Author Archives: Kerry-Anne

Caltex oil refinery in Milnerton

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Caltex oil refinery

We've been trying to get a photo of this oil refinery for almost as long as we've been running this blog. Paul's tried while I was driving; I've tried while Paul was driving; I've even tried snapping a shot while stopped at the traffic lights opposite the refinery; but for some reason the angle and light has never been quite right and we've always ended up with a tree in the way, or blurry shots, or a passing car obscuring the subject.

Yes, of course, in theory we could just pull the car off the road and walk back a little way to get a good shot, but the trouble is that we're always (and I mean ALWAYS) in a hurry when we're passing this way. A few days ago we got lucky though, and you can see the result above (this is just a small part of the refinery complex, of course). I'll leave it to you to guess who was doing the driving and who was doing the shooting... ;-)

The refinery was built in the early 1960s and began operations in 1966. Of course, it's been upgraded a few times since then, and according to the Caltex website it "remains one of the largest industrial undertakings in the Western Cape, providing much-needed jobs and economic growth in the area." Unfortunately it also provides a rather unpleasant fragrance, but that's a story for another day...

Waterfront shopping

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Shopping at the V&A Waterfront

This is the Barrow Mall on the first floor of the Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre at the V&A Waterfront. At these barrows you can buy anything from pet's clothing to jewellery, and from sporting merchandise to mugs. This is presumably a slightly cheaper option for retailers, offering them a space to sell their products at a very popular mall, but without the high costs associated with renting an actual shop. Of course, it means they miss out on some of the luxuries of a shop too, like, say, a door...

As someone who used to sell products at a craft market, I think it would be awesome if these barrows were actual trailers that could be towed behind a car - you'd be able to sell your products anywhere you liked, without having to pack and unpack every time. Of course, with the way I take corners in my car, I'd have to tape everything down with duct tape, or stick to selling soft, non-breakable items like cushions. ;-)

The rain in Cape Town

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Shortmarket Street in Cape Town

... falls mainly on Greenmarket Square. Well, not actually. The rain in Cape Town has been falling pretty much everywhere over the last day or two, and in rather large quantities too.

We had to go into the city for a friend's birthday party, and both wondered at times whether it wouldn't have been better to take a motorboat or canoe instead of our car. There's been flooding in quite a few areas, including Camps Bay, Newlands and Somerset West. Fortunately our neighbourhood seems to have escaped with a bit less rain than everywhere else, so we weren't affected in any way (apart from getting a bit wet walking from our car to the restaurant from which this photo was taken).

Of course, the great thing about Cape Town's winter is that we get all the cold, rainy weather in a few short, intense bursts, and for the rest of the time it's sunny and clear. ;-)

The mystery of traffic

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Highway traffic

I imagine every city has sections of road like this one. No, I don't mean sections of road with a breathtaking view of the mountain - we can't all be that lucky :P ... I mean sections of road that have frequent and utterly inexplicable traffic jams.

This is the N1, near Bellville (one of Cape Town's northern suburbs), heading in the direction of Cape Town. The left fork is the offramp that leads to Durban Road, Bellville CBD and Tygervalley Shopping Centre.

For some reason that continues to elude me, traffic on the small section of highway from this offramp to the corresponding onramp that joins the N1 on the other side of the bridge almost always slows down to a crawl. This photo happens to have been taken on one of those rare occasions when it was relatively free-flowing.

And it's not that there's a bottleneck because of the cars coming from the onramp - there are more than enough lanes on the other side of the bridge, and the traffic is always free-flowing by the time I get level with that onramp. It's utterly bizarre - all I can think is that people must sense some kind of weird voodoo in this dip and therefore instinctively slow down...

National highways and fly-overs

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National Highway

I used to have a perfect view of these fly-overs from my classroom when I was in high school. During exam time, we were seated in alphabetical order according to our surnames - this put me right over at the window, which suited me perfectly. I've never been able to sit and do nothing for very long (my record is about 3 minutes, and I was all worn out from the exertion afterwards), so whenever I finished an exam early - which was fairly often - I'd have to invent elaborate mental games to keep myself from going crazy with boredom.

These fly-overs over the N1 were a godsend, as you can imagine, because they meant I could keep busy by counting cars. I would keep a tally of how many cars of a certain colour went past in each direction, how many trucks went past, how many motorbikes, and so on. Yes children, when we were young, back in the olden days, we didn't have fancy computer games or iPhone apps - we had to make our own fun.

