Living in a small UK village means you will be faced with a very difficult choices going to the  pub (pronounced poob) The Green Inn or Miners Arms, where we drink “beer”.

Part of settling down means you have to go through & complete a mountain of paper, however most get’s posted and within 2 days you get a reply mail, which is quite new for us, a efficient postal service and Government officials who take pride in what they do, always friendly and willing to assist.

Starting to understand the lingo, accents, systems, shortcuts & getting wheels next week which making life less adventuristic without a car.

I so desperately mis Cape Town, my cheap Camels, decent steak, however we worked in 4 braais because we can. I think only time will tell if this will be my home forever and ever.

Arriving at the school, with eyes absorbing like the best designed scanner, I found “THE SNAKE”

Calling Blaauwberg Conservation with a detailed description which will make any advocate proud, I rambled of what I saw 3 meters away from me.

Only to determine the nature of the beast. I’m faced with a Ramphotyphlops braminus which is nothing more than a lizard without legs or a earth worm on steroids.  Oh and did I mention it was about 150mm long, as blind as my grand mother.

Now we have our own resident snake at the office, however I suspect we in for a hectic bill after all the sugar water at the school.

NOW HOW AWESOME IS THAT!

Like a little boy the morning of Christmas I opened my party pack to find the following goodies:

2 x Tickets to Portugal vs Korea DPR (Cat 2) on the 21st June at the Cape Town Stadium

1 x FNB VISA Gift Card with R150 for “refreshments” (beer)

2 x Complimentary FNB 2010 beanies, scarves, rain Ponchos, Zukami Pins, Key-rings, bag-tags

My FNB FIFA Party Pack

I love Monday

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I cannot accept,
And the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.

And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on today

As they may be connected to the ass that I have to kiss tomorrow.

Help me to always give 100% at work…
12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday,40% on Wenesday, 20% on Thursday, and 5% on Friday.

And help me to remember…

When I’m having a really bad day,

And it seems that people are trying to piss me off,
That it takes 42 muscles to frown
And only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me.

Enjoy your day!

Wonder how the fire started?

White smoke bellowing from the tower.

Smoke getting thicker by the minute, fueled by the North Wester moderate wind.

Rent-A-Crowed arriving to see what damage will be done to the Tableview beach.

Fire on the back spreading fast.

2 NSRI Rubber Duck  in the water, I couldn’t see anybody on board through the thick smoke.

ER 24 Chopper arrive hovering over the burning Seli1

Flames starting to get more violent as the black smoke thickens.

After the second BIG explosion where I could actually feel the sand vibrate under my feet we were removed from the beach by the police. Disaster Management, NSRI, ER24 Chopper and various other emergency vehicles and staff crowded the beach.

Now who will take responsibility for this? I wonder……..

Seli1 the morning after.

Lots of activity this morning, the rain last night helped to put the fires out. I could clearly see people on board working with a couple of boats around the ship.

And now what?

Get it painted in the South African flag or FIFA2010 advertising?

1. Twitter would be – eTwatta
2. FaceBook would be – MyKraal
3. YouTube would be – ePoliceFile
4. Skype would be – eTiekieboxo
5. FriendFeed would be – Tjommie
6. Google would be – Yebo GoGo
7. Windows would be – Khaya
8. Microsoft would be – ePrimus
9. Apple would be – Mielies
10. Technorati would be – B.E.E.
11. digg would be – eSpad

I love South Africa, please feel free to add some more!

To My Dad

You are so proud of all that I achieve

You encourage me in all that I do

When I’ve gone wrong you’ve set me right

You love and support are true

Sometimes you come home very tired

after being at work the whole day

Thank you for doing all that you do

and for caring in such a fatherly way

]]> http://jail4bail.co.za/to-my-dad/2010/05/feed/ 1 http://jail4bail.co.za/love-a-child-that-you-dont-know/2010/05/ http://jail4bail.co.za/love-a-child-that-you-dont-know/2010/05/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 11:31:34 +0000 Gerhard Pieterse aka jail4bail http://jail4bail.co.za/?p=554 How often do we chase children away, especially street children? Just drive around to find at most traffic lights in most of our cities you will find someone asking for a couple of cents. The past weekend I did a project dubbed Round Table Winter Knights which meant spending a night out in the cold, with our the local community dropping blankets, food and clothes for families who live on the streets.

It was great to do it with my fellow Tablers and friends making a difference to people who really needs it. We could not watch the Semi-final Rugby especially the Stormers first time since 1999 in a semi.  I am a father, who love my kids with every thing I have, some days a little bit more than others.

