confusion and incompetence

hi everyone

well, this would be one of those "moans and groans" updates here, so you have been warned! for starters here, for those of you who will indulge me, are how we have got on with that mystical, magical beast known as electricity for the last two weekends....


Sunday March 8 : wake up to find no electricity supply. nothing on the news on the radio, no announcements, call the 24-7 telephone number, they are not at all sure what's going on or when it will be fixed. we thus engage in a mad scramble to get our gas braai going to heat some water and cook a rather splendid breakfast.


Sunday March 15 : after every news bulletin in Saturday March 14 advising us that our area will be without power from 8am to 5pm the next day. their website, which helpfully advises you that they will deny that anything on the site is true so do not believe it, confirms this. their "help" line confirms this. we get all prepared - boil water and fill flasks, get some food that's easy to cook on an outdoor barbecue thing, have lots of things ready to keep James entertained. i get up at 6am on Sunday to shower and make sure we are covered for a day without electricity. surprise! we instead had bucket fulls of electricity the whole day, without a blip.

no doubt the power companies here, City Power and their incompetent leash holders, Eskom, will be of the view that we should be grateful that the power didn't in fact go off. not really, not really, no would be the response to that. why get everyone to be prepared for a switch off that they take the time to announce and then have nothing? this no doubt means that we can expect the power to go off at random over the next few days / weeks / months / years.

the radio station which didn't report that the power was off and then actively did announce that it would go off when it didn't was of course the station that certainly isn't getting any better and daring to get worse, 702. they claim that they are the "number one news station". it's hard to understand this, much like it's hard to understand how they get away with claiming that their news bulletins are "independent" when they are all sponsored by one Company or another.

interestingly, 702 once upon a time used to say that they were the "number one information" station, too. obviously on the above this is incorrect, so it is no surprise that they have dropped that claim. just as well, really. today they broadcast a "classic chart" from 1966, and populated the airspace with news from that year.

one of the announcements they made was that, in April 1966, apparently Janis Joplin died, aged 24.





alas, sadly, the great Janis Joplin died in October 1970, aged 27. that's some interesting research they clearly did, and i wasted effort mentioning to them that they looked foolish using words like "protagonist" and "unique" incorrectly.



ho hum, be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

happy birthday mother-in-law......

hey everyone

well, irrespective on any power queries (refer to the moans and groans post!) today, we had a fabulous afternoon celebrating my (ahem) "dear" Mother-In-Law's birthday. one day early.

how old is she? well, it would be impolite to tell you that, and if i put the age that she wants me to say she is, i dare say some law enforcement agency somewhere would wish to have a word with me about my ten years and counting glorious relationship with Michele! well, i'm not Bill Wyman or Jimmy Page, i am just a normal person who would never do that and wouldn't get away with it!

OK, after that diversion, on with some pics! the (soon to be) birthday girl herself was somewhat elusive when the camera was about, but i am reasonably sure all anyone reading this site wishes to see is James playing away anyway! first up is one where Sklya, Jade, James and their Mummies are almost all looking at the camera!





as you can get a hint of in the above, James was wearing a class, purple psychedelia like shirt with Retro written on it in big letters on the front. alas, after he dropped and sort of broke the camera (nothing a good yank on the lens couldn't fix), he was less interested than usual in posing for pictures, but here's one i managed to get!




as well as seeing Skyla and Jade, James was of course thrilled to see his rather young Uncle Dylan (long story, don't ask) and play away. the two of them seem to be on different phases at the moment. as the picture below shows, James is still very much a Jedi in training (Padawan, if you will) and is thus trying to make some sort of KFC toy into a light saber, whilst Dylan is re-enacting what is presumably one of his favourite bits from something called Ben 10.