Talking about fun, the latest episode of The Digital Edge podcast is available - download it here. (The Digital Edge is South Africa's best podcast, and I'm totally biased, because I'm in it.)

The Blue Peter – not rocking on a Saturday night

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The Blue Peter

The Lower Deck Bistro at the Blue Peter has never been one of my favourite spots in Cape Town, although it seems a lot of our friends like it - I know this because we keep getting invited to things there. :) Usually these "things" are informal lunch-time meetups or sundowners, but this time it was an evening birthday party.

Although the birthday party itself was lovely (we got to see a whole lot of old friends we hadn't seen in ages), the experience pretty much sealed my impressions of the Blue Peter as A Place I Don't Want To Go To Again. As you may be able to tell from the photo, there weren't a lot of other people at the venue. In fact, there weren't really any other people at all. In fact... yes, I think you get the picture. This struck us as rather odd, given that it was a Saturday night.

Apparently the first members of our party to arrive had been told (at 6pm, before they'd even placed their first drinks orders), "Last rounds are at 21h45... as long as you know that." An odd start to the evening, wouldn't you say? By 20h00, after we'd finished our pizzas, it had become clear that the manager and his waitrons were rather keen for us to move the party elsewhere. We were obviously the only customers there by that time, and they'd presumably decided that getting an early night was a better option than wasting their time serving just one table. They hovered near the entrance, glancing over at us constantly, and the waitress passed a remark at one point that she was "just worried, because no-one's drinking", which wasn't true, of course - we just weren't drinking much alcohol. ;-)

All in all, it became pretty weird and uncomfortable, until we eventually left at around 9pm; and Paul and I certainly won't be going back if we can help it. If you don't mind being watched by the manager while you sip your latte, or having the waitress raise her eyebrows in disbelief when you order your whiskey without ice, then you'll probably enjoy it more than we did. :)

We’re on a road to somewhere

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The Boland Mountain Range

A few months back I decided that it was time for my little web copywriting business to start growing. So I bravely rented some office space not too far from home and hired my first full-time employee. So far, it's turned out to be one of my best decisions ever - the offices are lovely, and I'm firmly convinced that my Operations Manager (she started off as a Personal Assistant, but very quickly outgrew that title) is the best anyone could wish for.

I'm looking forward to watching this baby business grow and expand into a formidable force; and one day when we've taken over the world, we'll be able to look back at this picture and say, "That's where it all started." This is the view from the street just outside our office block - beautiful, isn't it? That's the Boland mountain range in the distance, and in a month or two's time, there'll probably be snow on those peaks. And yes, it is still winter in Cape Town, just in case this picture confused you. ;-)

Have you ever taken a big step that seemed a little daunting at the time, but turned out to be a fantastic move?

Where should we go for waffles?

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Waffle and Ice Cream
Every now and again Paul gets a craving for waffles, and although I don't actually have a particularly sweet tooth, I never object, of course.

When we were younger, the best place for waffles and ice cream was undoubtedly Milky Lane. Well, either our tastes have matured, or Milky Lane's waffles have deteriorated considerably...

Sure, it might look yummy, but that's just because Paul takes such good photos. ;-) I actually have no idea what was in the centre of this waffle (you can't see it in the photo) - the poster on the wall said "chocolate mousse", but (a) it didn't look anything like the filling on the poster and (b) it was surprisingly... chewy. Apart from that, the service was iffy, and the waffles were a lot smaller than I remember them being.

So, since we probably won't be visiting Milky Lane in a hurry again, where do you suggest we go next time Paul is bitten by the waffle bug?

A hospital room with a view

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Night time intersection

The building that you can see more or less in the middle of this photo is the Panorama Medi-Clinic, one of the best known private hospitals in Cape Town. Take a look at the lights spreading out in the background and you'll probably be able to work out why this area is called Panorama. It's located on the slopes of Tygerberg Hill, in the northern suburbs, and from here you can see a very large part of greater Cape Town.

The Panorama Medi-Clinic was opened in 1986, and was the very first hospital launched by the Medi-Clinic group. I'm not a big fan of hospitals in general, due to having spent quite a bit of time in one when I was a toddler. Being in a hospital environment always brings up vague feelings of trauma for me, so I avoid them as far as possible. If you don't have any such qualms, though, then take a visual tour of the Panorama Medi-Clinic. :)

Eric Cloete, Cape Town’s very own accordion player

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Eric and his Accordion

We snuck away from the belly dancing for an hour or so to grab some lunch at one of our favourite spots, Pastis. When I heard the gentle strains of an accordion starting up as we were ordering our food, I almost jumped out of my seat in glee.

