Active in Wales

Jacks and I made the most of a recent long weekend, by venturing off down to the Pembrokeshire Coast (South-west Wales). We spent the weekend at a lodge near Mathry, and took part in a variety of arranged activities. There was a mixed group of people staying at the lodge, but the majority were there on an organised weekend with a company called spice (a bit like a singles club). Most of them were really good fun, and there to enjoy themselves and to have a good laugh. (http://www.spiceuk.com/intro.asp)

Our first activity was kayaking, and as expected we thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I had a leaking kayak. There was quite a swell, and we had good fun in, on and around the rocks, and exploring a couple of caves. After lunch we set off on a 7 mile hike along the coast, taking in the spectacular views and countryside of possibly one of the best coastlines in the UK.

On sunday morning we again made our way to the sea, but not to kayak, now we were taking part in some Coasteering. (http://www.preseliventure.com/activities/coasteering.shtml) This basically involves swimming, climbing, scrambling, jumping, and generally stuffing around. Great fun, and a really good workout. On sunday evening we drove into St Davids, and from there hopped on a jet boat, for a loop around of an island called Ramsay. Even though our companions on the boat were the Adams family and Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer, we had an awesome time. We saw plenty of seals and pups, and had a good look at a sun fish that was basking on top of the water.

After a quick breakfast on monday morning, we drove south towards Marloes, where we parked (near Milford Haven), and set off on a quick walk around the head, looking out over Skomer and Skokkolm Islands. Without a doubt one of the best short walks we have ever done, and a great way to end our weekend of activity in Wales.

Breakfast with RAW

Jacks and myself are going to breakfast and a live broadcast of the Rude Awakening in London on thursday the 7th of September. All part of the competition I wrote about below, it is sponsored by Virgin, and Richard Branson is also going to be in attendance. We have to be at the hotel, near Oxford Street, at 5am. Apparantly we get a hamper of South African goodies, so hopefully we get some biltong. For those of you in Jo'burg, make sure you listen to the show on that morning. You never know what you might hear?

The Cotswold's again

A visit to Jackies gran in Cheltenham is always something we really look forward to. There is plenty to see and do, we are treated like royalty and the peace and quiet is awesome.

I decided to be tour leader/navigator for the weekend, and had a full agenda planned, starting fairly early on saturday morning. Our first stop was a village called Fairford, with a beautiful church, famous for having the oldest full set of stained glass windows. We continued slightly further east, to Lechlade-upon-Thames, where we parked, and went off on a short walk to St John's lock, and back into the village, along the canal. We had a very important lunch reservation for 1pm, and so made our way through Bibury and the Coln Valley to Duntisbourne Abbots. The drive took us through an absolutely amazing area of farmland and villages, and something that none of us had seen before. Much to my relief we found the pub, and made ourselves at home at a table in the corner. We were about 15 minutes late, and as it was recently awarded the Gloucestershire dining pub of the year, I expected the 'Five Mile' to reject us on arrival. They accepted us with open arms and cold beers, and in no time at all, we were enjoying a gourmet pub meal of note. I had the happiest duck I have ever eaten, with a heavenly garlic, brandy and pink peppercorn sauce. After lunch we made our way to a pub called the Thames Head (somewhere between Coates and Kemble), where we parked, and walked along a rough footpath to the reason for the pub's name, the source of the Thames river (see the 3rd picture above). The only other visitors to the source were about 100 cows, and they seemed totally disinterested. The spring is only visible in winter, and we only found the sign marking the site - no water. After a few minutes, like the cows, we had lost interest, and made our way back to the car.

On sunday we again made our way to somewhere new, this time to the England/Wales border and a village on the Severn Estuary. The village, called Frampton-on-Severn, has recently been awarded Cotswold village of the year by the Cotswold Life magazine. I don't think anyone has read the magazine yet, because the village was empty, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be a pretty special place. The village has no through traffic, and has a picturesque little canal, with views out over the estuary. It has some really old thatched and beamed houses, and plenty of open spaces. After a good pub lunch, we made our way back to Noiseville (AKA London).

Ha-Ha

The British are feeling the pinch in relation to recent bombings and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved'. Soon though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross". Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance". The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666. Also, the French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Surrender" and "Collaborate". The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability. It's not only the English and French that are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "shout loudly and excitedly" to "elaborate military posturing". Two more levels remain, "ineffective combat operations" and "change sides". The Germans also increased their alert state from "disdainful arrogance" to "dress in uniform and sing marching songs". They have two higher levels: "invade a neighbour" and "lose".

- anonymous

The Producers

After writing a story about 'Blood Brothers', I can't not talk about a show that we watched on wednesday night, called 'The Producers'. A combination of madness and genius, with great singing and a set that transforms you into another place and time, it truly is one of the best shows we have seen. The cast, made up of what seemed to be Pieter Dirk Uys' UK family, take you on a hugely entertaining journey through Broadway theatre.

Great news

No, I didn't win the competition mentioned below, even better. Grant and Debbie are engaged. They were flying over Victoria Falls in a helicopter, when suddenly Grant saw his life flash before his eyes. In a moment of madness he asked the question, and to my extreme shock she said yes. Only kidding, all the best guys, we know that you are going to be really happy together.

