more october pix

Here are a few more pix...this is the life...

October Highlights

This has been quite an eventful month down here at 33 degrees south! With the arrival of summer we have had some wonderful evenings wandering along the beachfront, watching the sun set, and some equally lovely mornings watching it rise, especially at Port Saint Francis, where the day was greeted by seals, a whale, dolphins and even a penguin paddling into the Port as the sun came up! The Jacarandas are in full bloom, with the streets around us carpeted in glorious sweet smelling purple. And to crown it all, we had a RAD airshow this weekend, complete with my personal favourite, the Mirage 3CZ, the only one still airborne anywhere in the world! So here are just a few of the MANY photos Flash and I have taken this month. (He has been road testing his latest toy, a cool camera which I am itching to hijack!)

Apparently Laws are Made to be Broken

With a certain degree of incredulity, we heard on the news this week that taxi drivers in Cape Town went on a violent rampage which they described as “a march to protest against Law Enforcement” in their industry.

I guess when your Deputy State President has spent the greater part of the year in court facing various charges, including rape and corruption, and has encouraged his supporters in their threats of violence against his accusers, why should it really surprise us? He pointed out that since she was wearing a skirt, the woman who accused him of rape was in fact showing her willingness to have sex with him!

(Wow, maybe we are onto something here, we must put the word out to all the women and children in this country to start wearing trousers, if they don’t want to join the 1 in 3 who have been raped so far)


While Americans and Europeans twist themselves into pretzels trying to remain “Politically Correct” in all their public statements, here in Africa it is becoming quite PC to admit to being above the law. It seems a desire for anarchy and freedom from legal constraints is becoming quite popular around here, literally from the top down!

Justice South African style

The photo of Flash, triumphantly wielding his broom, was taken after he and his wife had had a chance to get dressed and have all their wounds patched up.

As it turned out, do not feel too sorry for the man on the ground, he had stabbed the grandma with a screwdriver to make her release the bicycle, and the trip to the Emergency Room for stitches cost a fortune! While the two geriatrics spent several days recovering from their injuries, aches and pains, the burglar will be released within a day or so to go right back to his criminal activities.

The Police were clearly irritated by the inconvenience of being handed an actual criminal to deal with, and having to write out case documents, When it came to putting together evidence for the case, such as fingerprints, the screwdrivers etc they were blatantly disinterested. Such is the South African so-called justice system.

However, with each injustice, the residual rage grows, and both the authorities and the criminals need to be aware that, if they tackle this couple again, the weapon of choice will have much more permanent results than the broomstick did!

A NEW BREED OF SUPERHERO IS BORN …….

Picture if you will a graying, middle aged desk jockey, who may even admit to a bit of a paunch, and whose idea of serious exercise is a gentle stroll around the block every few weeks.

Visualise this same mild natured man, being awoken from blissful slumber at 4am, to the sound of garage doors being forced open and a car alarm going off. He rolls naked out of bed and grabbing a dressing gown on his way out of the house, he accosts a burglar in the act of breaking into a neighbour’s car.

He has been followed by his trusty wife of 30 years, greying hair cunningly disguised as vibrant red, obese and unfit, and similarly attired. She has had the presence of mind to grab the broomstick on her way out.

Yelling for her to pass him the broom, our about-to -be hero takes of after the fleet footed criminal, landing some nasty blows with the ancient, crumbling broomstick as the offender vaults easily over the spiked security fence.

Meanwhile the decrepit wife has caught up, and spotted a stolen bicycle perched on the neighbour's wall outside the security gate, ready for a fast getaway. She reaches through the gate and grabs the wheel, commenting that she is "determined the rotten bugger will not get away with this" and yelling at the top of her voice for the neighbours to call the police. (Poor thing was obviously in a confused state or she would have saved her breath, everyone knows calling the Police in our country is an exercise in futility and a waste of airtime....)

A mammoth tug of war ensues, while the criminal tries valiantly to pry the bicycle from the vice like grip of the determined wife. As he lunges at her hands to free the wheel, her grip eases and he finally gets away, but the gate has been opened slightly in the struggle, and our hero takes up the cause, sliding through and pursuing the criminal down the street.

He flings what is left of the broom, then picks up a rock with the intention of hurling it. Sadly, although he is well in keeping with Scottish tradition as far as the flapping kilt-like garment goes, he is not up to speed with such Caledonian sports as log hurling etc, and quickly realises that he will never span the growing distance that is being put between him and the intruder, who is now wobbling off down the road on the purloined cycle.

So he takes off after him, barefoot (well, actually bare everything) down the hill, and amazingly, with adrenilin induced speed, he catches up and pushes the fleeing burglar to the ground. Thus is born a new superhero, Flash Hoppe.

At this precise moment, a prowling Security company vehicle rounds the corner, instantly assesses the situation, and pepper sprays the reclining burglar, firmly hand-cuffing him and calling the Police. While waiting for the Police to arrive, the burglar lies groaning in agony on the ground, but is grateful, despite the pain, that he has been blinded by the pepper spray, and no longer has to see the terrifying sight of the old paunchy one, flapping along after him!