Dylan very kindly and slowly explained to me exactly what Ben 10 is, but i must confess something got lost in translation. the video he showed me kind of helped me understand it a bit, or at least let me know that you get some very cool toys with that name on!

anyway, here's as close as i got to a picture of Monica on her (almost) big day!





it's easy not to notice Monica in the above picture, isn't it? your attention is drawn somewhat to the concerned look on Michele's face. and you have to say it's a rather justified look of concern, since a newly crafted light saber appears to be about to connect with her head!!


and finally, the three of them did their best not to pose together for a picture, but eventually i did manage to catch one snap (out of 200) of Jade, Skyla and James together!





many thanks as ever for the hospitality, and the rather fine braai that was done for the most part by Brandon!

hope you all had a fun filled weekend too, and i bet you didn't get to watch Star Wars The Clone Wars quite as many times as we did......



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

for my mate Spiros

hey everyone


my good friend Spiros, who has just kindly handed me a copy of his debut novel, is rather excited about this picture.





nice one Sprios, hope you appreciate the gesture of it appearing here for your pleasure!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Butterfly Creek, New Zealand

hey everyone

well, as part of some sort of meditation ritual before the arrival of a pyjama wearing, five in the morning kitchen botherer (see previous posts for identity, as if you didn't know), Gillian, Daniel, Katie and of course Grant went off to a rather splendid sounding place called Butterfly Creek. Grant, being the deft cameraman that he is, decided not to send pictures of either the Creek or the butterflies that one presumes inhabit the place. he did, however, send on some great pics of everyone having fun!

first up is an unknown young lady, Katie, Daniel and Gillian giving some nice stuff to eat to the goats. well, i assume it's nice. i mean, why would Gillian give them something that they didn't like? further, i would take a guess that it is the same stuff that Grant gives them before he [TEXT OBSCURED ON LEGAL ADVICE], which would explain why young Daniel is a bit hesitant, really.





they do seem to have some rather relaxed traffic laws over there in New Zealand, as it appears that Katie has been allowed to have a whirl at driving a tractor!





Daniel seems rather confident in his sister's ability to drive it OK, as he has no hesitation whatsoever in catching a lift in the trailer hooked up to it!





and it's 10 out of 10 for bravery for the young lad sat on top of the tractor that Katie's driving in this next picture, as Katie seems to be having a crack at that holy grail of driving activities - seeing how fast and how far you can go with your eyes covered up.





i must say i am rather jealous of Katie. every time i try and have a go at driving blindfolded, or just without my glasses on, everyone gets so excited, saying "oh, no, you mustn't do that" and "you are bad enough when you can see properly". well, good luck to you Katie, have fun with it! in a worst case, remember, it's always nature's fault for growing the tree there.

now then, wither Grant? i can see no sight of sheep at this fine place, which is no bad thing really, as Grant would probably just wish to [TEXT OBSCURED ON LEGAL ADVICE], leaving a set of circumstances where ice creams would be late and probably less enjoyable. oh well, it seems that Grant is just as happy paying some attention to the goats!





i quite like the brave chicken (or possibly hen, but i doubt that Grant would [TEXT OBSCURED ON LEGAL ADVICE]. at least not in daylight) which seems to be clucking ever closer to Grant. i also note that the goat is getting rather friendly with Grant in the next pic. i have little doubt that the goat sees licking Grant's hand as an act of friendship, or a thank you for the food. one can only hope that Grant has the good decency and, as it were, taste to see it as such, instead of interpreting it as [TEXT OBSCURED ON LEGAL ADVICE], especially as it is unlikely that the goat would be able to say otherwise in a court of law or even to the proprietors of Butterfly Creek.





well, there you have it. from the interwebnet thingie it does sound like Butterfly Creek is a fascinating place to go and visit. i am sure that on the next visit Grant will indulge us with some images of the butterflies, the Creek and other sights there, rather than just [TEXT OBSCURED ON LEGAL ADVICE].

