So the Easter weekend has come to an end and i have just done the 756km back to Jbay. Unlike most people that flock to the coast to enjoy the sun and surf. i went inland to go fishing at Alimanskraal Dam, well i think the biggest problem with the whole trip was the fact that we were camping. It rained (as it did at most coastal destinations) the whole weekend, well most of it. the camp site was muddy and just made a mess everywhere. but all in all it was a good weekend. i did not catch any fish myself but Riaan did, 4 to be exact.

anyway i am back at home sitting on the coach hoping that this little break actually did what i hoped it would. work was becoming unproductive in the lead up to this holiday and i kept finding myself getting distracted, now i am not sure if this is primarily due to the fact that there is not much work but i felt like nothing was happening. which leads to your mind wondering and you getting thinking about all the other things you want to change around you. good thing or bad thing, i am not sure!

Anyway i am looking forward to going back to work and hope that it is a new challenge.

will have to let everyone know how it goes.

BLOGING...........

WOW its been a while again... but for an information update I am no longer in Bloemfontein. I am now an official resident of Jbay. Well actually Port Elizabeth but i am still bumming of my sisters fiance (otherwise known as SPACECAT or MoonMAN) and living with him in Jbay.

Work is well work still and nothing really new has happened. I am looking into becoming a "Occasional Student" at UCT who would have thought you had something like that. Basically how it works is you register but without a direct degree path. You can then do a few course which can then later be added to a masters program or PGD. Now I just have to hope UCT admin pull there heads out there A$$ES and process my application as soon as possible.

Otherwise my Favorite saying is still "How about yooooouuuu GGOOOOOOO F#(k yourself" and a NINJA can do anything.

Oh and i am a proud owner of a boat :)

I work hard for my money you can't have it!!!

So yesterday, on our way back to Bloemfontein from a wedding in Barkley East, we decided to take a few detours through the little towns in the Eastern Cape as they are very pretty little towns, or at least the towns look pretty. The one stop took us to Lady Grey, which is a nice quiet town with a very “cool” dam, and walking trails and, surprisingly, an Art School.

The first place we stopped was an art studio/ coffee shop/ restaurant called - and I might have this wrong - ‘Ye olde Praktijk’ and we really wanted food, breakfast, coffee, anything!!! The guy, that looked like the owner, met us at the door and immediately, as I had said that we would like to have a look around, was told:
‘We are fully booked for 2 months in advance and you will not be able to eat here on a Sunday’

He then sat back down and ignored us. NOW I am sorry but a shit town likes this that has very little to survive on other than tourism SHOULD be a hell of a lot more polite to people even if they are fully booked. This guy really pissed me off! I am not too sure if this is what is called (as they say on their website) “...here you can still enjoy old world, country life hospitality”, but it definitely was not hospitality in my opinion. (http://www.ladygrey.co.za/index_files/Page1096.htm)


Still starving we continued to the next place down the road which one of the people that was with us had been to before and said that it was nice and that they had good food. It was called the ‘Mountain View Country Inn’ and had a lovely old feel to it. HOWEVER upon entering the main reception as I would presume it was, there was no one to ask where we can sit or if we could even eat there. The only peron that seemed to work there was a lady behind the reception desk in her office. Upon greeting her, she mumbled something to us -which I could not for the life of me make out- and left through the back door of the office. This left us in the open reception area where there were a number of tables and chairs but no one to serve us. We continued to page through the brochures to find the dam that we wanted to go look at and after about 10min left because there was still no one in sight. (There was a service bell which we rang and seemed to do nothing, so it is not like we made no effort.) Have a look at there website: http://www.ladygrey.co.za/index_files/Page383.htm



I work hard for my money and am always willing to spend a little more for something nice, which I thought this town had, but much to my disgrace they didn’t seem to want my business. I am sure as hell going to make sure that no one I know is ever going to give them any business either.













I will say I am not all negative, we had a lovely walk up to the Dam which is in a beautiful area. You can actually drive there but my car is not made for those dirt roads. Unfortunately the dam was very empty which is a little sad cause I am sure it is a lovely place to spend the day and have a braai.













