Sci-Bono

hi there

ok, up front, if you have staggered or stumbled on to this page or post in the hope of seeing something science-fiction related involving that (remarkably talented but still often a) twat in the sunglasses you are unlikely to find what you hope for here. sorry, but do take the time to read anyway. this is does involve a beautiful day, however, as it's about our trip out to the most excellent Sci Bono Discovery Centre located in Johannesburg.

last Thursday was something of a "double whammy" for us. not only was it a public holiday, it was (i am reasonably reliably informed) some sort of anniversary for me and my lovely wife. we wished to do something special and, with the weather being a bit cold (refer to earlier post on snow), preferably inside. off to town to visit this interesting sounding Sci-Bono it was, then.




by the way, the reason for this update being a week later is partially being busy at verk and home, but mostly down to me being laid low with illness since Friday. some sort of bronchial infection, apparently, with some asthma treatment thrown in for good measure. well, my doctor is that type i suppose. not that this has anything to do with the Sci-Bono place.

moving on to things that do have something to do with Sci-Bono, and what can i say but what a magnificent idea it was that we had and what a brilliant place it is! hopefully these pictures and my commentary show that off here, especially if you are looking at this with a view towards going for a visit. if you are considering it, please do go, you shall not regret it!

a major issue we had with the boys when we got there, it has to be said, was convincing them to actually go inside the centre. not that they were scared or intimidated, you understand - it was just that they had found the very cool "party area" at the front and were reluctant to leave it!

and who can blame them when it allowed them to pretend to be astronauts!




alas i did not get the chance to pose in one of these things, but you are no doubt better off with not all that many pictures of me anyway. especially not looking at the state of my beard at present. James and William are far better subjects for pictures than your humble narrator is, i am sure you will agree!




i am not sure, distance wise, how practical it will be for James or William to have a birthday party here one of these days but i would very much like to! maybe i will hold a birthday party for myself there!

once the boys were inside, well, it was a world of adventure and discovery for them, to tell the truth! the place is massive, with some 3 or 4 levels of interactive displays, experiments and things to do. i say "3 or 4" as the outlay is that you have split levels (floor 2 and a half, for instance), so it's hard to say exactly, my architect skills not being what they could.

and as i mentioned the idea of architecture (or however you spell it), how handy that the first pictures should be of one of the things the boys really, really loved - a rather excellent building site!




i suspect that they boys really, really loving this part of the Sci-Bono place was down to them missing Grandad a bit. since he has headed off for pastures new there has been no one around to put them to work on unusual or possibly dangerous construction projects. they were rather glad, then, to have a play with the house building site!




all of the construction material was foam, which was somewhat preferable to the wrought iron and concrete blocks Grandad used to get them to haul around but did, it has to be said, remove some of the excitement and danger factor for the boys. Sci-Bono, unlike Grandad, was somewhat insistent that the children all wear protective head gear too, as you can see!




the elements of danger being removed did not stop the boys having fun with the construction site, i am happy to report. they were also very, very happy indeed to be able to have a go on a crane, something that for some reason Grandad had never considered using in any of his building work. well, not yet anyway - with that seed sown, best of luck Katie and Daniel.




much like the party area, it took some persuading to get the boys to leave the construction site and look at what else Sci-Bono had to offer, but eventually they came along with us!




ah, i mentioned sunglasses earlier, did i not? i have to be honest and say i do not recall exactly why James was required to wear protective sunglasses in the next picture, but i am sure it was for no other Bono reasons and perfectly valid Sci-Bono ones!




the above is one of a massive amount of interactive experiments and displays that children (and grown ups) are encouraged to try, use and learn from. every single one of them was, honestly, brilliant. a fair few of the displays were science and technology related, but there's also a diverse range of "psychological" or thinking / mental puzzles and experiments to try.

yes, the majority had me flustered and i could not work out how to do them, but the boys managed just fine!




the boys managed particularly fine with any and all experiments or tests that invovled making a noise, of course. a few of the more refined, less noise creation ones took their fancy too. like, for instance or indeed perhaps in particular, the one below, where you had to connect the batteries and wires correctly to make the train work.