by the way, New Zealand - if you still wish to receive items in the post (the SA Post Office willing, bless them), you may wish to consider giving me at least a clue as to your new address.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

face painting with James

hi everyone

well, today we went off and had a fantastic time at Aryan's 4th birthday party. James and Aryan are great friends at school, and so it was to be expected that they would all have a wild afternoon running around playing today!

of the many things to do today, James was rather interested in the face painting, but wasn't all that keen on having his own face painted. it was not too long, then, before he found someone willing to have their face painted by him.....





yep, your humble narrator was once again cast in the role of guinea pig for one of James' class ideas. well, Mummy had a few ideas too, which would explain the nice little love heart on one of my cheeks!!





the concentration and enthusiasm in his eyes and across his brow as he busied himself drawing all over my face was something else! i suppose that for James having your face painted is no fun since you can't see for yourself what it looks like. i see, he knows what he likes and he is rather determined to be in control. and he's three. oh great, roll on those teen years....





as i mentioned above, we had a fantastic time today - many thanks to Aryan's parents for a wonderful party and hospitality second to none! we certainly look forward to seeing them all again real soon!

hope that you all had a fun filled saturday too!!!!!!!!!!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

construction time again...

hey everyone

well, i have a suspicion that at some point i have used the title for this post before. never mind, my dearly beloved Michele and good friend Maria will no doubt appreciate the reference to one of their mutual favourite albums!

James has been to spend some time with Grandma and Grandad again. as Grandad is a master of using resources to their best, and James loves following Grandad around, helping him wherever he can, it looks like the two of them had a most splendid time unleashing Grandad's latest building venture onto the garden.

so enthusiastic to help was James, and presumably so keen were Grandma and Grandad to let him have fun with helping, that it seems the moment the soil (and a healthy amount of manure) arrived for the garden project, off James went in his Wall-E pyjamas and Batman slippers to get stuck in!





i really do not want to know the state of the slippers and pyjamas, i have however noticed that they haven't returned with him as such. note Grandad and Marmite "observing" James doing his thing! well, he gets so focused and determined to do something that he really doesn't like it when you try and help him with it!





a-ha, it would seem that Grandma and Grandad noticed that he was still in his pyjamas eventually, and so soon after he got changed into some clothes more suited to the work ahead. getting changed must have caused something of a delay to the schedule he had in his head, and i think in this next pic James is saying "Grandma, this would go a bit quicker if i didn't have to stop after every shovel load for a picture"!




well, i have received just under one hundred pictures of his day helping Grandad building. as it's usually tricky to get him to pose for just one, i admire Grandma's patience and skill!

i believe the caption for the next one goes along the lines of "Hi hoooooooooooooo! Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go...."!!





so what exactly were they building? a rather splendid, excellent looking vegetable patch, that's what! Grandad grows some fantastic tomatoes, and he's going to have a crack at a variety of other crops in the new area set up for them.

here they are busy getting the soil ready for planting!





talk about the Lord of all that he surveys! here's James taking a quick time out to check that all is going according to the plan that he clearly has in his mind and in his eyes.





the look that he has in his eyes is pretty much the same one on the go when he is trying to get Obi-Wan Older (as opposed to Obi-Wan Older, we will explain to him that they are in fact one person eventually)to batter Darth Vader in Lego Star Wars.


now, Grandad has an interesting method of acquiring bricks for his projects, and it's one that i am not prepared to discuss here, quite frankly. every now and then, mind, he "over assumes" how many bricks will be required, and thus they have to be hauled back down. as has been shown before, however, James loves his barrow work, so this isn't so much double work for him as it is a treat!





and, after all that hard work, time for a quick drink break!





it's not just Grandad and James that need a drink, of course. as all who know and love James are aware, he's rarely as happy as when he has a hose pipe in his hands, spraying water everywhere!





after a hard day's graft, there's nothing like taking a seat on the steps, taking in all the hard work, and having a proud smile about all that has been achieved.





actually there is something like it. rare is the chair that is as comfortable and pleasant to sit on as Grandad's knee....





