Tweeting Mad

I am no Twitter follower or tweeter myself. I guess if I am serious about moving with the times, I will need to get an account, like the millions of other early adopters.


When I look at the statistics behind Twitter, I get really scared. The top 3 Twitter accounts by number of followers are Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Barack Obama. The first 2 have more than 10 million followers each. Think about the power they have to sway a sizable following of people. It’s immense. Where any idea they have can be picked up in an instant anywhere around the world and acted upon.

The rest of the top 20 is mainly populated by singers and a couple of other people I have never heard of. It attests to the power of music and how with popular music comes notoriety.

Whether we like it or not, these are the role models of the world. These are the people our children will aspire to become. Are you happy about that? Not sure that I am. Where are the people of great goodness inspiring us all to be better than we are? Where are those people whose lives lead the way as examples of loving ones fellow man?

I got to number 60 on the list before I stopped and had a second look. Strangely enough not somebody I would ever have thought of following but his bio simply stated, ‘Sharing cool things I am learning through my foundation and other interests.’ Could it be that Bill Gates is now the man inspiring the world? Or are his ‘cool things’ all about money and power, and not ‘cool’ at all?

To satisfy my curiosity, I have become one of Bill’s groupies.

I am a little nervous...

Hollywood in my Driveway

Lights, more lights, even more lights, camera, action...cut!

Our street has seen its fair share of film crew. This past week was slightly different; the directors had their own director’s chairs with their names embroidered on the back. Really serious chairs for serious hot shot film people.

We hosted these great Hollywood propeller heads in our garage, in amongst my beer cans, skateboards, surfboards, and a colony of daddy long legs. A major film company from the ‘Big Lights’ has ventured into South Africa in order to test it as a good value destination for feature films. Somehow they stumbled onto our street and have used it as one of their shooting locations for a new film.

My house with left hand drive VW bug

It has not been without incident. The other day the lead actress borrowed Isabella’s black bike and spent some time riding the street with it. Donna walked past her and told her that if she breaks it she pays, much to the horror of her minders. Surely small stars about to become big stars can do what they want?


Last night they spent a few hours in our entrance hall and on our driveway. Thick cables snaked through our house supplying current to lights of all descriptions. A multitude of foreign accents cut through the air, and radio’s squawked incessantly. A cherry picker parked up the road with an alternate sun whilst at least 100 people milled around. The film process is surreal as everyone freezes for those short periods when the actors move. This must cost a small fortune! After our house, they headed off to the neighbours’ to shoot through the night.

The other sun!

I would be very interested to see my home flash up on the big screen, even if it is only for a split second. Of course it may mean forcing myself to go and see a teen flik! Oh horror...

Neighbours lost in blaze of light

Surfing Safari

This was to be my first overnight surf trip. I had heard stories about them and they sounded awesome. No detailed plans except for hours of feet planted on a board on best possible waves.

The broken finger was a consideration although not an insurmountable obstacle...

So it was off to Stillbaai for a surf trip and to collect a couple of very special wooden boards for the local long board classic competition. A fantastic excuse if ever there was one!

We chatted like little old ladies for the 3 hour trip to Stillbaai. On arrival we headed straight for the main break at the point, donned our suits, and slipped into the cold water. The broken finger found itself snugly encased in a pill tube and thoroughly wrapped in duct tape. You really can use duct tape for anything! The waves were not brilliant but there were enough set waves to delight both of us. So special, just two of us in the water, trading waves and thrills!

Beyond Stillbaai Point

Bionic finger

Later, much later, we stumbled over the moonlit rocks and back to the car. Tired and happy. A lone pizza shop welcomed us in and exchanged our money for boxes of cheese drenched salami. Sitting on a wicker couch outside a friend’s holiday home, we surveyed the beautiful night time vista, drank our beers, and mused about the goodness of life.

Day two found us surfing a spot called Dolphins. Crystal clear water revealing the ocean floor in all of its broken beauty and of course dolphins swimming in the waves. With the wind beginning to get annoyed, we headed off in search of the strange and wonderful surf boards we had come to collect.

Interesting, talented and patient people educated us in the arts of board making; solid wood boards made from Agave (sisal plant), boards made of clumps of bamboo, and beautiful wooden boards painstakingly built piece by piece.

First Coffee

Hollow wooden board - unbelievable craftmanship





Argarve Board - solid wood - awesome





Back on the road again, we looked longingly toward home. It had been a wonderful passage of adventure and exploration.