If you've read our About Us page, then you'll know that I was inspired to start Cape Town Daily Photo as a result of my many visits to Eric Tenin's Paris Daily Photo. And I started visiting Paris Daily Photo because we'd visited Paris itself in 2006, and had utterly fallen in love with the city.

Eric Cloete has been playing the accordion since the age of 10. He performs at all kinds of events around the Cape, but incredibly, it was the first time we'd seen or heard him. He stopped at our table for a few minutes, and, when we mentioned how much we loved Amelie, he played us a couple of pieces from the movie. It couldn't have been better - perfect weather, lovely food, me all dressed up in my pretty belly dancing clothes, and a surprise reminder of our second-favourite city in the world. Just one more Cape Town experience to file under "Special Moments". ;-)

Visit Eric's website to read more about him, and follow his blog to find out where he'll be playing next. Also keep an eye out for his CD, Accordion Music of the World.

The cost of home ownership

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For Sale sign in Cape Town

Locals (particularly those who haven't travelled overseas) are often surprised to find out how much cheaper property is in South Africa than in many other parts of the world.

Of course, we have very high interest rates compared to many other parts of the world, which pushes the actual cost of property up for us somewhat, as very, very few people can afford to buy property without taking out a mortgage bond. But nevertheless, it's still a whole lot cheaper to buy an average suburban home here than it is in Sydney, for instance.

According to Global Property Guide, Cape Town is the 53rd-most expensive city in the world in terms of property - their comparison is based on the average purchase price in US dollars of a 120-square-metre apartment in a prime inner city area.

Our property market has seen quite a slowdown in the last two years or so (after a massive boom in the four years before that), but it does seem to be slowly (very slowly) starting to pick up again - at least in certain sectors of the market.

Seems someone doesn’t like Hake…

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Kill Hake graffiti

A week or two back we posted a photo of a rather creative piece of street art in Green Point, bearing the name "Hake". One of our readers, Michelle, commented that she'd seen a number of his tags around the southern suburbs too, so presumably he's fairly prolific.

It seems he has an enemy, though (look at me, being all sexist and assuming that Hake is a boy... tsk tsk), if the writing in this photo is anything to go by. I spotted this as we were driving around Vredehoek, and made Paul screech to a halt so that he could get out and grab a photo. By a happy co-incidence the man in the background entered the frame just as Paul was busy composing his shot - I think he adds an extra bit of interest to the photo, don't you?

Umshini wami, umshini wakho

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Umshini wakho campaign posters
I doubt that there's a South African alive right now who is not familiar with the phrase "Umshini Wami". It's the name of an old struggle song sung by Umkhonto we Sizwe during the apartheid years. More recently it's become famous (or notorious, depending on your perspective) as the song sung by president-elect Jacob Zuma and his supporters at ANC rallies. The main phrase repeated throughout the song is "Khawuleth'umshini wami", which is Zulu for "Bring me my machine-gun". This probably goes some way towards explaining my use of the word "notorious" in the previous sentence...

The posters you can see on the wall here, designed by advertising agency Young and Rubicam, are a clever twist on this piece of South African culture. They read "Awuleth'umshini wakho", which means "Bring me your machine gun". The posters were put up in February as part of a campaign to persuade citizens to hand in their unlicensed firearms. I have no idea whether they've been effective or not, but they're certainly eye-catching.

You can read more about the campaign and see a photo of the full poster on Marklives!com.

F*ROCK at Ratanga Junction

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Etienne Janse Van Rensburg - bassist for CrashCarBurn
We spent an awesome Saturday night taking photos of some of South Africa's most talented musicians performing at F*ROCK, an indoor rock festival held at Ratanga Junction. I had a really hard time choosing just one shot for the main post (we ended up with 253 photos of 8 bands, which you can see in our F*ROCK photo albums), and I even enlisted the help of my Twitter friends to help me choose at one point.