....and very little in this world warms the heart as much as a shared joke and a giggle with Grandad.





well done on all your efforts and hard graft, James! one of these days i am sure Grandad will name part of the garden you helped build after him! oh, for the record, the pool slide you may have had a glimpse of in one of the pics was put in place by me and my Grandad, ten or so years ago!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a haircut for a good cause

hey everyone

well, of all the many excellent things my place of verk does to contribute to the environment and the community in which we operate, one of the biggest and best is to throw a good deal of weight and support behind the annual Shavathon. this as the name suggests is a marathon effort to shave or colour as many people's hair as possible to raise funds for Cansa, the cancer association of South Africa.

needless to say, it's as good a reason as you will find for a haircut, so of course i took part in it.





the good lady who shaved my head confided in me that she had never actually used the equipment before. ever. it was rather pleasant that she let me know this after she had started, but what a magnificent job she did!!





i did briefly toy with the idea of having just my head shaved and leaving the beard on, as in the picture above. in the end, however, i decided that it would probably look a good deal better with the whole lot off. well, it would look as good as i was ever going to get!!





and so we have the finished product below! my dear friends and family last year (or perhaps the year before) decided i looked like some sort of cross between Boy George and Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz. i would say that i look forward to hearing the comparisons this year, but i am not sure that i do. more Brando, less Boy George would be nice!





i know times are tight for all wallets and purses, but i would hope that any and all readers of my site based here in South Africa will make some effort to contribute to this worthwhile cause. i know that cancer isn't a popular or trendy cause to support the fight against amongst the Hollywood crowd, but it is a killer disease which with support and funds can be beaten.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

U2 : No Line On The Horizon

it would take a special kind of fool to argue with the view that U2 are the biggest band in the world right now. they are the only act that could (and probably do) match the all time kings, The Rolling Stones, with concert ticket sales. unlike the illustrious company in which i place them, U2 still care about what goes onto their new records. this is to say that U2 are perhaps the only act at the moment who see a tour as a good idea for showing off a new album, not an album as something to knock out as an excuse for a tour.

so, 12 albums in, is that still true? after a couple of listens to album 12, the answer would be more or less yes.



the usual fears surrounded the band making No Line On The Horizon. Bono's profile since the last studio album has been his usual (and if we are honest, sort of admirable) efforts to save the entire world. there's always a concern that his non-politician political statements will overtly creep onto an U2 record. thankfully, for the most part, the other three seem to be having none of it. what they are having, though, is more of the same from the last two studio albums, and this really isn't such a bad thing.


U2 no longer break ground. they did that a long time ago with The Joshua Tree, and very cheekily pilfered the Madchester sound of the Happy Mondays and turned it into their own thing on Achtung Baby. ever since then, it's been the sound they like making, and they are vibes that many millions like hearing them make.

the downside of the album first. there's a track called Unknown Caller which is arguably the worst thing the band has ever recorded. the instrumentation is little short of tinkering and getting in tune; the big crime is the lyrics. in 2009 we do not need to hear a middle aged Bono "being down on this technology thing" by making odd lyrics out of everyday computer technology. if this was on Pop it would have been innovative and interesting, now it's rather lame.

not quite as bad is the song White As Snow, but it's not perfect either. the fears of Pope Bono are revealed in this one. a ballad acoustic type thing, take this as a warning - this is the one they will play live when Bono wishes to share his views, worries and fears on any major incident or world event that has tickled his fancy or been mentioned by his mate George Clooney. you may wish to see The Edge taking out an acoustic guitar and a stool as a sign to head off to the facilities in the venue.

last gripe - why no vinyl release, boys? can't find anything listed on the net.





whereas there is nothing as majestic as Beautiful Day or as awestruck as City Of Blinding Lights on the album, there are plenty of great tunes. top of the list for me is the song they call Magnificent, named presumably because it is. the opening title track isn't bad, but when this second track kicks in, you after a few bars sit up and pay attention to it. nice one.