that was indeed a very class one, and we could have stayed there for quite some time making the train go around and around!

any negatives from the day, you ask? well, yes and no. there was some disappointment when we discovered that the big, massive (presumably) animatronic / interactive dinosaurs were down for repairs. that said, we had no idea at all that there would be big, massive dinosaurs there to begin with, and it was just excellent to see them!




i have no clue as to what they would do when plugged in and that, but they looked really, really class! i think the staff at Sci-Bono were a touch confused as to why we spent so much time looking at a display that was clearly marked as not working, but there you go - the boys both love dinosaurs and these were the biggest ones they had seen thus far!




what you would, i suppose, call "physical science" was on display at Sci-Bono too. there was all sorts of stuff about smoking (it's bad for you, i gather) and i had a go on some sort of tread mill too. and, now that i think, an exercise bike thingie, with my pedalling making some sort of radio and lights work.

James and William sort of had a go on those things, but a big winner for them both was a class set of football related challenges, tests and games. it was wonderful that the Sci-Bono staff tried to explain in as friendly terms as possible what they should be doing, but they just went wild in the football areas, doing their own thing!




i by no means got pictures of everything, so please do not think these few pictures show all there is to see. we were just having too much fun to bother taking photographs of everything - sorry Dad, i know that is not the way you do it!

a sort of final picture, though, is of the boys in one of more than one areas they have set up with mountains and mountains of Lego bricks to build away with!




i think William was a touch disappointed that he could not take home whatever he was building with the Lego, but we kind of have enough of the stuff at home for him to be busy with!

my favourite bit? spending some ace, fun time with my lovely wife and children, watching them play and experiment away. aah, yes i know. a very close second to that, however, would be the king of things, one of them thermal camera devices!




i took the best self-portrait i could of it, that's James and i in front of it! you can pretend that the Predator out of Predator is hunting you down! how class is that? if the whole rest of Sci-Bono was rubbish, which it most certainly was not, but they had that thermal camera, i would go back just for that. that is how class that is!

now then, is there a trick or something hidden about Sci-Bono? not really. the cost, you ask? well, at the time of writing, the entry fees are R20.00 for adults, R10.00 for children except children under the age of 6, who get in for free! considering what you get, that is a ridiculous, low fee to be charging - but of course excellent, for it means it is open and accessible to just about everyone.

some will have concerns about it being located "in Johannesburg", of course. no, Johannesburg isn't the single safest place in the world, but it is far from being as dangerous as some would suspect. basically, you can get there without any sort of fear - off the highway at Jan Smuts, over the magnificent Nelson Mandela bridge, a quick turn into Newtown and there you are in safe, secure and free parking for the Sci-Bono centre.

any fellow residents of this magnificent city who have children and are reading this do not, quite frankly, have any excuse not to take their kids to this place. it is a must-visit thing, and we shall be going again in the not too distant future.

more of the usual ranting and raving about the usual things that bother me later!



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

do those animated GIF things work on a blog?

hi there

not much of an update, really, i am just wondering of those "GIF" type files work on here or not.

if they do, then below you should see His Excellency, Boris Johnson, aka BoJo, getting down and dirty with his mates DavCam and SamCam to the tunes of the Spice Girls at the Olympic Closing Ceremony.

if that does not show the three dancing away, try clicking on it, or perhaps even saving it to your PC. that is, if of course for some reason you actually want to see the three of them dancing. your call.

more of interest later, i hope!



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


edit : doesn't seem to be working when i load up the page, so let me have a try of adding the link i pinched this off to see if that makes them dance nice nice.....





does that one work? if so, many cheers and thanks to darkanddivine off the Manics forum, for it is they who posted it first!

the Tin Machine myth

So, what was the final straw that saw me decide to write a piece about Tin Machine? A mention of the band in Q magazine, and not a complimentary one. They decided to include the band in an article on “Rock’s Greatest Acts Of Folly”, despite the fact that they included a quote from Bowie of how fond he was of the music they created, and of course the fact that any credible music magazine should really know better than to knock a band that were, as it happens, rather good.