We were asked by 3 young street children about 10/11 if they could watch the rugby, we agreed with a very watchful eye on them children expecting them to steal something. As expected one of them did steal. 10 years old and he stole my heart and tears.

The 3 friends watched in amazement, whilst sipping their soup, at the BIG screen like any rugby crazy kids would, discussing, shouting & screaming for the the Stormers.  It was about 9:30pm when they thanked us for the rugby, soup and the braai we enjoyed together, with manners which any parent would be proud of.

One of the boys 10, decided to stay behind as his two friends disappeared into the dark chilly night, he only asked for one thing to lie down and sleep a little bit. He could lie down and sleep as much as he want to! This night in his life nobody will hurt him, rob him or bully him, not if I could help it.

He can’t go home to Atlantis, because of alcohol, verbal, physical abuse or raped. We made him a bed from donated blankets, covered him and show him the love that any child deserve. This is a 10 year old child, who run away from home over weekend because it’s not safe at home, it’s safer for him in the streets than in his own home with his family.

Checking in through out the eve made me very emotional, with this child sleeping like an angel with a satisfied smile on his face, living in his cruel, crazy, beautiful world with nobody to protecting him. Left to his own devices, but still know his upbringing, of respect, please and thank you. I can’t let this go!

As our night started to come to an end with us packing all the donated blankets and other stuff away, I started wondering what’s going to happen to him. He didn’t wake up whilst us packing up everything around him. How can you go home to your own family leaving a 10 year old child sleeping warm wrapped in blankets in a parking area? It’s a moral dilemma which I rather don’t want to think of like most of us!

Yes, it’s not my problem, but I can’t get that child out of my head, the happy peaceful little face, sleeping like an angel, fed, warm and protected.

Today is International Children’s Day how ironic!

We love our new puppy!

It’s the size of a horse!

It’s hungry!

mmmmmmmmmm we should call him?

Let me make it very clear this is no attack on Bayside Mall or Canal Walk this is a reality check for parents.

How often do you drop your kids at a shopping mall?

Most kids especially in their teen’s hangout at the Malls over South Africa and in other countries for that matter. This is the place where they meet their friends, hangout, go to movies, get some take a ways and enjoy all the entertainment the Mall has to offer with lots of security around, yes? Mommy and daddy are very happy to drop the kids off, even taking turns to drop and fetch, their precious little angels in a safe protected environment, right?

Yeh sure, how stupid could you be as a parent to believe or trust this? Do you actually get you butt out of your car and go inside to see your little angel purchase the actual movie ticket? NO you Don’t! Every Friday and Saturday evening it looks more like a drop-and-go zone at the airport, parents dumping their kids and their friends, to get rid of them with guilt money ranging between R50-200 to get them out of your hair.

So let’s look at what your kids are actually doing and what they are exposed to?

The drug dealers specifically targeting your child. They need that R50 note you gave you baby to ensure their stock turnover and cash flow. The basic MO would be a 20-24 year old dealer would have a group of 8-12 of kids between 10 -15 years old selling drugs to their peers. The dealer know and understand that child act protect the rights of children under the age of 16 not much will happen to them if caught, other than parents being contacted to remove them from the centre.

By the time you collect you precious cargo as responsible parent stopping in front of the exit, usually between 10 -12, your child is of his/her high. Very excited to tell you about the movie they watched, with stub in hand which they collected from trashcans, every body goes home happy. Only to repeat the next weekend. Yes that’s your little angel I am talking about!

That is if you come and fetch your kids yourself! Every weekend I had to see kids as young as 10 years old, not having a lift home at sometimes 3am on a Sunday morning. Nobody will tell you that the friends’ mom was so pissed that she could hardly walk collecting “the kids” at 2 am and driving them home.

The centre’s management and security calls your kids “Mall -Rats” the kids whose parent have no clue where they are and what they do over weekends at the Malls.

You may argue that you trust your child, and they will never lie to you, like you never did when you were their age, right? The main difference now is drugs, abuse, child porn, rape etc. more in your face than ever before. You may argue but “there is security”. Yip the peeps are doing the best they can, supported by undercover police officers, CCTV camera’s, radio communication, to baby sit your little angel, who slurs abusive language, insults and sometimes attacking the security for playing your parental role.

The centre management and security will do everything in their power to investigate, eliminate, get rid of bad elements within the Malls and I have witnessed it first hand with arrests, banning people and monitoring hot spots.

I don’t understand you are happy to pay someone you trust to babysit your child at home, are you willing to pay security to look after you child at a Mall? No, it’s the Mall’s responsibility, yeah sure, thank about it!

See you at the Mall.