elsewhere there's the splendid Get On Your Boots, a rather mental psychedelic bass odyssey. Stand Up Comedy carries hints of The Edge listening to some classic Lenny Kravitz guitar; no bad thing since Kravitz probably borrowed from The Edge to being with. at times Moment Of Surrender sounds like they feel obliged to put an "epic" (i.e. longer than five minutes) track on each album. whereas it doesn't really work instrumentally, you resist the temptation to skip this track thanks to some inventive lyrics and a remarkable portrait of loneliness and solitude - everything that goes wrong on Unknown Caller goes right on this one. a bit of a better effort is on the last track, Cedars Of Lebanon, which has one of the best U2 lyrics in a long time, possibly ever : "this s***** world sometimes produces a rose / the scent of it lingers, and then it just goes".

on the whole, an album well worth having in your collection. much of Atomic Bomb seemed initially bland and contrived, but over the years it has proven to be a "grower" of sorts. in time i suspect that less than half of this album will be seen as "classic" U2, but the tracks that shall live on from this one will be held as equals of their greatest stuff.

OK Bono, off you go on your quests to save the world for another couple of years. cheers for the class album, looking forward to the next one!

and just what do the other three do whilst he is off on his missions?



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

toffee apples : 50% quality

hey everyone

well, James' excitement over the weekend was not limited to the joys of being a brickie for Grandad and watching Daddy change a car tyre. we also went off to go and see my dear, beloved, wonderful mother-in-law ("Ouma" to James), and young Dylan.

as a treat, i bought the pair of them a rather splendid and magnificent toffee apple each. an old fashioned sort of treat i know, but what can i say? your humble narrator has bought more stuff on vinyl than on CD over the last few years, that's the sort of chap i am.

anyway, initially the toffee apples were a roaring success, and both of the lads rather enjoyed them....





alas, the enjoyment was limited primarily to the initial 50% of a toffee apple one encounters when embarking on a most splendid quest to eat one. when the toffee elements were conquered, they were rather less enthusiastic about the second part of the deal...





ho hum, to their credit they did have a bite or two each of the actual apple part, but not long after that they remembered that they all of a sudden had to go off and play, leaving the less interesting 50% welded together in some sort of bowl!

i did try to get some pics of James with Ouma and what i think would be "groot Ouma" (oh, Ouma grootjie according to the multilingual Michele), but the batteries somehow didn't make it into the recharger thingie after Sun City. sorry, and the below is the only picture i got before the camera told me it was having none of it.





sadly, no full on shot of Michele's rather ace Batman shirt either, then. i guess it's just for me to admire!!

anyway, hope your weekend was as interest and less expensive than ours!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am an architect

hey everyone


well, after an eventful trip (don't ask, just trust me that Getz tyres are not badly priced), we went to visit Grandma and Grandad this weekend. James hadn't been over for a few weeks, so he was quite excited. Grandad was equally excited, as it meant more labour on hand for his latest building project!

we do find it extraordinary and impressive that my Dad manages to keep finding places to build and do other construction work in the garden, really. just when we think he's finished his grand design, another good idea dawns upon him. in this case, a rather great idea, as the built up flower beds look rather impressive!

here's James helpfully pointing out where Marmite is, Marmite looking at Timan, the ever reliable Timan wondering what the next plan is and Grandad getting on with it!