For the last 15 – 20 years it has become quite a trendy, fashionable thing for certain music journalists and other observers to simply knock or dismiss all that carries the name Tin Machine. I do wonder when they do this if they’ve even bothered to listen to the band or are just simply knocking on the basis that “everyone does”. It’s not like they have checked the facts – the first Tin Machine album, for quite a while, sat at number five on the list of biggest selling Bowie albums of all time. That hardly makes it an act of folly, does it?

Before we go in to the Tin Machine music, let’s try and see how David Bowie got to the point of wanting to submerge himself into the workings of a band rather than simply stay solo. I would suggest the first step on that path came in around 1982 & 1983. After spending most of the early 80s acting (superb reviews for his performance on stage in The Elephant Man and on screen in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence) and with very little music (his superb title track for the remake of Cat People), Bowie turned to producer Nile Rodgers when it was time to return to the recording career proper. “I want hits”, Bowie is reportedly to have told Nile Rodgers, “lots and lots of hits”. That is exactly what he got in the form of his pop friendly album Let’s Dance.

Let’s Dance was a peculiar thing for the more ardent Bowie fans. Used to seeing him change his style and be innovative, at face value the album was Bowie trying to slot in with the New Romantic pop of the day, a movement he pretty much inspired with his late 70s work. It contained only one truly bad track – the horrid re-recording of the Cat People theme, it’s moody drum and bass sound replaced by synthesisers. Three huge hit singles, propelled by videos that TV could not get enough of broadcasting, came in the form of Let’s Dance, China Girl and Modern Love. The latter was effectively footage from the Serious Moonlight tour, which is worth discussing here.

The Serious Moonlight Tour reflected the best of times and the worst of times for Bowie fans. At best, it was him back on stage, doing what he does best and selling out huge venues. Alarm bells rang, however, at how he had “changed” some classic songs. Station To Station, for instance, was no longer an 11 minute opus full of dark despair and isolation; he had changed it into a 3 minute pop song. This kind of represents how at this time Bowie had more or less handed over musical control to the musicians he had picked up for the album and tour, concentrating only on singing himself.

With presumably some pressure from the record label too, Bowie decided to capitalise on the success of Let’s Dance and indeed the huge audience of the Serious Moonlight tour by getting a new album out in late 1984, just over a year after Let’s Dance was released. That album was Tonight, one that Bowie (unlike his Tin Machine work) has been critical of in retrospect.

Tonight is a frustrating experience. There are two songs on it, Loving The Alien and Blue Jean, that rank right up there with the best stuff Bowie has ever done. The other seven songs leave a lot to be desired, however. It’s perhaps telling that the two I single out are the only Bowie-only compositions – the rest are either co-written with his mate Iggy Pop, or are cover versions (and yes, an Iggy Pop cover or two feature in that list). It did sell well as Bowie had hoped or intended it to, but in no way is it one of his greatest efforts.

The next couple of years saw David Bowie less in the studio, more into doing other things. He recorded some exceptional songs for movies – When The Wind Blows, This Is Not America and Absolute Beginners – and of course the soundtrack for one of his more celebrated (for all the right and all the wrong reasons) film roles, Labyrinth. There was also his duet with Mick Jagger, Dancing In The Streets, for the benefit of Live Aid – SARFTH AMERICAAAAAA, anyone? Music seemed to be taking a back seat to Bowie’s acting and general celebrity appearance wishes. Right up until 1987, when the world got the Never Let Me Down album. Whether the world wanted it or not.

One review somewhere, I forget who did it, summed up this album as “so bad even the fonts used on the text are rubbish”. Others were a bit kinder, applauding Bowie’s wish to return to a more guitar and rock based sound, albeit one retaining the pop sensibilities of the previous two albums. For me it has two decent songs – the title track and the lead single, Day In Day Out. The rest are tracks I would rather not hear again, thank you. One of those tracks gave a sign of things to come, though – the odd Glass Spider.

And so it came to be that Never Let Me Down was intended as an elaborate soundtrack for an unbelievably elaborate and highly expensive “concept show” in the form of the Glass Spider Tour. And my what a concept! The stage, funnily enough, was dominated by a massive spider and effectively filled with all sorts of performing artists and musicians (one of them being Peter Frampton, no less). It cost a great fortune to put together and take around the world – so much so that Bowie signed a sponsorship deal with Pepsi to get the whole thing funded.

