Conor's First Evening in London

This was Conor's first trip overseas and so I wanted to get him to experience some 'real' sightseeing as soon as we got to London. Especially after the disappointment of the Egyptair flight.

So once we had settled a bit at my sister's place we did a quick trip into sightseeing London.

We caught a bus to St Paul's cathedral, which I knew would be unlike anything he has ever seen. He took about a zillion pics of all sorts of views of St Paul's and then we walked towards the Thames and the Millenium Bridge.



We timed this well as we saw the bridge get destroyed just 3 days later on the night Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince was released.



After that we took a stroll along the south bank of the Thames to Waterloo Bridge where we caught a bus back to my sister.

Graffiti

To do is to be
Rene Descartes


To be is to do
Jean Paul Sartre


Doobee doobee doo
Frank Sinatra

Build Up ... and ... Reality

This was to be Conor's first trip out of South Africa and his first time in a plane.

He has been nervous about planes for quite some time.

One of the things I told him about to try and help him overcome his anxiety about flying was about in flight entertainment.

I have flown internationally a fair bit and so he thinks I am a bit of an authority on air travel!

So he was really looking forward to playing games and watching movies all night during our flights.

The fact that we were traveling on tight budget plus some other factors meant we ended up flying Egyptair. My first time with them.

Here is the reality that we faced as we got to our seats ...

Your Egyptair personalised in flight entertainment control console ...



... and ... your Egyptair in flight entertainment display ...



Take a closer look at the hi-def display ...

Pictures Tell Stories

A picture is worth a thousand words ...

Boy o boy is that true.

I was looking through some pics of Conor's and my UK trip and I was staggered to see the story in some of the pictures of me.



The first picture was taken just over a month after Madelaine told me she wanted to get divorced.

It was taken at the airport on the evening Conor and I flew out of Joburg.

I look a the picture and again I feel incredibly ravaged, like bulldozers had scraped the insides out of me.

I couldn't see past surviving the next few minutes.



The second picture was taken a few weeks ago, roughly two months after the first picture.

I have accepted the divorce and that my marriage is over.

I recognise that I have a new life to live.

Although we haven't gotten through the "process" of getting divorced and there are many challenges to face and deal with before that phase is finished; I am using every spare bit of emotional energy to start laying down the pieces of my new life.

I have a future and I will find ways to thrive in that future.

Come to Think About it

Maybe good ole Jake didn't have to accept the increase.

Maybe he could have given an example, or showed some sensitivity, or moral leadership ...

Lucky for Some

Just last week we read about gross mismanagement within ESKOM.

A leaked confidential internal memo from Eskom reveals gross mismanagement of funds during the procurement of capital and management of coal supplies, a Democratic Alliance MP said on Thursday.

"Given the seriousness of the allegations made in this memo, it is clearly now incumbent upon the Minister of Energy to take action against the gross mismanagement of the coal procurement process at Eskom," Cobus Schmidt said.

The document, which has reportedly been made available to the DA, is entitled "Forensic Investigation: Claims against Suppliers", and deals with alleged irregularities in the supply of coal to Eskom. Schmidt said the memo demonstrated glaring oversight failures on the part of Eskom.

"The total claims for damages suffered amounts to more than R100-million, but Eskom has yet to take any action against these suppliers.

The memo refers to an investigation carried out by Deloitte and Touche, which revealed that gross irregularities amounting to unlawful, and probably illegal, conduct had taken place on a massive scale over several years.

"In sum, Eskom appears to be entirely incapable of managing the procurement of coal, leading to enormous losses, which ultimately come at the taxpayers' expense.

Then there's the ESKOM 9.7 BILLION Rand loss for the 2009 financial year.

Eskom plunged deeper into the red, reporting a full-year loss of 9.7 billion rand ($1.24 billion) for the 2009 financial year to the end of March, hit by higher coal, maintenance and labour costs, against a revised loss of 168 million rand for the previous year.

The global economic crisis badly hit the utility's ability to borrow, and Eskom was forced to buy coal on more expansive short-term contracts to boost supply last year when the national grid nearly collapsed, forcing mines to shut.

Its loss could further impact the company's rating and its ability to source external funding.

Earlier in the year NUM Workers at ESKOM were awarded a 10.55% wage increase nearly 3.5% below the 14% increase they were demanding. They were told that ESKOM had no money to give a higher increase.

Luckily they found some money to give good ole Jake (Maroga) a nice increase; 26.7%. Oh yes, and performance shares worth around R680 000. Oh, and expect bonus shares in 2011.

When questioned about this, good ole Jake replied that he had not asked for the increase but that it had been decided for him. And by implication thrust upon him.

And maybe by implication as well that he had no option but to accept.

Imagine if he had actually been doing a good job ...

You Had Us Wondering, Blaze

South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Blade Nzimande, recently involved in a furore over his R1,1-million luxury official vehicle, is still a communist and committed to the working class, he said on Friday.

"I have not abandoned my values. I don't think I've abandoned my moral leadership. I am still a communist, I am still committed to the working class," he said.

"I am still committed to taking up the issues relating to the poor and we did explain what happened in relation to that vehicle," Nzimande, who is also Higher Education Minister, said on the sidelines of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) national general council in Benoni.

The government said recently that it had appointed a task team to see how officials could cut unnecessary spending.

"Government at the moment is undertaking a process through Cabinet of looking at a whole range of austerity measures that must be taken and once those are done they must be announced so that they are able to guide all government institutions and government departments," Nzimande said.

"Its very necessary, I support that to the hilt," he added, just minutes before leaving for the airport in his silver-grey BMW 750i.

Reported in The Mail & Guardian, September 11 2009