James rather likes pushing a barrow full of soil around. thankfully, he wisely lets Grandad do the tipping out bit; i dare say James would try and end up covered in soil himself!!





oh dear! two barrows full of soil, two different directions! as much as James loves pushing a barrow full of soil around in general, i think he specifically enjoys the downhill bits more. well, it doesn't really matter that it's not exactly the right direction, it's having fun with it that counts!





as i said, the whole new renovations look rather ace, and we can't wait to see the finished product with all the flowers in! i dare say we will be getting a mail with some pictures in the near future, so i will certainly post them here when they arrive!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

understanding John Dryden

hey everyone

i was on the radio today, sort of. my complaint about referring to multiple protagonists warranted a reading on air (which you can listen to or download here) apparently. fascinatingly, the presenter who made the error of referring to "two protagonists" in an advert (of all things) chose to use a John Dryden quote in his defence. Alas, as i will get to, the quote used proved my point rather than make the host appear correct, but he appeared somewhat oblivious to this. as the broadcast veered towards something of a dig at your humble narrator (questioning my gender, suggesting i am bereft of friends), i suppose one would expect nothing less.....

to go back to my moans and groans, i have a quarrel with anyone that refers to a multiple of protagonists in any play, story, film or, as is the case with the well spoken host of the show Mr Andy Rice, 30 second advertisements. a simple literature rule for you - one cannot have more than one protagonist in a story! you can have many prominent, well defined characters, but fundamentally only one is the protagonist, which is to say the reason the story exists. Mr Rice, in his very posh, alluring tones, often mentions an advert as having 2 or 3 protagonists. i got rather fed up of hearing such drivel at times when traffic reports should have been on, and thus mailed him.

whilst i am flattered that he gave my comments some airtime (more or less in the same way that Mickey Mouse is presumably flattered when American news channels give airtime to his imaginary birthday), i was puzzled to learn that he believed his terminology was correct on the basis of a John Dryden quote. Dryden, some 400 years ago, made a comment along the lines of the "characters used to portray the protagonists in his plays". To Mr Rice, this was apparently a reference to multiple protagonists in a story and thus vindicated his vocabulary. to everyone else, of course, this is nothing more than John Dryden using the term correctly.

let's have a look at the quote again, shall we, with my emphasis placed on key letters : "characters used to portray the protagonists in his plays". There are two ways you can interpret the great Dryden. either he is talking about different characters in different plays (i.e. one protagonist per play), or he speaks of the characters as a collective in describing his plays as a whole, which is to say for the purposes of conversation it is one protagonist as a group. methinks Mr Dryden at no point referred to any of his works bearing two or three protagonists, i would be interested to be shown something that has me in the wrong in this respect.

the remainder of airtime given over to my concerns was, alas, used as some sort of dig at me. i had clearly irked the presenters, as they couldn't work out if i was of the male or female gender (most people clock this from my "kingmonkey" address), and then suggested that i should change my tone and approach somewhat if i wished to have any friends. well, if we ignore the former, the latter is interesting. i am blessed with a number of friends, whose company i appreciate and trust that the sentiment is reciprocated. i could not tell you how many friends i have as i do not see it as something to be counted; the quality of friendship strikes me as being more important than the volume or number of them.

in regards of why i bother with all of this, there are three reasons. firstly, i love the gift of the English language and it drives me up the wall when people in positions of influence (broadcasters, writers) abuse it, subliminally influence others to do the same and then see the very same people turn around and whinge about "dumbing down" and falls in standards. secondly, i loathe and detest anyone who tries to sound intelligent and superior to everyone else around them by incorrectly using long words and impressive sounding phrases that they clearly do not understand. thirdly, finally and most importantly, on the whole i was rather bored and it amused me a very great deal to fire of a mail at random to someone about the first subject that crossed my mind. that they chose to respond to it makes it all the more amusing!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sun City, February 2009

hey everyone


well, i probably should be getting some rest after the long journey back from our 4 day break in Sun City, but what the heck, i might as well do an update whilst the repeat of the Oscars is on. Michele is watching it, and i have an ear on it!

we have had, as usual, an ace time up at Sun City. James loves the place, and i think i have the right pictures here to show why! first up would be the thing that filled most of our days, which is swimming!





James is quite the water baby when it suits him (usually not bath time), and he loves the idea of all the different swimming areas up there. The one above, which Mummy went into with him, is at least heated and very pleasant. the kids swimming area ("Adventure Island), which Daddy gets to go in with him, is not!

