April 2009

Classic

For those of you who don’t know, we just had an election here in South Africa. The ruling party won again, no surprises there, they did however not do as well as they might have liked to.

The following from a thread on myADSL, a local forum:

DigitalSoldier:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i…5915540C929292

Quote:
With the date for the swearing-in of premiers rapidly approaching, the ANC’s new rules for appointing them are threatening to cause rifts between the ruling party and its alliance partners.
One Zuma to unite them all
And that was all it took to set the ball rolling…
timgaul:
One Zuma to rule them all, One Zuma to find them. One Zuma to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. In the Land of Africa where shadows lie.
The world is changed. I feel it in my wallet. I feel it in my job interviews. I smell it in the air in Vanderbijlpark. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember the Freedom Charter. It began with the forging of the Tripartheid Alliance.
Three votes were given to the ANC; [previously] immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven, to COSATU, great gold miners and craftsmen of the townships. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the SACP, who above all else desire power. For within these votes was bound the strength and the will to govern South Africa. But they were all of them deceived, for a new alliance was made.
In the land of Kwazulu-Natal, in the cheque books of Shabir Shaik, the Dark Lord Zuma forged in secret, a master vote, to veto all others. And into this veto he poured all his corruption, his immortality and his will to dominate all women. One vote to rule them all.
One by one, the free peoples of South Africa fell to the power of the vote. But there were some who resisted. A last Democratic Alliance of men and women voted against the government of Zuma, and on the very slopes of Table Mountain, they fought for the freedom of the Western Cape.

OK, this is probably lost on most of y’all, but I think it’s FSCK funny :)

Slow down, you eat too fast

You’ve got to make the sushi last…

Last night was a bit of a madhouse, with me getting home late and Tanya getting home even more late and Tamsyn being all excited about the Class Captain elections today and having to play the grand piano on stage and… fortunately I had washed and soaked the sushi rice before, so I turned the stove on, told Jessica to watch it, went to check my email, and came back to Jessica frantically turning the stove off and dancing a jig… hmmm, maybe I turned the stove a bit high then…

While the rice cooled I dissolved the sugar into the rice vinegar, cut the cucumber and crab sticks, etc. Then I set Jessica to rolling the sushi (I know, it’s called maki, but let’s not get technical) — she’s getting good at it.

The title? That’s what Tanya told Tamsyn, and the rest is just me improvising.

More moving moments

OK, so now we had new furniture, and the white melamine stuff had to go. Of course we only figured this out after we’d returned the trailer and all.

So on Sunday Tanya and I loaded the lighter unit in the Rand-Lover and the bloody heavy one on to the roof, took them through to Kommetjie, and returned with a Welsh dresser which is almost but not quite too big for the space we have. And five chairs, which are lighter in colour than the ones we had, and as such blends in better (I’m told, I’m ovary-deficient).

I don’t have a picture, I’m afraid, so I shamelessly stole this one from Tanya.

I need to modify (using a wood chisel and hammer) the trim around the top left corner of the door, so that I can move the Welsh dresser a few centimetres to the right, lose that white stipe poking out. Don’t stress, a previous owner pre-modified that whole area, I just need to finish what they started.

Then on Monday we took our four dark wood chairs through and returned with the sixth chair.

We’re getting there…

So there we were, four against a piano…

… fortunately the other three fellows are strong.

Friday, we loaded the old living room furniture and the washing machine on Frank’s uncle’s kick-ass trailer.

Then we went to the in-laws’ soon-to-be-ex-place, where we unloaded the furniture and washing machine and loaded what used to be their living room furniture, a washing machine, a display cabinet, a bed, and a pot plant. And the piano.

And then we drove back to Fish Hoek rather slowly, and unloaded the whole mess.

The new furniture carries the contented kitty seal of approval.

Tanya had to unpack and repack all her cats to move the lounge display cabinet.

Ended the day by driving through to Bellville and having supper with my folks. We stayed over, because some damn fools were running all over the mountain Saturday morning, which means that we’re effectively isolated because of road closures, and we wanted to go to the Bloemendal bubbly & oyster thing. Which was lekker.

Happy Anniversary

Today, a year ago, we took possession of the house. It’s been… a journey. A long one, and we’re still on it.

Maybe it’s time for the long awaited kitchen sink backsplash post. Frank finished the tiling and grouting last Friday, but I’ve been somewhat busy, so blogging had to wait.

Drip tray hardware from A&D Distributors in Maitland.

We invited some people over on Saturday evening, so the rush was on to finish the bathroom shelves (only way I get things done, invite people over :-)

These rods are also from A&D…

..and this is what they look like installed. Since this particular wall consists of tile over shutterboard, I just drilled a hole and used a 6mm bolt from the other side to hold the rod to the wall.

For the shelf on the other side, I used two lengths of 12mm aliminium angle, cut and filed and drilled. This is where I noticed that the whole thing is completely out of square, the tiler could have done a lot better.

I still have to change the bath… *sigh* but it’ll be nice when it’s done. And Tanya wants “her” light on the same circuit as the downlighters, there’s a DB in the ceiling, I just have to get up there…

I would have liked to go and see the Kontiki rafts, but driving to the Fruit & Veg in Bellville to buy snack-ey party stuff, and putting up the shelves, took my whole day. OK, I also spent an hour at the range early on Saturday but that doesn’t count :-) Found a pretty good 7mm TC/U cast bullet load. Subject of another posting, maybe.

Monday evening sunset, straight off the camera, no Photoshoppery.