Somebody is going to have to return all those boards. I just wonder who might make the time to do such a menial thing...



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No surf trip would be complete without a car windscreen photoof the sunset!

 

Using the middle finger

It’s cold, less than 10 degrees Celsius. It’s dark, the sun yet to raise her fiery eye. Luke, Matt, and Mark playing hockey on the school’s mini astro.

Luke has the ball. Lines up a shot. Mark flies in to defend. Luke smashes. Mark stops the ball dead and saves certain goal. Unfortunately uses finger in front of stick. Mark’s finger very sore. Thinks it is just the cold. Big hockey match ensues. Takes big finger home.

Later, Mark grabs skateboard and heads off to Medi Clinic. One fat and blue finger requiring attention. The nurse at emergency spots skateboard. ‘Is it a Sector 9?’ she asks. Gobsmacked that nurses have this knowledge! Chat about teenagers, skating, and surfing. ‘Is it safe to skate on the road?’ she asks. NO! Then again Mark in the emergency room after a hockey practise with son. Nothing is safe anymore! Laughter ensues and throbbing digit examined.

Not pretty! Nurse has only one solution; buddy strapping. Only need to Xray if Mark needs to see picture of broken finger. Mark not need to know. Finger buddy strapped. Big surprise, no charge!

Back home, Mark reaches for shirt in cupboard. Fingers bend as part of this simple movement. Roars of pain as the bones grate past one another. Ouch!

Mark need to start playing bingo and bridge with some very old ladies...

When music rocked

Kate Bush, The Smiths, Verve, Cure, Talking Heads, Radiohead, Counting Crows, New Order, REM, Adam Ant, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Talk Talk, Paul Hardcastle, Thomas Dolby, Aha, Black.

I got into a mates car on Saturday for a lift to a Judo competition. On packing my keys in his cubby hole, I spotted a tape. Not sure if you remember them but they were rectangular plastic things filled with magnetic tape. In my youth my double tape deck worked overtime to transfer music from other tapes and even the radio, whilst I pretended to do homework.

Alison Moyet, Siouxie And the Banshees, The Jam, Iggy Pop, China Crisis, Martha & the Muffins, Madness, Talking Heads, ACDC, U2, Cutting Crew, Midnight Oil, Meatloaf, FYC, Thompson Twins.

This tape was labelled as having Iron Maiden on the one side and UB40 on the other. Of course this launched us into a 30 minute music discussion from the 80’s. An awesome trip down memory lane!

Erasure, OMD, Pet Shop Boys, Sandra, Sam Fox, Human League, Hazell Dean, Starship, Dead or Alive, Midge Ure, Men at Work, Roxy Music, Richard Marx, Sinead O' Conner, Billy Idol, Bonny Tyler.

I slotted the tape into the deck and we listened to an early Dépêche Mode album and some Yello. As usual the description had no relevance to the music! The static crackled through and we diligently listened to all the songs, one after the other. I was too afraid to hit fast forward in case the almost never used tape deck decided to have lunch!

Frankie, Black, Blondie, Snap, Simple Minds, T’Pau, Bruce Springsteen, Def Leopard, Chris Isaak, Eddy Grant, Ultravox, China Crisis, David Bowie, Starship, Mr Mister, John Farnham, Wet Wet Wet, Irene Cara...

The 80's, Oh yeah!

My second First rugby Match

Matt, my youngest son, had his first rugby match last week. I was at the side of the field with camera in hand to record this great moment. Although not unexpected, he was everywhere on the field. As the smallest player, he should have been intimidated. Instead he tackled their biggest player, who was at least twice his size, again, and again, and again. They lost 3 - 1, and the single try was scored by him.

This was a match to make any parent proud, and I was no exception. It was awesome to watch his absolute determination regardless of the challenges. An attitude that will stand him in good stead for the rest of his life, so long as he can control it! Best he never gives me this look though...

One of the parents was so excited that she spent some time levitating!!!

Blogging and Business

Blogging is a funny sport. It involves taking one’s life and airing it out for everyone to see. Warts and all! Part of the deal is that my life’s voyeurs even comment and tell me how weird or wonderful I am. And best of all, I can chose to accept or ignore that commentary. To the Scotts Lass who always has something to say, I am most grateful! There is nothing quite like putting yourself out there and receiving something in return!