I eventually settled on this shot of Etienne Janse van Rensburg, the bass guitarist for the hugely popular CrashCarBurn. It was the first time I'd seen them perform live, and I was pretty impressed - in addition to their own original material, they played a medley of cover versions, which the crowd absolutely loved, and to make it all even more fun, they tossed out a flock of giant (no, really, GIANT) balloons for all of us to play with while they performed. Too cool for words, that was.

Check out all our photos from F*ROCK here (and visit the bands' websites to have a listen to their music):

By the way, if you have any interest in web culture and digital marketing, or if you'd just like to hear what I sound like, download a couple of episodes of The Digital Edge podcast, hosted by Saul Kropman and Jarred Cinman. My job is to sound like a girl in the news section each week, which I think I'm managing to do fairly well so far... and I promise you that the rest of the podcast is really worth a listen. ;-)

Freedom Day – 15 years on

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Robben Island sunset

The 27th of April is Freedom Day in South Africa. This public holiday marks the start of our first democratic elections in 1994 (the elections were held over 3 days). I wasn't old enough to vote back then (I turned 18 two and a half months later), but I remember that day so clearly. There was an incredible sense of excitement, and news broadcasts showed images of long voting queues snaking their way through dusty township streets, and elderly black people tearfully telling reporters how it felt to finally be able to vote for the first time at the age of 80 or 90. Got to admit, I still get teary thinking about it.

We held our 4th general election last week, and for the first time since 1994 there was a similar sense of excitement and optimism. And it didn't seem to matter who you were voting for either (just as it didn't matter much in 1994) - everyone seemed enthusiastic, and it felt good to be united as a nation in a common activity. Despite all the controversy surrounding our president-elect Jacob Zuma, I think there is a lot of optimism right now amongst people of all political persuasions. It's a fresh start, and a change, and perhaps that's the most important thing for our teenage nation right now.

I found this photo in our archives; it's a month or two old, but I thought it would be fitting to post a photo of the sun setting behind Robben Island to mark Freedom Day.

Ancient relic or graffiti with a difference?

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Bushman rock art

Some time ago we hid a geocache in a super-special extra-clever hiding place right in the middle of a quiet suburb. To be a little more specific, the cache is hidden very close to a dam in the Durbanville area. We go and check on it every once in a while to make sure that it's still there, and still in good condition. While we were trying to find its exact hiding spot again (because it's extra-clever, you see), Paul noticed this little piece of art.

Before you get all excited, I'm pretty sure that this is not the handiwork of real Khoisan artists, miraculously preserved in the middle of a suburban park. I think it's a whole lot more likely that this is the work of a group of high school students from the school up the road. Still, not too shabby, is it?

Nobu at the One & Only Hotel Cape Town

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NOBU at The One and Only

Tonight we were treated to dinner at NOBU, the upmarket Japanese restaurant at Sol Kerzner's 3-week-old One&Only Hotel. It was an evening filled with exquisite food, top-class service and really great company, in an elegant yet strangely unpretentious atmosphere.

We all opted for the 7-course omakase meal (if you're not familiar with Japanese dining, eating omakase basically means that you leave the choice of dishes up to the chef), which turned out to be a really good idea - we lost count of the number of dishes the waiters brought out to us, and we sent every single plate back scraped clean. The food was fantastic, and included things like prawn tempura with dipping sauces, black cod, edamame, a selection of sushi, tuna sashimi salad, whitefish sashimi, beef kushiyaki and grilled Cape salmon. Dessert was included too, and featured a lot of yummy oozy chocolate, whisky-flavoured cream, and ice cream (as you can probably tell, I can't remember the actual names of any of the desserts... but they were gooooood).

One member of our party had previously been to the London NOBU, and she said without hesitation that the Cape Town version was better.

Read more about the One&Only Hotel Cape Town, and if you think you might like to come and stay for a few nights, check out the room rates so that you can start budgeting.

I can certainly recommend Nobu if you're in the mood for a special night out. Just be sure to dress up nice and pretty and leave your penny-pinching side at home. ;-)

Have a look at the rest of our photos of the hotel and restaurant.

GeekCricket

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GeekCricket action

Regular readers will know that I've been to quite a lot of cricket lately. This particular game was a little different, though. This wasn't a test match, or an ODI, or even a Pro20 game.

No, this was GeekCricket - a glorious opportunity for those of us not playing to spend a whole morning laughing at our friends. Actually, these guys did surprisingly well for a bunch of amateurs, and I got the feeling that this might just become a more regular event. I hope so, anyway.

