range Rover Sport’s in one location. Clearly the only thing that made us stand out was the colour of our skin our vehicles were rather ordinary in the parking lot.

We partied until the early hours of Sunday morning. Getting out was a bit more of a challenge than what we anticipated as we got stuck in a traffic jam of note when we tried to avoid a rather drunken crowd of a beach party in the area. In a matter of seconds we were completely stuck in a narrow street with a couple of thousand locals. Even this was no problem for our designated driver, a blonde white lady who got out of the luxury 4x4 she was driving in the middle of Soweto and directed traffic in the opposite direction in order for us to turn around and find an alternative route.

We got home at about 3am in one piece after a very exciting and successful evening.

Around the world in 60 hours

I do get some spur of the moment ideas once every now and again and then I don’t need much convincing to jump on a plane and fly halfway around the world for a weekend. This is exactly what I did this past weekend when I went to London. This short weekend was even reduced further when engine 3 of the Boeing 747 we were traveling in refused to start. This delayed us for 3 hours and 300 odd passengers had to wait in the plane without air-conditioning while a new starter motor was installed. Despite the delayed start the weekend was a great success.

I blew way too much money, mostly on clothes and shoes as if I have excess cupboard space in my new place. I managed to visit a few famous landmarks, and had a nice night out on the town in Soho on Saturday night. On Sunday shopping continued and finished off with a superb lunch at a restaurant on the banks of the Themes over looking Tower Bridge where I actually ate oysters (jip me the rys vleis en aartappel ou…..they say you must try everything at least once…ok so I tried one……thanks for trying H, sorry to disappoint you at least I kept it down)

So I had to leave London on Sunday night for Johannesburg, luckily I had sufficient sleeping pills to escape the clueless American’s conversation, that sat next to me on the plane on his way to SA for the first time. I woke up just before breakfast was served so it was a rather short flight.

Some proof that I did visit London UK and not just sat at home watching pirate copied TV series on my computer…..which I have done in the past….