Hout Bay photo

I just found this amazing photo of Hout Bay on Flickr, looking South from the top of Table Mountain. We haven't been up there yet, but I would love to go.

by Philip Norton

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Happy Birthday Granddad

Sorry we can't be there with you to celebrate

x

PERL course

I have just been enrolled onto a PERL (programming) course taught by Heikki at his (and Minna's) work. I'm not sure it is on my Media Engineering course at EVTEK, but it will be another programming language I can add to Java, (which I am currently applying to do online at Exeter), and PHP, and (X)HTML, which I already have experience in.

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Ladybird

Ladybird Hosted on Zooomr

More photos by us at Zooomr

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Geotagging with Flickr

Flickr launched geotagging yesterday. I have been using Zooomr (my page) recently has it has had this feature for a while, plus other cool ones... plus I have a Pro account there which means more photos and bandwidth than I can get for free with Flickr. But I find Flickr much better looking, for organisation and presentation of photos, plus it's a bigger site and has a larger community and way more photos. So now what do I do, pay the $25 per year for Flickr for a better 'experience' or stick with Zooomr for free?

More on Flickr geotagging on the FlickrBlog

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technorati tags:flickr, zooomr, geotagging

Family fun

Yesterday my aunt and uncle, Nikki and Charles, and cousins, came and visited. They have been on holiday in South Africa for a few weeks and are spending the last week in the Cape Town area (they head back home on Wednesday).

Yesterday was a lovely day. Beaming sun, no clouds, very warm. We started up the barbeque when they came and we had pleeenty of food, and were stuffed at the end. We actually had burgers that didn't shrivel up like Tesco ones do, which was a pleasure.

In the afternoon, we headed off to the sand dunes nearby. This is an amazing place - a large area of sand in a valley between two hills/mountains. It is like a small desert, and looks down one side (South) towards Hout Bay town and the bay, and the other (North-West) to the Atlantic from a height.

The best part of the sand dunes is running around bare foot and being careless. We took our most energetic dog, Turbo, with us, and he joined in on the fun. Soon, Tim (cousin) and I were scouting out verges to launch ourselves off - there's no pain involved in jumping off 10-feet-plus drops. Where we first came on to the dunes, there were a few medium-sized drops, but then as we worked our way towards the top of the dunes, there were larger and higher ones to attempt to jump from.

Tim found one with bushes at the top to give an extra challenge of jumping higher and further. Eventually everyone started jumping, and we got some amazing photos mid-air (and tumbling in the sand on landing). I'm hoping Heikki will put up some of his photos so I can add them in here. Here are some photos...

When we got back to the cars, we had to de-sand. It had got everywhere. I had huge amounts, literally handfuls, of sand in my short pockets. Tim and the others had to endure a long car ride back to where they are staying in Somerset West before they could change out of their sand-filled clothes.

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E-mail subscription

For anyone wanting to have our blog posts delivered to their e-mail inbox rather than having to visit the site to read our news, there is now a form on the site where you can leave your e-mail address (right column, "Subscribe" section). Fun eh?

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New style

I am playing with a new layout for parawars that I found at bloggertemplates.org. I will keep tweaking it to make it more to my taste.

Like it?

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Internet at home

We got the internet on Tuesday, so this week I have only been in to work once, on Monday. I have finally been able to sleep in past 7am (even if I do wake up while Milja is getting ready for school) for the first time in a while. Being at home means I do slightly less each day, but I have been learning Afrikaans and painting our bedroom a rather nice light blue on two walls.

My aunt and uncle Nikki and Charles, and kids, are popping over on Sunday afternoon. They are in South Africa on holiday and e-mailed Minna yesterday about meeting up.

I just watched the trailer to Saw III, which looks like it will carry on the crazy, suspense and horror of the first two films. I doubt it will be released here at halloween like in America, but I hope it won't be too far behind.

I need to get on and apply for the courses I am hoping to study on - Java online, and Multimedia at uni.

Lunch time...

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Shark attack

There have been two shark attacks in the past 5 days here in Cape Town. This is the most common time of the year for sharks and whales to be in the waters around the city, and they are making themselves known.

On Sunday, a 24 year old lifeguard had his foot bitten off when a great white shark attacked a lifeguard training exercise at the coast in Muizenberg, about 10 minutes from the house we have just moved from. The second attack on Tuesday did not cause any injuries.

The water in False Bay, where both attacks happened, on the East side of Table Mountain (Indian Ocean) is warmer than the water on the West coast (Atlantic Ocean), where we went bodyboarding in February. We spotted whales swimming in this warmer water a week or so ago.