You are welcome to seek out any of the Glass Spider performances if you so wish, but the best advice i can offer is do not do that. Although Bowie can take some credit for starting the ball rolling on elaborate stage settings (subsequent tours by Madonna and U2 certainly borrowed from what Bowie was trying to do), the frustration of this tour was that David Bowie was more or less a bit player on the stage. It was just plain wrong to see Bowie perform something like Heroes with all sorts of theatrics going on. He has been quoted as saying that he felt as if he was “losing his way” with the manner in which all this went. How fortunate, then, that a publicist handed Bowie a tape of her husband, Reeves Gabrels, in the hope that he might consider working with him.

For whatever reason, Bowie played the tape, and liked what he heard. It went beyond liked, really, for one of his first reactions was to recall the Sales brothers, Hunt and Tony, from his days of running around with Iggy Pop in the 70s, and pondered how good this guitarist would sound with the drums of Hunt and the bass of Tony. Tin Machine, then, was born in Bowie’s mind on a walkman during one of the quieter moments of the Glass Spider tour.

With the tour done, Bowie got the three in a room to see what would happen. The Sales brothers were somewhat notorious, if not head cases, and tended to approach everyone with aggression at first. Whereas Bowie recalls the musicians “instantly clicked”, Reeves Gabrels recalls it a little different – “who the f*** are you?” was how he remembered the Hunts speaking to him at first. Nonetheless, the band were soon “gelled” when Hunt and Tony were satisfied that Reeves was good enough to play with them, and off they went.

The sound of Tin Machine was solid rock. Hard rock if you will, stopping short of Heavy Metal. If you want a Bowie comparison, it marked a return to the sound of an album like The Man Who Sold The World. The first few shows, all in low key venues, caused quite a storm in the press – after the theatrics of the Glass Spider tour, it was interesting to see Bowie playing on a bare stage in venues that held no more than a few hundred. There was also the notable absence of any Bowie solo songs – Tin Machine gigs were Tin Machine only affairs. This frustrated many, it is fair to say.

The debut album from Tin Machine sold exceptionally well at first on release in mid-1989, getting to number three in the charts (held off the top spot by Queen and Jason Donovan). Sales drifted off, however, and it was out of the charts by the end of July 1989.

So, was it any good? Well, the best I can do is suggest that you listen to it and judge for yourself. If it helps, however, here’s my track by track rundown.

Heaven’s In Here – a masterpiece. A dirty, grimy number that makes distinctly unsubtle sexual references and some of the best imagery ever found in a Bowie related song.

Tin Machine – a blasting, brilliant piece of melodic noise. A great thunderous sound and again top drawer lyrics.

Prisoner Of Love – ho hum, the obligatory ballad. Doesn’t really work for me.

Crack City – oh dear, the album is losing it’s way. A tiresome song, apparently as best as i can work out a threat by Tin Machine to drug dealers along the lines of “Tin Machine does not like drug dealers”. Good instrumentation wasted on cliché riddled bad lyrics

I Can’t Read – wow. The album recovers very well at this point. An astonishing tune, berating and possibly even predicting the dumbing down of the world via television.

Under The God – further moralising from the band, this time against racism, but it works better here than it did on Crack City. Great song.

Amazing – does what it says on the box. Quite simply an amazing song. People who consider Tin Machine to be nothing more than a blasting noise need to hear this one and think again, this is brilliant by any standard.

Working Class Hero – oh dear. When multi-millionaire John Lennon did this there was kind of a subtle irony to it, with the pillar he had been put on despite his wealth. Mega rich rock stars doing it tend to look rather silly. Tin Machine are no exception.

Bus Stop – class, just class. A two minute bit of fun that’s wildly amusing and great to play. Sounds like it’s just a ditty Hunt and Tony were messing with to tune up, and Reeves guitar and Bowie’s vocal and it is a winner.