I got bullied gently coaxed into keeping score for part of the match, with a real scoring book and all. *excitement* Given that this is GEEKCricket, though, I sincerely hope someone will write a little piece of software to make scoring simpler next time around. ;-)

You can read a few updates on the game here, and see a whole lot of photos here.

Every day is a braai day

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Braai fire

A weekend isn't really a weekend in Cape Town if it doesn't include at least one braai, is it? We had ours last night, with a couple of really good friends that we hadn't seen for a while.

If you're not familiar with the workings of a braai (which is kind of like a barbecue, just better :P ), here's a fairly typical description of what takes place:

Guests arrive, bringing meat (steak, lamb chops, sosaties and boerewors are the most popular choices) and drinks (beer is almost mandatory, at least for the guys, but red wine is a favourite too, and if you're in the northern suburbs then it's Klippies and Coke, of course). It's customary for each guest or couple to bring a side dish or a packet of chips, or even dessert - and this is usually arranged with the host beforehand. In our case, our hosts had told us not to bring anything, so we took them some easter eggs and sparkling grape juice instead. It's just not polite to arrive empty-handed. :)

Most of the time, you'll find the women in the kitchen for at least part of the evening, while the men are outside... um... tending the fire... or something. They make it seem terribly important, anyhow. It's a funny thing, because I'm sure that most of us girls could braai the meat if we wanted to, but this is one area of our lives where gender roles seem to have stuck. And you know what? I think we're all pretty okay with that.

So the guys cook the meat, while the girls get all the other bits and pieces set out on the table or the kitchen counter (potato salad, Greek salad, noodle salad, corn-on-the-cob, braaied mushrooms, and garlic bread are a few of the most common side dishes you'll see), and once the meat is cooked, everyone helps themselves, drinks are replenished, and we sit down together (outside if it's still warm enough - or, at some of the braais I've been to, even if it isn't) and eat until we can eat no more.

Bet you're hungry now, aren't you?

SA Blog Awards: the results

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SA Blog Awards party

So we got all dressed up last night and went off to join about 200 other party people at Chevelle, to find out who the winners were in this year's SA Blog Awards. If you're a regular reader, then you'll probably know that we were nominated in three categories again this year. And if you're somewhere in this photo, then you'll probably know that we didn't win anything this time around. :)

We came second in the Photographic Blog category (the winner was I Wrote This For You) and second in the Travel Blog category (the winner was the Portfolio Collection blog). Strangely, we're not particularly disappointed about not winning - the thing that's meant the most to us throughout the process has been the constant stream of people telling us either in person, or via email or Twitter, or right here on our blog, that they'd voted for us and that they really enjoy and value our photos and our commentary each day.

(We've also had a whole lot of compliments on the new design, by the way, but those compliments must go entirely to Max Kaizen, the creative brain behind this beautiful layout.)

So, from the bottom of my heart, a huge thank you to all of you. Winning awards is not what makes this worthwhile. Knowing that we regularly brighten your day, teach you something, persuade you to get out there and do things, rekindle your memories, or make you want to visit our fabulous city - those are the things that count, and I sincerely hope that we can keep on doing them for a long, long time.

You can see all the results here: SA Blog Awards 2009. And to Chris, Miguel and Tyler, you did a fantastic job in pulling this together - thank you.

Sol Kerzner’s newest hotel: One&Only Cape Town

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Sol Kerzner's One and Only Hotel

For a while now everyone's been talking about the opening of Sol Kerzner's new hotel, the One&Only Cape Town. I'd seen a couple of artist's impressions of the interior (top secret sources!), and had heard how difficult it was to get to see the actual interior (bloggers don't seem to be too high up on Sol's list of VIPs :-) ). I'd also heard rumours of how much the penthouse was sold for (an astonishingly obscene amount of money).

And then, quite unexpectedly, I found myself right over the road from the hotel late on the afternoon of the launch party. I'm rather sorry I didn't have a better camera with me, because it turns out there were some pretty distinguished guests at this party - Nelson Mandela, Sharon Stone, Clint Eastwood and Robert de Niro, amongst others. As a matter of fact, I spotted a paparazzo half hiding behind a tree just a few metres from me - he had a very decent-looking camera with an enormously enormous lens, and looked decidedly furtive. My first brush with the paparazzi! Such a disappointment then that his camera wasn't aimed at me. :P

And sometimes it’s the big things :)

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Table Mountain after sunset

There are so many fantastic sunset spots in Cape Town: Clifton 4th Beach, Summerville in Camps Bay, Signal Hill, Table Mountain itself, Scarborough, upstairs at Wakame in Mouille Point, Blouberg Beach (which is where today's photo was taken), the top of Tygerberg Hill, Lovers' Lane... if you live in the city, or have been here, which is your favourite? And yes, I know, that's like asking you to name your favourite dessert - but give it a try anyway.