There has been some concern from the city about these attacks and what to do to stop more people from being injured. There have been talks about introducing nets to the Bay, but I say just stop swimming and surfing in the water. We shouldn't drive the sharks out of their own habitat. We should just stay out of theirs if we want to avoid being eaten.

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The Big Move

Yesterday we all officially moved in to the new house. The furniture was finally delivered after being packed up from the England house months ago. Unfortunately it was raining heavily nearly all day, so the poor movers got a bit soggy.

There are hundreds of boxes stuffed in the basement area and every room is full of things. Maybe by the time we get home later (I'm at work again with Heikki), Joyce and Minna will have got through and made the house a bit more tidy and organised.

The new house Zooomr

The builders will be coming soon to remove the roof. The plan is to replace it with thatch to make the outward appearance nicer. Upstairs inside will also get a make-over with new walls, lots of windows, and more room as the roof will be raised 40cm, and the extra space given by having beams and thatch, rather than what it is now. At the minute, everyone is sleeping downstairs, where, luckily, there are 3 bedrooms. After the upstairs is complete (including 3 bedrooms) Matias' current room will become a study, and the room where Minna, Heikki and India are sleeping will be broken into to make a large lounge and breakfast area. Mine and Milja's room will stay the same as the downstairs spare room (well, not for another 10 months!).

The swimming pool recently got a small fix-up. The cleaning system has now been changed to salt rather than clourine. Matias and I tested it out at the weekend but it was very very cold so we didn't stay in long. It was so cold it was difficult to breathe.

Tonight, Matias is having a friend round and some of us are going to watch Pirates Of The Caribbean, which Milja and I already saw with Nea in Finland.

Woman's Day

Wednesday was a National Holiday here in South Africa. This year was the 50th anniversary since an influential march in 1956.

As Milja and Matias didn't have school we took a trip North along the West Coast, to a Nature and Game Reserve, Buffelsfontein. It is like a mini safari with 4x4 trails and 2-3 hour-long trips around, looking at the wildlife there - lions, giraffes, hippos etc.

As we arrived, however, Minna became very ill. Us kids stayed outside while she was sick on the toilets. After an hour or two, a doctor was called and in the end we drove 10-20 minutes, with Minna lying down in the boot of the Landrover, to the nearest GP in a nearby town called Darling. It was a lovely little town with bright red dirt roads, open railway tracks and children running around. The doctor diagnosed food poisoning and gave Minna medication.

So in the end we didn't make it further into the reserve than the car park, but as the sun was shining with blue skies, and we were out in the countryside, visiting delightful towns, the day was not ruined. On the way home, we got amazing views of Table Mountain from afar, across the water of Table Bay.

In the evening Milja and I drove to V&A Waterfront, the main shopping centre in down-town Cape Town, and then out to the local shopping centre for pizza. Heikki, Matias and India went to a nearby National Park to have a walk amongst the birds before it got dark.

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Cape Point

I'm at Minna and Heikki's work so I can be online. The internet at home is a bit unreliable and we haven't had much luck with it in recent days.

On Sunday we all ventured to Cape Point and The Cape of Good Hope. It is a bit of a drive down, but on the way we stopped and saw 8 whales swimming as we looked down on the beach from the cliff-side road. As we carried on our journey we stopped briefly in Simon's Town to visit the penguins there, and to have lunch at the Tibetan Tea House.

Once inside the National Park that encompasses the land around Cape Point, we saw a lot of wildlife - baboons, an ostrich on the beach, a sleeping cobra snake, and a two species of antelope.

On the beach near Cape Point.

We drove down to the Point, where Minna and Milja dashed inside to get warm, while us men (apart from Matias who was at Joona's) and India climbed up to the lighthouse. There was an amazing view to the left to False Bay and the city, and to the right, the Atlantic Ocean dotted by large ships.

[Photos by Heikki]

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To the movies

I never really went to watch films when I was younger, I had other things to do. When Milja came along, though, that changed, and I have been a frequent movie-goer ever since, especially in Finland, where we went regularly (pretty much weekly).

Last night, Milja, Minna and I went to the nearby cinema at the Blue Route Mall, where we watched Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn in "The Break-Up". It was a good film... well, up maybe for the first half, up until they broke up and the comedy kinda stopped. But that wasn't the main thing about the evening that I enjoyed - tickets here are remarkably cheap. In Finland, we were used to paying 10 EUR per ticket, although most of the time we paid about 7.50 EUR per film when we bought their 6-ticket packages. Here in South Africa, tickets are just 14 Rand, around £1.10.