Pretty Thing – Something of an afterthought to Heaven’s In Here, really, a sort of rockier, faster take on the idea of a “dirty sex” song. Some newspapers briefly tried to court controversy with the lyric “tie you down pretend you’re Madonna”, but the controversy, much like the song, never really went anywhere.

Video Crime – oh dear, back to moralising. You could argue that Tin Machine were ahead of the game, for blaming violent acts on videos was something the British press would not stop doing for the next few years, but that does not make it a good song. A pity that this doesn’t really work, as it has a great lyric hidden in it – “I’ve got dollars, I’ve got cents, wonder where the Third World went”.

Run – another go at a ballad type thing. Yawn. Move on.

Sacrifice Yourself – Wow! Here we go, the big, blasting noise of Tin Machine returns in full force, delivering what is one of their best tunes. Excellent live, fantastic on the record.

Baby Can Dance – a so so track, really. A bit of a rubbish way to end off the album with, but not the worst thing on the record.

By my reckoning I have roughly half of the tracks on the album as exceptional, a quarter as being not bad and the remaining quarter being “ho hum filler”. That hardly makes it an act of folly. If you’ve avoided this particular album just because the rather lazy members of the press have said it is rubbish, hopefully the above sees you change your mind and give it a try.

After the Tin Machine debut and tour, off David went to do that Greatest Hits shenanigans for a while. The Sound & Vision tour saw Bowie selling out stadiums once again, as he went off to play all the hits for “one last time because he had to”, his intention being that he would only play them again if he really wanted to. People assumed that the huge success of the greatest hits tour and releases meant the end of Tin Machine, but that was far from being the case.

Just as soon as he had finished touring, it was back into studios around the world (mostly in Australia) to record the second Tin Machine album, imaginatively titled “Tin Machine II”. This one did not sell anywhere near as well as the first, which is a great shame as it is a far more accomplished album. Track by track again? Why not!

Baby Universal – well, hello, what’s this? A bash at a pop record by the monstrous sound of Tin Machine? Yes it is, and it works! A great opener, a great single, a great song.

One Shot – and doesn’t this album just get better and better! Delving into the darker side of Tin Machine and the lyrics on the debut album, this is a more refined sound than before that retains the high quality of the lyrics.

You Belong In Rock And Roll – “and so do I”, as the lyrics go. The clearest, outright shot on the album of something of wide, commercial appeal, and it works just fine. A brilliant song.

If There Is Something – a truly inspired cover version. It takes the meandering Roxy Music original and turns it into a ferocious rocker, Bowie tearing through the lyrics like he is bellowing from the heart. A must-hear cover version.

Amlapura – oh. Some sort of impassioned plea about Indonesia that presumably makes sense to Bowie. Next.

Betty Wrong - a sort of dark, end of days song. Once again as is often the case with Tin Machine some evocative, amazing lyrics. I could quote them, but the words alone do not do justice – rather hear the whole song.

You Can’t Talk – quite possibly a little comment to those critical of Tin Machine – “you can’t see me drowning, I don’t see you swimming” seems to be a bit of a symbolic take on the reception the band got from the press. A decent enough blast of music.

Stateside – Hunt Sales fancies some singing. Mostly a rambling if not meandering attempt at a country blues thing. Lyrically, it seems that Hunt Sales really does not care for anywhere outside of America and is looking forward to going home. Good luck, move along.

Shopping For Girls – another fantastic song. In essence it visits the areas of concern for songs on the debut like Crack City and Under The God, but gets it absolutely spot on with some truly inspired imagery going on in the lyrics. Well worth hearing again and again.

A Big Hurt – mostly a lot of shouting and a great deal of noise. It attempts to be provocative and interesting, ultimately sounds rather tired and half-hearted.

Sorry – Hunt Sales fancies a ballad. Nothing to see here, move along.

Goodbye Mr Ed – a sensational, low key end to the album (bar the Hammerhead extract on as a hidden track). A wonderful slower number, once again employing some wonderful imagery.

And, other than the less than spectacular Oy Vey, Baby live album and video release, that was that for Tin Machine. From this, Bowie went on to his celebrated performance at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, then off to record some music for a TV show called The Buddha Of Suburbia, then indeed to record some music for his marriage to Iman, released on the Black Tie White Noise album. There was, apparently, every intention to go back to record more with Tin Machine, but it just did not happen.

