Most of the international news about Africa is centred around Zimbabwe, Mugabe and the terrible state that the country is in.
Zimbabwe’s silly inflation rate is the highest in the world, officially at 7600% (likely to be much higher) and is predicted to hit 100000% by the end of the year. Mugabe’s inspired policy of forcing stores to sell goods below cost has forced them into illegally closing and many owners and managers have been jailed for doing otherwise.
Many store owners take a “jail bag” with them to work in case of arrest. An associate of mine who lives in Zim, has always sworn never to leave, no matter what happens. Last week they rounded the family up to discuss getting out, as they face imprisonment for over charging for goods. They employ over 600 people and likely support a further 1000.
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Capetonians love flea markets! and we have several every weekend: Here are the main ones.
Greenpoint Stadium Flea market: This started with a guy selling Boerewors rolls on the weekend and has blossomed into the largest fleamarket in Cape Town.
It is held every Sunday and public holiday from 09:00 till 17:00. This used to be a fantastic market with bric-a-brac and intersting things, nowadays it has declined into somewhat of a tourist trap, with many stalls selling identical items, Chinese grey goods and boot polished curios. It is still worth a walk around, if not only for the bustle and throng. It is situated in Greenpoint, in the carpark of the stadium, but since construction began for 2010 I suspect the market has been moved nearby or cancelled for the time being. I will update this post when I get information.
Milnerton Market: This is my favourite flea market in Cape Town, with plenty of oddities and collectables that vendors have dredged from deceased estates and antique stores. The market has a policy of keeping the curio and t-shirt sellers to a minimum to retain the feel of the market. It is held on an open piece of land next to the R27 (West Coast Road) in Milnerton every Saturday and Sunday from 07:00 till 16:00. There are some good food stands here also selling pancakes, boerewors rolls, biltong and rusks.
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These huge design and gadget exhibitions are held once a year for a reason.
They wear your hips out from trundling around like a flatfoot. It’s the same syndrome I get when I go to a gallery or museum and you walk at an artificial pace, which gets you nowhere and does horrible things to my ball and socket joint. I could be doing it wrong though.
We decided to do both shows in a day, (here comes a week in bed. Torn rotator cuffs and a chronic case of pamphlet hand)
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If South Africa had to name a national drink, it would certainly be klipdrift Rooibos tea. This golden-red brew discovered by the Khoisan and popularised by Benjamin Ginsberg is a flavour as indigenous as licking the sweat from a Kudu’s snout. It contains no Caffeine and is brimming with bio-flavenoids and antioxidants. It is also commonly given to infants to help them sleep and relieve colic.
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The Perlemoen is a large ear-shaped mollusc that grows in the shallow coastal waters of South Africa (and elsewhere also, but that doesn’t matter). It is a vegetarian, like most snails I hope and feeds on seaweed by trapping strands under its shell.
Apart from it’s sumptuous flesh, which is accredited with the usual aphrodisiacal properties, it’s hardened shell is of special interest. Consisting of microscopic (smaller than a microscope) tiles of calcium carbonate, which are vertically glued with protein. It’s structure capable of absorbing massive blows, without cracking. They are studying this vertical tiled effect in research into body armour no less.
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In the last 10 years Cape Town has seen an explosion of retail areas, and shopping malls. I am not entirely sure where all these extra consumers are coming from, but it seems that business is thriving across the board.
The latest addition is Willowbridge, which is less of a mall and more of an enclosed shopping street. It houses some very upmarket stores and I am betting the rents are commensurate.
You can see a directory of the retailers here.
There are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops, with most of the usual suspects present ie: Vida e Cafe, Col’cacchio, Kauai. We had a marvelous pizza at Col’ Cacchio (which apparently translates as “up yours!”) in my opinion this small chain offers the best pizza in Cape Town, with the thinnest crust and highest quality ingredients. We also had to have another ice cream at Cafe Magnifico, even though they charge and extortionate R14 for a scoop, which is about twice what you would pay elsewhere.
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So as mentioned in my earlier post, we decided to do BOTH shows in one day, luckily Decorex closed at 5 or we would of had to toss the spare wheel to transport all the pamphlets.
Decorex ‘07 has now finished, having run from the 26th-29th April, so I am going to tell you about it, but you can’t go.
This was the first time I have been to this show and I must say I was very impressed. Not just with the stands and the exhibitors, but with the convention centre itself. Wow, the CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre) is a world class structure, for a moment I thought I was in lost in Europe. My neighbour Simon, was one of the architects involved in the project, so we stood around in his part, for a while. Very nice, well done Simon.
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South Africa’s only race on the GP circuit went of like a bang on Sunday at the Durban A1 GP.
The street circuit was said to be very challenging, so much so that 14 teams did not finish the race. The South African team driven by Adrian Zaugg crashed twice, once on the first lap then on the same turn on the eighth, putting him out the race. Germany stormed to an eight successive win and breaking records all over the place.
Apart from losing to Germany, the race was a great success for South Africa and puts us in the mood and the spotlight for more such events including of course 2010!!
People commented on the accessibility of the A1 series compared to its big brother F1 counterpart, with spectators allowed to view the cars in the pits and even take photo’s with drivers!
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Friday saw the opening of parliament and the President; Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation speech.
Traffic in the Mother City was at a complete standstill, with many roads in the city centre being closed for the parade and brouhaha. Add to that a very unseasonal rain shower, and we have a bunch of seething motorists listening to Thabo Mbeki’s opening speech on the radio. Whoever goes to the opening of parliament anyway deserves to be rained on. I would only turn up if they were having a closing down sale. Get me some chairs.
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We were welcomed to the day this morning with no electricity, thanks to the genius’s at Eskom, having not planned for the amount of usuage.
“This is 3 000MW higher than was anticipated for this period. The electricity demand is 1 000MW higher than planned.”
Not to be funny, but with all the nuclear scientists they have running around there, I am sure somebody could work out how much electricity is needed to supply Cape Town, and then perhaps tack on a little extra for good measure.
So this week may well be plagued by sweeping outages as Eskom pulls spanners out of …
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