I think this is a very nice tourist attraction as they are in the heart of one of the most beautiful places in our country that most people don’t even know about it. But if they keep offering the “hospitality” that we experienced I am definately not going to be recommending them to anyone. For Lady Grey: I sure hope they up their game a little.

AND YOU THINK GYMS RIP YOU OFF

So a good friend of mine had a proper dig at Planet Fitness the other day on his blog (THE WAY IT IS ( http://murrayturner.blogspot.com/ ). Now I can’t speak much for Planet Fitness but I am at Virgin Active and I completely disagree!

Firstly I don’t want to put down ‘360 Training” - or whatever it is called - as I’ve never done it so I am just going to look at the situation from my point of view. (Please go read his post to put it into perspective)

I started at Virgin Active this year and was at The Zone for a long time before that so I have been around gyms for a long time (wish I could say it shows more but anyway). I pay R309 per month for the gym and I can go anytime from 5am to 10pm any day of the week. So it’s about 17 hours a day that I could go for 30 days of the month, which means I am paying R309 for a possible 510 training hours which equals to like R0.60 an hour.

Okay now that we have the cost down: the gym is big, has everything you could need from 3 studios, a pool, super circuits, weights area, etc. You name it, it’s there. The gym gets a little busy after work as any gym does but other than that, it is comfortable to train there. They offer training programs that you can update every 6 weeks and even a basic meal plan. So there is more than enough help to get you moving.

The bathrooms are always clean and tidy (besides the odd dodgy guy that likes to show off everything - which is just wrong), the weights are mostly in their place and you never wait more than 5 min for a treadmill.

So now I ask, would you pay R0.60 per training hour at Virgin Active, (I know it’s not a personal trainer, but everyone knows they are only for the rich and famous) or would you rather pay R300 for 3 x 60min sessions (i.e. R100 an hour)? One on one or not they would have to do the work for me if I am paying that much for gym.

That post just really annoyed me as it was just negative about “big gyms”. I hope “360 Training” is paying for that advertising!

@ the Office

So Wednesday night we go to a new place in Heuwelsig, called "@ the Office" and I am not going to lie I had given up on the fact that a place like this would exist in Bloemfontein. It’s a typical metro- bar, for young working professionals. They had live music - which is always awesome, the food was good and not too expensive. It was also more light meals and snacks which is what you want if you’re having a few. Oh and best of all they sell Castle Draught: my favourite!

So anyone in Bloem, that likes this kind of vibe, go check it out. I could not find a blog or website, but I have a Google image and an address. Give me some feedback once you’ve been there.

Ogilvie Thomson St, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa

ABSA out, FNB in!!

i finally changed from CRAP ABSA to FNB. i have always been irratated with ABSA since they would not give me a car loan but it was the last straw when i was 10 km out of Colesburg at a petrol station with a now full tank of petrol and no money to pay them with. MY LOVELY ABSA CARD would not work at all anywhere. So i had to swollow my pride and as the own to come with me to town so i could try sort something out. was not sure what as it was like 4pm and the banks where close. anyway that was the end of one card and one student account.

I am now with FNB still WAITING for my cards from them but they have been helpful and have constantly kept me up to date with what is going on. I now have 4 accounts and will not be stuck at a petrol station again. i have one or two complaints about FNB so far but its just cause i have not got all my cards sorted yet when they through everything should be fine.

OH and they give you extra stuff if you have a degree!
SO JUST DO it, change banks they make it really easy.

Definately time for an update!

I have hibernated for the winter, so i have not been around for a while but, the time has come! i changed the layout and design, oh and put up my companies logo as i did it (note: after hours) on there Internet usage, so i figured i could give them some advertising.

I am sure i have a number of interesting stories to tell so stay around and please give me some comments on the new design it is still a work in progress. AND i am colour blind so i need someone to sit down with me and show me what colours work together so be nice about that.