A great many people assume that Bowie ditched Tin Machine as he had re-established himself as a creative and commercial solo artist once more, the band project apparently having served its purpose. This, it seems, is not strictly speaking true. Accounts from those close to the band suggest that Hunt and Tony Sales simply got “bored” with the whole thing, horrified with the move from a hard rock sound to a commercial and radio friendly one between the two albums. Reeves Gabrels stuck with Bowie, of course, featuring on all the solo albums he released in the 1990s. All I can say for sure is, going on the building done on the second album from the debut, i consider it a huge shame that there was not a third record at the least from the band.

Every now and then there’s a mention of a possible “retrospective box set” of Tin Machine coming from Bowie. With him in semi-retirement, it seems, there is not much realistic chance of this surfacing at all, especially not with the traditional music press always ready to slam anything by the band. This is a great shame, as I fear many music fans have just avoided Tin Machine as a consequence of this relentless and plain wrong bashing.

Out of close to 30 released songs, somewhere around 20 of the tracks released by Tin Machine are above average, with a further ten being ace classics. That is a pretty good success ratio, in particular when compared to the drivel the music industry throws out these days. Somewhere tucked away in a cupboard i have a t-shirt from the 1991 Tin Machine tour. Written on it are the words “F*** YOU I LOVE TIN MACHINE”. That’s pretty much what i think of when i read all these articles saying how bad the band were apparently were. They were not, and you should really check out their music for yourself.

This has been one of my longer posts, hasn’t it? If you read the whole thing, thank you very much indeed for doing so, and i hope you go off and discover or rediscover the excellent sounds that came from the Tin Machine.


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

@KevPietersen24 - the twelve best!

hi there

i read an article today about Kevin Pietersen and his "ongoing" talks to sign a new central contract, allowing him to continue playing Test cricket for England. most people assume that the delays are being caused by Kevin and his wish for the "flexibility" to drop out of Test series that clash with the dates of the IPL 20-20 season. it is partially this, but mostly it seems - and this took me by surprise - that Kevin Pietersen believes that a team mate has set up a fake, parody twitter account in his name and he wants it closed down.

blimey! that's quite a strong allegation, and one more or less denied by whoever it is that is updating "@KevPietersen24". i assume there is something in the messages that Kevin thinks only someone in the England team could have known about. i had a look at as many of the messages posted that i could to try and see if there was any explicit inside info. i did not, but i did end up with rather damp eyes laughing at some of the comments!

as a lot of people do not use or even know what twitter is (and to be honest 'twatter' is a better word for it), i have selected the twelve messages i consider to be the best and the funniest so far. yes Dad, this is mostly for your benefit, but also for anyone doing a google search thing to see what the fuss is all about.

whereas Kevin Pietersen (or rather his legal team) has not found who is doing this and stopped them, they have at the least managed to stop this account from using images of him. to resepct that, then, no pictures of him feature here, and i hope you appreciate my replacement images. here, then, are my choice of the best ones!



"People who say Test Cricket is the pinnacle haven't played IPL in front 80,000, slapping Indian medium pacers about at a 141% strike rate."




"40 min phone argument with Adidas today about them sending me a load of kids bats until I realised Taylor had nicked my changing room spot."

"Sorry KP's not been tweeting today. Had to get my head down because the other batsman can't do their job. Plus I'm batting with a child."



"Note to ex-pros. Make sure you're better than KP before you have a pop. Which means unless you're Don Bradman, keep your mouth shut."

"KP will only do an interview if I can interview the interviewer first to see if they are qualified to interview genius."

"James Taylor in the Test Squad? He looks like he would prefer to be dressed as a smurf, handcuffed to a stag on a Friday night in Newquay."



"There's no "i" in "Team" but there's 5 in "individual brilliance.""

"TEIAM - problem solved. #KPgenius"




"Which cricketer in your view would have made a great Olympian and in which discipline? KP - in all of them #genius"

"Don't worry haters. As soon as Delhi Daredevils get Test status then I will be out of this s**t hole & you won't witness genius ever again."