As much as I love all the other spots, I'd have to say that the two most spectacular sunsets I've ever experienced were the two I watched from the top of Table Mountain. Clifton 4th Beach is a close second, though, and a bit more accessible, to be fair. :)

It’s the little things that count

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Detailed railing

One of the great things about publishing this blog is that it really forces us to pay attention to the details around us. When you've lived in a place for a reasonable length of time, it's easy to miss all the small things that make it beautiful. Sure, you'll probably marvel at the tablecloth hanging over our gorgeous mountain, or spend time watching the sun setting over the ocean, but you're quite likely to miss the ornate doorway, the cheeky graffiti, the quaint cobblestones, the handwritten sign in a shop window, or the weathered old church-bell.

Part of our aim here at Cape Town Daily Photo is to draw your attention to these tiny facets of the city's character, whether you live in Cape Town or not. It's not always about the big landscapes, the bold architecture, the famous landmarks - sometimes the beauty of this city lies merely in the juxtaposition of a shiny wrought-iron railing with an old church's faded brickwork.

Don’t forget to pay for your parking

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Parking signs

We used to have parking meters in the city, but now we have real, living human-beings to receive our parking money and make sure that we don't stay longer than we should. Which is much better, I think, because, try as I might, I could never get a smile out of those parking meters...

If you come to the city and hire a car, look out for people wearing bright yellow bibs, and carrying hand-held parking machines and bags of change. They'll tell you how much you need to pay, depending on how long you plan to park for. Oh, and do be nice to them - they're out there on their feet all day, every day, and I suspect they have to deal with a lot of grumpy, unfriendly people. ;-)

Walking on sunshine

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Wheel Clamping sign

Yes, yes, the wheel clamping sign's interesting and all that, but JUST LOOK AT THE SKY PASSAGE above it! I've had a slightly exaggerated fascination with these building-to-building sky passages ever since I was a little girl. I remember going into the city with my mother, and wondering if I'd ever get to walk across one of these. To my young mind, crossing a sky passage seemed totally magical and mysterious. And to think that some people get to cross them every single day! (Not much has changed, by the way - I still find these passages terribly enchanting, only now I think they'd be a whole lot more exciting if they had glass floors. ;-) )

Paragliding off Lion’s Head

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Lion's Head

Lion's Head is a very popular launch spot for paragliders in Cape Town. That's not at all surprising, of course - can you imagine what the view must be like from up there? Actually, as it turns out, you can do more than just imagine it. There is, in fact, a way for you to paraglide from Lion's Head without leaving your chair.

This post has taken a little longer to write than it should have, because in the course of my research I discovered an awesome-beyond-words paragliding simulator on the Paragliding Earth website. And I've been paragliding all around Lion's Head for the past half an hour.

If you'd like to try it for yourself, go to the listing for Lion's Head, and click on "Fly on this site: PG simulator in GoogleEarth!". You'll need to have the Google Earth Plugin installed. And while you wait for the landscape to load up, you can prepare for your flight by reading everything you need to know about paragliding from Lion's Head.

Have fun, and happy landings!

Glaceau Vitaminwater spotted in Loop Street

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Vitaminwater

I first heard about Glaceau Vitaminwater a few weeks ago, when one after the other my Twitter friends began saying that they'd received these promotional suitcases from the company. Look, I'm not going to lie to you - we were pretty envious. I watched at the window day after day, wondering when my suitcase full of (apparently awesome) vitaminwater would arrive. But alas, it never did. The life of a B-list blogger is filled with disappointment. ;-)

I have to say though, their stealthy launch campaign has been really well-executed and clearly very effective. I was visiting one of my clients in Loop Street yesterday, when someone in the office spied this truck downstairs, offloading crates and crates and crates of something liquidy. As soon as I saw the truck, I exclaimed, "Glaceau Vitaminwater!" with perhaps a bit toooo much excitement, considering I haven't even tasted it yet. :) It turns out their store/office/temporary home is right next to my client's offices, on the corner of Loop and Bloem Streets, and they were preparing for their launch party.