Just to add to the excitement, I heard earlier this morning that Caley Mae arrived at 15:17 yesterday afternoon. Barry and Anlia are obviously over the moon with their 3.5kg little princess, and we wish them well. I don't think she realises it just yet, but Caley Mae has won the jackpot as far as parents go.

Competition time!

I was recently invited to enter a competition where you can win a return trip to Jo'burg, from London, for 4 nights. You had to describe why you wanted to go. I entered, and answered the question as follows:

'Jo'burg is the place where I can really feel my heart beating, not because I am nervous of being hijacked or murdered, but rather because it is my home, and a place where the majority of people recognise the importance of a simple smile. London is a big machine, where things work, but unfortunately people seem to have lost something along the way. The individual pursuit of material success has contaminated the very reason for being, and sadly people have lost their identities. Every now and then I treat myself to a piece of ridiculously expensive drywors, not just because I love the taste, but more importantly because it reminds me of home. These memories fade as quickly as the daylight hours of the end of the british summer. Please send me home to remind me why I love SA so much.'

Holding thumbs!

Prague - July '06

Although completely abused by the english stag and hen parties, Prague was still on our list of things to see. We joined Eugene and Heidi at Heathrow on friday night, and arrived at our hotel in Prague just before 1am. The taxi ride from the airport gave us our first view of the famous castle, which dominates the night sky.

Our hotel was superbly postioned, 10 minutes walk from both the Charles Bridge, and Wenceslas Square. After a brief, boring breakfast we made our way through Wenceslas Square (which is essentially a big high street), to the Old Town Square. This is most famous for it's astronomical clock, which plays a little tune every hour, and has little dancing figures and a skeleton ringing a bell. Tourists flock to the site to witness the event, which to us was about as interesting as a bug flying into the windscreen. The square is really pretty though, and we made our way to the top of the tower, which gave us a birds eye view of the whole of Prague.

Our plan for the day was to take in a walking tour of the city. We did this for 3 reasons, described below:

1) We like walking
2) We would take in a bit of the history
3) It included a free beer

The walk began at the Old Town Square, and we made our way through the backstreets of Prague to the Jewish Quarter, learning quite a bit along the way. One interesting thing that none of us had heard of before ( and may interest you) was the following. When a building has 2 towers, as quite a few in Prague do, and the one is bigger than the other, they are meant to represent Adam and Eve. After passing through all of the synogogues of the Jewish Quarter, we made our way to the Charles Bridge. By this stage we had been told to watch out for pickpockets about 5 times, and apparantly now we had arrived at the hotspot. I think Prague must have a pickpocket university, and it seems to be a fairly popular profession. The walk across the bridge was great, but one can't help feeling a bit like an ant, walking with it's entire colony across a twig. We then jumped on a tram, and headed up the to the back of the Prague Castle, which is positioned on a hill, looking out over the city. We walked through the St Vitus Cathedral, which for Jacks and I was one of the highlights of the weekend. The stained glass windows are unbelievable, with intricate detail and contrasting colours. We had now reached the end of our tour, and realised that we were pretty hungry. Our guide had earlier told us of a cheap local restaurant, so that's where we headed.

Lunch was great, and I tested some of the local flavours which included pork and dumplings. Jacks had more limited options (in a country that likes eating animals), and had a salad. The beers were cold and cheap, and we took time to take in the relaxed environment and cool breeze. This breeze turned into a shower, and we made our way back to the hotel to prepare for an evening out on the town.

This began at another restaurant, where we again found ourselves eating. This time I went for the deer, which surprisingly was extremely tender, and full of flavour. Heidi, as she often does, demanded that everybody had tequila's for dessert, and this set the tone for the rest of the night. A few pub's and beers later, we found ourselves at a pub called 'Dog's bollocks', and this was the last stop of our evening.

The deer must have been slightly off, as the next morning I woke up with a bit of a headache, and was feeling lethargic to say the least. Jacks, Eugene and Heidi were feeling the same way, so I concluded that it might actually have been the tequila. We decided to get out of Prague, and caught a train to Katne Hora, a medieval town, 1 hour east of Prague. After arriving at the station, we walked about 10 minutes to the Sedlec Ossuary or 'Bone Church'. This is a chapel that was built in 1400, and became a very popular burial ground because of what the local's believed was 'holy soil'. In the late 19th century a local monk (who was half blind), was given the task of decorating the interior of the chapel. He made the fairly strange decision of using the 40,000 sets of human skeleton's as material. The result is a bizarre bone filled church, with a chandelier made with every bone in the human body, and many other weird and wonderful creations.

We arrived back into Prague late afternoon, and after a quick lunch we strolled back to the hotel along the Vltava river. Jacks and I left Eugene and Heidi (who were spending another night), and made our way to the airport for our flight back to London. We had a really fun weekend with some good old mates, and can definately recommend Prague as a destination, not only for cheap beer, but more importantly for the history and architecture.

Our new flat (as of July '06)

View from Upper Richmond Road

The local Pub and Thai restaurant, just a lob wegde away

The lounge/TV/and guest bedroom

Another view of the lounge/TV/guest bedroom (and laundry)

The Master bedroom