"Bob Willis having a go at KP? Not seen a man build his career off of 1 match like him since Guy Fawkes."

"Read today that a journalist accused KP of being "self-important." I nearly fell off my throne."


i can understand why he's taking offence at this, in particular if it really is a member of the England Test Squad behind it. should it not be one of his team-mates, however, then KP may want to take a breath and accept this as a fair compliment. Cricket has always been a rich source of material for some comedy that is as intelligent as it is funny; from Monty Python's commentary sketch all the way to the genius that is The 12th Man. if Kevin wasn't rather special and dear to a lot of people then he would just get ignored rather than having all of this going on.

Kevin Pietersen is rather keen to promote himself, but obviously not to the absurd levels shown here. oh, he's arrogant too, but then again he has earned the right to be so. i recall another cricketer, KP's mate Shane Warne, has been accused of arrogance. my view is that when someone has earned the right to be so, go ahead and be "arrogant", but it seems it is only seen that way by those jealous of an achievement or skill. Shane Warne was one of the greatest players of all time, and on the same list you will find Kevin Pietersen. i am guessing that whoever has created this 'KevPietersen24' thing has not scored as many runs as KP, has not won the Ashes as many times as KP and is certainly not in as much demand from the IPL and others as KP is. take criticism and mocking with the equal value you place on the person doing it, i say.

in the mean time, though, whoever has created this account and the messages - bravo on the genius of it, and many thanks indeed for the laughs!


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

snow

hi there

as i drove in to verk today, with the vibes on at the correct volume so as to block out any untoward sounds my car may be making, i noticed something peculiar and familiar about the clouds. they were, it has to be said, a rather specific shade of dark. "aye, aye", i said to myself, "that looks like snow clouds".

the weather forecasts suggested that some snow may fall in some parts of South Africa today, but we were not really expecting much if any here. as things turned out, it did snow a little bit. it stopped for a while, and then it snowed quite a lot.




blimey! speaking of snow in Johannesburg is quite a strange thing. one would usually assume that the word was being used for its more "phrase for cocaine" sense, to be honest. rare indeed is it that one gets to speak of the real, non-high thing!

if i recall correctly, the last time there was snow of this nature or consequence here was around 1981 or 1982. i am pretty sure there was in Australia too around then, for i can remember watching a bit of the news and seeing an Aussie Postie (for they have such things) delivering mail through the snow.

needless to say, there's a fair few of my colleagues here that have never ever seen the stuff, and thus they rushed off to stand in it. i am all too familiar with the stuff, and thus just stayed inside and took pictures!




even with the limitations of my blueberry phone i think you can see the "light" difference between the first and second picture. this would be due to, thankfully as far as i am concerned, the Sun ebbing through these dark clouds.

with none of the other Arctic conditions near us that sees snow hang around like it does in England, the snow is melting away, rather quickly.




how quickly? well, this next picture was taken no more than 90 minutes after the first one.




phew! be gone! i suppose a positive of this snow falling was that it makes a mockery of Bono (or perhaps Bob Geldof. Midge Ure, even) for saying that there won't be snow in Africa. well, OK, they did mention it about Christmas, but still.

does this snow make me nostalgic and homesick? not really, not the snow itself. i kind of miss a coal fire, double glazed windows and central heating on a day like today, but that's about it!

the internet shall no doubt be flooded with a blizzard of pics of this snow, so thank you for taking the time to look at mine!




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

Usain Bolt - Frankie Fan

hi there

credit where credit is very much due - a big nice one to 2ks from over on the Frankie forum for spotting this!