What a bargain! OK, so the films arrive here to the screens a bit later than in Europe, but who cares when it costs so little to watch them...?! I am going again soon...

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First days

We are having a lovely time. We have done quite a lot in the 3 days we have been in Cape Town.

Wedensday was the first day. We arrived in the morning and we met by all the crew here - Minna, Heikki, Matias and India. We drove straight from the airport to look at the new house which they have bought in the suburbs, just down the road from where they rented a place when we visited in February, in Hout Bay. It is a lovely house but the plan is to pretty much re-model the house to improve it's features and create more space. It will be great when it is finished. We can all move in any time but the furniture from England is available on the 14th of this month so we will wait until then.

In the evening there was an open evening at Matias' and Milja's school. We went and talked to Matias' teacher and got uniform for Milja. It is a bit wierd for her to be in uniform again after 2 years in Finland where there is no uniform at all. At least it saves a few hours minutes in the morning as Milja doesn't need to decide what to wear.... After visiting the school, we went straight to the biggest shopping centre around, Canal Walk, where we picked up some alternatives for Milja's uniform.

On Thursday I went with Heikki to his and Minna's work where I sat and worked on the internet finishing a website for a client. Milja and Matias went to their first day of school while Minna stayed at home with India who was ill. I have fallen in love with eating pies since coming here, there is such a range of delicios flavours in every food shop you go in. And all food is so cheap here. I had a "Combo Meal" at a pie shop for lunch - a Pepper Steak pie with chips and a coke for 17.95 Rand, which I think is around £1.60. Sandwiches in England are normally over £2 on their own... After picking up M and M from school in the afternoon we all went to the nearby 'mall', Blue Route Mall, which is a really nice place. The first shop we went into was a very very cheap clothes shop. I manged to find a lot of clothes to buy, but walked out of the shop with (just) a pair of shorts, a cap and a jacket. All for 220 Rand. Another bargain :)

On the way home we went to a wonderful restaurant, Pedlars On The Bend, which had a lovely big fire - Milja was happy. It's quite cold here although it's only 15 degrees. The food was amazing and was, again, very cheap. I think the cheapness of food is my favourite thing about South Africa so far :)

Yesterday (Friday), M and M were dropped off at school and the rest of us went to the new house until early afternoon. Minna and Heikki had some things to sort out and had meetings with the thatcher and security people. I played with India and we watched Moomins on Minna's computer.

When the school guys came home, Milja did some homework and we stayed in and watched DVDs in bed. Milja bought me Green Wing Series 1 on DVD for my birthday last Monday and we are enjoying it very much, although there are only 9 40-minute episodes and we are nearly half-way through them already :(

We are both enjoying ourselves here so far. I think we are both looking forward to the warmer weather which will apparently arrive in a month or so. In the mean time, we will get on with school (well, Milja will anyway) and I will try and keep myself busy reading or something...

In Africa

So we have now moved to South Africa for 11 months. We arrived early this morning in Cape Town. The winter weather here is very kind compared to the Finnish-type cold and snow we are used to; 14 celsius and sunny with a breeze.

Inside it is rather cold but only because houses here don't typically (or, ever) have indoor heating. We have two portable radiators in our room, which are doing a treat in keeping the room warm enough for us to bear without a jumper! There are also under-sheet heaters for extra warmth if needbe.

The wedding went very well, we were both very pleased in how the day went and thateveryone else seemed to have a good time! We spent over £100 developing the disposable cameras on the tables, and we got some good, if slightly poor quality, snap-shots of the day that formal photography would never capture. I was glad to have part of my extended family over for the weekend and they and Milja's family got along all rather well. It was also great to have 7 of our English friends over, all of who stayed on the floor in my flat - it was squashed for a week but ultimately fun. Well done to Pike for winning our Fifa league :)

Milja starts her school tomorrow whereas I have until January before I start at the university. I have plans to do some independant web work (need a work visa to do it officially here). Milja has to wear uniform which is strange for 18 year olds in England and Finland, but Milja has, as usual, managed to make her outift look 'cool'. She will be the oldest in the school so she has to set an example :)

Now it is time to go to sleep as we are both very tired after the past month of wedding planning, the wedding, our honeymoon, packing and emptying the flat, visiting England, getting visas sorted and finally getting here to South Africa. Time for some Green Wing I think...