Adventure Island features a massive castle / mountain (it's not sure what it wants to be, really - the pic makes it look like a mountain, but it also has castle-esque windows and what not) which James likes to go to the top of. James, however, does not particularly care for the walk up it. i then end up carrying him up the small, slippery steps, designed with the width of an average 8 or 9 year old in mind!





now James really doesn't like showers or any sort of water hitting his head. i was a bit surprised when he then asked me to take him under an ice cold waterfall. ho hum, Mummy at least captured the moment when we got out from under it, after all of two seconds i seem to recall!





Mummy also captured his exceptional dislike for being under the ice cold waterfall for two seconds, momentarily forgetting that it was all his idea in the first place. i think i am giving a hand up to say we are OK rather than waving hello!





the great discovery James made this holiday was how absolutely ace water slides are. the last time we were up there he had a bit of a look at them, but decided against going down. this time around many, many children were bombing down them, and so he decided to join in the fun. and, of course, loved it!!





honesty is a big thing for James at the moment. when we told him it was time to go, instead of saying something like "just one more go" he said "Daddy, i am going down five more times.". to his credit, he did indeed count going down another 5 times and then called it a day! the fact that he's doing this at 3 strikes me as being rather impressive; can't wait for those "know it all" teenage days. which i never, ever had, obviously....

...erm, moving on, here's a remarkable and quite accidental shot that makes James look like he has perfected the art of walking on water!





not quite a miracle, dear readers. this pic looks like it is taken at the paper thin shallow end of the rather shallow (and wisely so) kiddies pool! still, it does look rather impressive!

when not swimming, James was rather keen to practice his game skills which he has so diligently been working on with what used to be my Play Station. here he is navigating the woods of Endor with Mummy on the ace Star Wars Arcade machine, one that i would not object to getting rid of the bed in our house to accommodate.





sorry for the poor quality of the above, like the below one it was taken on my cell phone. i think i have, to put it technically, "knacked the lens" on it a bit.

and here i am with a gift from THE KING





it's one of those "coin waterfall" thingies, sorry, i am not sure what the right name is for them. you put coins in with the hope of pushing others over and into your tray. all i know is that it is an official signature product of THE KING and is thus to be revered. i tried to encourage James to play it, but he was having none of it. except for one instance where he started to do an Elvis dance near it; a quite poignant and beautiful moment!


Jungle Gyms are another big favourite for James, and the one near the class breakfast buffet area proved to be a winner for the young man. here he is emerging from the slide with a block that he insisted on carrying all the way to the top. some 6 - 7 metres up!





and here he is in front of some bizarre European architecture tribute they have put up near the kids area!





why on earth they have selected these three from Europe is a mystery. sure, they are probably the three most easily recognized land marks from the continent (sorry, Germany), but why have them where they do? methinks they are left over props from some exhibition or conference, but never mind, they look rather good!


now then, some would balk at the warning at the most excellent crocodile park / reserve they have at Sun City....





....but not Daddy and James!





as James loves the crocodiles, there's no way that we wouldn't take him along to see them again. this time, however, there was the added bonus of being able to feed the baby crocodiles!

now crocodiles, strictly speaking, are not vegetarians, and thus it was chicken feet that we were given to feed them. James was somewhat wary of handling them, even with the gloves on, but soon threw some over the wall for them!





and my, were the baby crocs happy to get them! for the most part, the crocodiles tend to just lay in the water or on the bank, but blimey did they shift and grab the food we gave them!





well done James, you have done your bit to help them grow up big and strong, rather like this one has....





well, i think that will do it for pics from our holiday, especially as i am sat here yawning away!

a very big thank you indeed to Grandma and Grandad for arranging the weekend away for us, we loved just about every minute of it! fingers crossed the world class Post Office delivers your card from there at some point this year!!

now, if you have skipped over my Trev and Simon post below, go and read it, and go and visit their site!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!