Usain Bolt is many things. the main thing you would have thought is that he's presently the fastest man alive, probably if not certainly the fastest man ever. however, a considerably more important thing has come to light about Mr Bolt. it seems he is a fan of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

and not just an average fan - a really big one. why else would it be that he pays tribute to Frankie when he wins?

observe the celebration of Mr Bolt.

see that? good, now look at the Frankie logo.

wow! can't believe that this comparison has just flown straight over my head up to now!

it looks like it is the best, closest look he can get to the Frankie logo as part of a celebration. we can only hope that the next time he wins a race (i.e. presumably when he next runs) someone gives him a flag on a pole so he can do the full look!

want to see another comparison? sure you do. here' Usain celebrating.....

and here's a different style of the Frankie logo.

outstanding!

i do wonder just how much faster Usain Bolt would be if he stopped cocking about during races - in just over 9 seconds he still somehow manages to find the time to have a bit of a gander around him and indeed study the clock for the race. well, as a true Frankie fan, it's clear he still gives it loads in that direction anyway.

big thanks again to 2ks for pointing this out!



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

triumph of popular editorials.....

hi there

here is a selection of the front pages of the newspapers in the UK this morning. they are, as you would expect, celebrating the magnificent success Team GB had at the Olympics on Saturday.

nice one! there are a couple of issues here, however. the first from my point of view of course would be no mention of Kevin Pietersen and his magnificent innings (still going) at Headingley. the other would be that the press are on an interesting bandwagon with this, are they not?

i will not tire you with images and links, but if you do a search (if you are of a mind to do so) you will find that all of these newspapers have spent the last, oh, 7 years berating the Olympics being in London (innit). the cost, the disruption and the general existence of the Olympics appears to have upset most journalists and editors up to now, funny how something shiny changes their mind.

otherwise, with the proclivity being to call the Great Britain side "Team GB", what a shame that someone didn't think to have us listed in the games as Britain Joint. ho hum, perhaps next time........


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

the fashionista lands in New Zealand

hi there

i received some new pictures from New Zealand during the last week. the first such image put me in a mind to recall the song Let's Dance by David Bowie. the Chris Rea one too, sort of i suppose. anyway, i was reminded of Bowie's foray into straight pop not so much for the video for it (shot in magnificent Australia, next door to NZ), but rather the lyrics. something about "red shoes".

i am assuming that you know, just by looking at the above, what i am going to tell you, don't you? yes, Dad, his penchant for red footwear and indeed Mum are now, apparently, resident in New Zealand!
Daniel seems to be particularly pleased about this, and seems rather keen to celebrate the fact that they have been able to find some red wellies for Grandad!

i am sure Daniel and Grandad will be off investing in all sorts of quality footwear over the next few months and years. no doubt too, recalling Grandad's last trip there, there will also be a spot of abandoning Daniel in the middle of parks and hiding in order to obtain "interesting looking" pictures.

Katie is probably exceptionally happy that Grandma is there. as for Grandad, well, it could be just me, but she does not seem that keen to be pictured with the red wellies here!

i am sure Katie was just keen to get going and play football, as i believe that beyond enjoying it she is also rather good at it. it remains to be seen, however, if Grandad is going to insist she works to become a Premier League Footballer in order to fund his retirement, as he is doing with James.
Grant enthusiasts, fear not. i have not forgotten you and here for your pleasure is a picture of him, obviously delighted that his mother-in-law is now close by!

yes, that is indeed a Sharks shirt that Grant has on. William wished to go and do some shopping yesterday so alas i did not see the match myself, but i am led to believe that the Sharks had a less than pleasant experience over in New Zealand on Saturday. oh dear, but full credit to Grant for supporting them no matter how frequently they lose.

you will note two things at the moment. the first, and the most obvious perhaps, is that Grandma at least wears proper wellies of a sensible colour and pattern. the second is that there are no pictures of Gillian here. that's because no one sent any to me. it could be because she is sat somewhere crying, fearing just what damage Grandad is going to do to their house and garden at 5am every day, or it could be just because Dad for some reason felt it was important to send me as many pictures as possible of his new red wellies.

my money is firmly on the latter, for Gillian is quite used to Dad and his, how shall we say "special idiosyncratic ways".

not much else that i can add here other than of course we all wish Grandma and Grandad well in their new venture, and hope that on their travels in New Zealand Dad bumps into Paul Rutherford. we shall no doubt get over to New Zealand ourselves one day (soon, according to James). it will be very nice to try and meet Paul Rutherford, as well of course to visit Grandma, Gillian, Grant, Katie and Daniel. oh, yeah, and Grandad too.


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