Running a man alone business adds an extra complexity into the equation. Essentially those who wish to engage me invariably perform an internet search on my name and end up reading these wonderful stories about my warts. In the world of management, this may not be as appealing as it seems.

And so I need to live in two different worlds, the censored world in which I can only blog about my beautiful warts; and the real world in which a whole lot more tends to happen. The former ensures that I do not blog about clients, or their jobs, or the joys and frustrations of dealing with those clients. It also prevents me from blogging about the irksome realities of running a one man consulting business; the financial pressures, work availability, and loneliness of running wild and free and alone. A big chunk of my being is only accessible in private!

My challenge is to try and write about family and experiences and thoughts that are completely voyeur friendly. Two concerns spring up; is this blog really me and should I care what my potential clients may think? With some thought, my answers would be that the blog is mainly me but not all of me. The reality of supporting my family means that I must care about conflicts with potential clients. Although I wonder if by sharing all of me, clients who read my drivel may make better decisions about common values, which will lead to better relationships in the future.

If I want my blog to be truly meaningful, it needs to be all of me!

Backing off

Drove Luke to school the other day.


Nothing unusual about that, I drive him, his brother, and two other children to school just about every day. The unusual part was how I managed to suck up my need to force my view on the world.

Luke got into the car with a comic strip annual and proceeded to read it all the way to school. This from a kid who suffers from motion sickness and finds himself nauseous on any long car trip. The normal me would have lectured him on the link between reading in the car and the resulting motion sickness. But not the me in the car that morning. That me kept silent.

It drove me mad! My sense of order was profoundly out of balance. Here was something I knew for sure; reading in the car would make him nauseous. Somehow I managed to ignore this potential threat to my son’s wellbeing. I had hoped that there would be a lesson to be leant as the repeated discussions about reading in the car had obviously fallen on deaf ears. Now was his time to learn the lesson the hard way!

We got all the way to school without an inkling of nausea.

No hard lessons either.

It struck me that the problem could possibly be me. Trying to make my son see the world in the same way I see it, has been frustrating for both of us. It was insightful to see him do something his own way, which to all manner of my logic could not work and yet it did.

Perhaps all my son needs is a little more room. I just cannot believe that it could be this hard to provide it!

And he read all the way to school again today...

Back to the book

I had this urge to pull out my old writing last night. Reading a number of chapters had me smiling and excited. The stuff I had written was not bad at all. In fact it is funny and engaging. It is also written in a typical ‘me’ style, a big rush. Opportunity abounds to slow it down, to expand and embellish.


I skipped ahead to the last chapter that I had written. It was difficult to read, disjointed and all over the place. Obviously not a well edited chapter. Not my best work. The result of my last attempt to get the book on the go again.

Regardless, it was good to read matter that I could call mine. Gave me this little glow deep within. I’m a little inspired to sharpen my pencil and get writing. A mere 35 months after the last piece of real lead broke.

I wonder how long this inspiration will last. Perhaps I can even push through the next 6 chapters to the end.

It really is not far at all...

So happy you are dead???

There are pictures of celebration in all of the media. People are dancing with fists in the air. Flags are being waved proudly. Smiling people embrace and look ecstatic, as they informally congregate in front of government buildings.


And all because somebody has been killed!

Perhaps I have missed the point; America is a safer place without Bin Laden, and hence celebration is justified? Or have the American people now received the vengeance and retribution they were looking for in terms of 9 11? Is the world really safer now that the general of a terrorist organisation has been destroyed? Was Bin Laden even alive or was his mere existence an election fabrication? Have the politics in America revolved for too long around the ‘war on terror’ and hence ensured a public incapable of seeing outside of this frame of reference?

I have neither answers nor any wonderful insight into world terror. I do however have a view on the acceptable amount of celebration for a carefully planned operation aimed at the termination of an individual. Surely, America, jubilation is too much?

If I compare Bin Laden to Hitler, two megalomaniacs intent on forcing the world to bend to their wills, it perhaps puts this celebration into a different light. Would I have been happy at the news of Hitler’s death? Honestly? I probably would have been, but my celebration would have been for the end of a terrible war as opposed to the death of an individual.

This ‘war on terror’, a battle between an old religion and the secular West, will continue to play out for a long time to come. I wonder if more would have been achieved to dampen this war if the news of Bin Laden’s death caused all of the religious to head for special church services to pray instead of heading for the streets in unbridled joy?