Just Another Joburg Friday Night…

Anyone who has ever lived in Johannesburg will tell you that one of the things they love the most about this big, bad, wonderful city are the summer thunderstorms. Our winters are dry and cold, and summer is hot and wet, but unlike the tropics, our summer storms are violent rages of wind, rain and [...]

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Digging for victory, Mzansi style

With the national elections coming up in April, it seems South African politicians are taking their mud-slinging out of  the Houses of Parliament and into the Company Gardens next door.  Ex-pres Thabo Mbeki is a dead snake, ex-ANC honcho Mosiuoa Lekota is a cockroach, acolytes of Cape Town mayor and DA  leader Helen Zille are [...]

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Happy Birthday, Big Guy!

Today is Charles Darwin’s birthday. And I can’t help feeling like it’s a big day, and one well worth celebrating.
Where would we be without him, after all?
Last year, when I was in London, I went to the big Darwin exhibition at the Natural History Museum and had a little moment as I walked in. There, [...]

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Changes all round #2

And so, with my folks discovering the novelties of city life, and a new year underway, it became time to effect the changes I hinted at towards the end of last year. In short, I’ve left steamy Durban, with its palm trees, curries and Indian Ocean that on some evenings carries the faintest [...]

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Changes all round

If I remember correctly, it was Mr Brown who said in one of the Paddington Bear books that all good things come to an end. This was certainly how I felt a few weeks ago when my parents moved to the city after nearly thirty years in the countryside. Strangely, none of [...]

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Here comes the sun

I recently received a note about a solar eclipse viewing and picnic breakfast from Martin Clement, education officer at the Durban Botanic Gardens.  To join you’ll need to meet outside the orchid house at 7am on Monday 26 January -  the local astronomical society will be on hand to point out relevant blobs in the [...]

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Garden Bloggers’ Blooms for the New Year

So it’s been a while since I got in on the Garden Bloggers’ Blooms action, and mainly that’s just becuase I’ve been lazy. But, as we’re in the height of summer here in South Africa, and the rains have been quite fantastic, I thought I’d be a proud mom and show off what my garden [...]

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Pimp my View

This is the tower that overlooks my garden. I love this tower. Capetonians have a mountain and a sea, and that’s all very well. But I love my tower more. When it’s misty, it disappears completely, and when it rains, you can see direction that the rain is coming in from because one half will [...]

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In From the Cold

So I’m back from my wonderful 10 days in London.  I loved my time there, it’s an amazing city, even in the grim grip of the end of the year. I did all the things a first-timer should do and dodged crowds on Oxford Street, wandered all over the city, ate well, drank much beer [...]

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It’s alright, Gate

 
The house next door to where I live is probably the loveliest on the street.  Built towards the end of the 1800’s, it still has the pressed ceilings and door panels that were made in British steel mills and glassworks and then shipped across the high seas by settlers wanting to create a piece of Home in [...]

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