Bakers Mini Cricket at Newlands

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Bakers Mini Cricket at Newlands

Bakers Mini Cricket is a development programme aimed at introducing South African boys and girls of all races and economic groups to the game of cricket at a very young age (as you can see in today's photo - look at the size of some of those shirts compared to the size of their occupants!).

Bakers Mini Cricket is apparently the longest-running sports development sponsorship in South Africa - they celebrated a quarter-century last year. Cricket South Africa says that over two million children have been involved in the Bakers Mini Cricket programme so far, including some of our top professional players, like Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini. You can read more about the history of the programme on the Bakers Mini Cricket website.

I spent a few hours at Newlands today, watching the Australian cricketers taking a bit of a pounding from the Proteas. During the lunch break the field was occupied by a whole bunch of Bakers Mini Cricketers, who entertained us with some of the most adorable cricket I've seen in a long time. We'll be uploading more photos just as soon as we can finish processing them - and there'll be a few of the bigger cricketers too, not just these teeny-tiny ones. (In the meantime, our photos of The Dirty Skirts in concert at Kirstenbosch are up - have a look and let us know if you spot yourself in the crowd!)

In case, you missed yesterday's post, Cape Town Daily Photo has been selected as a finalist in the SA Blog Awards in three categories. If you think that CTDP is the best contender in any of its nominated categories, please do cast a vote for us: just click the big gold tag in the sidebar - it will take you straight to the voting page, where you can have a look at all the other finalists and submit your vote.

Keep that wine on ice for now…

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Wine bucket

A big thank you to those of you who nominated us for the 2009 SA Blog Awards - we were thrilled to discover this evening that Cape Town Daily Photo has been selected as a finalist in THREE categories: Best Photographic Blog, Best Travel Blog and Best Group Blog (a category for blogs with more than one author).

If you've been reading CTDP for a while, then you might recall that we won the award for Best Travel Blog in 2008. This year we have some truly formidable competition in every one of the categories for which we've been nominated, so we're keeping the celebratory wine on ice for now. :)

Of course I'd love you to vote for us, but at the same time I feel strongly that you shouldn't vote for this blog simply because I've asked you to, or because you're my friend, or because you follow me on Twitter: you should vote for this blog if you believe it to be the best in its category. So please visit the SA Blog Awards voting page, have a careful look at the finalists in each category, and then cast your vote for those you feel are most deserving. And don't forget to click on the link in the confirmation email you receive, in order to confirm your vote!

By the way, voting is open to EVERYONE, not only South Africans or residents of South Africa. So even if you live in the USA or the UK, Canada or Germany, Romania or India, or anywhere else for that matter, you can still vote.

AND ONE MORE TIME: Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate us - I'm not sure that you realise just how much your support, comments and encouragement mean to us, especially when it's reeeeally late at night, and, exhausted after a long day, we suddenly realise that neither of us has posted yet... ;-)

David Newton cleverly combines comedy and cancer

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On Broadway

David Newton is a brave guy. Fortunately, he's also very, very funny. You see, David is a Cape Town-based stand-up comedian who has taken on the tough job of raising awareness around the very unglamorous topic of... wait for it... ... Colorectal Cancer.

I was invited to attend the launch event for Colorectal Cancer Awareness, which took the form of dinner, drinks and a 2-hour comedy show at On Broadway in the city centre. Following this, I have three recommendations for you:

1. If you're in Cape Town, get yourself a ticket for David Newton's next show, which will be held on 4 May at On Broadway. Unless you have some sort of old sports injury that makes laughing very uncomfortable, or something like that, of course, because he WILL make you laugh. About everything. Everything.
2. If you can't make it to David's show, book for one of the other shows at On Broadway - it's a beautiful venue, with excellent service, and the portions of food are HUGE. Trust me on this. I couldn't even finish half of my meal - and I'd arrived hungry! Their prices are really reasonable too. Oh, and the restrooms... well, have a look at today's photo and judge for yourself. Pretty, innit?
3. Take five minutes to read through the information on the Colorectal Cancer Awareness site - this kind of cancer is treatable if caught early, but can become very aggressive if it's not. And for the sake of those who love you, if you think you might have any of the symptoms, don't ignore them. Make an appointment with your doctor, and get it checked out.