Blogs from Mahé, Seychelles, Africa - page 8

Having added a music feature to Social Seychelles, I decided to waste yet more time downloading free open source software Audacity so that the other one and I could spend a Saturday night hard drinking, hard smoking and mixing tunes man. Well, the other one did the donkey work, I advised from the sofa and did the hard work thinking of DJ names - as I have previously said, this is critical. My current little known DJ name, DJ Mashed Potato (don't ask) was discarded on account of there being two of us (DJ Mashed Potato and Gravy - I don't think so). After a wide ranging internet search we came up with DJs Hulla & Baloo. You heard it here first. It's at this point our parents and friends sigh and suggest perhaps we need ... read more

Flying via Mauritius, we were at the airport long enough to gawp at the shop windows selling Hugo Boss and Diesel (branded clothes wow!), queue at an exceedingly slow transfer desk and go straight to the gate where we boarded our plane to Joburg. Restless, with little energy for reading I instead wasted a good fours of my life watching Shallow Hal (not once did I laugh did I) and some film about Amelia Earhart. Directed by Mira Nair, you'd think great story, stars like Hilary Swank, Ewan McGregor, Richard Gere and Christopher Ecclestone, it's got to be good. You'd think. Presumably South African Airways was as underwhelmed as I was as they didn't even bother to ensure that the film was finished by the time the plane landed, naturally assuming that anyone still watching would ... read more

Late Sunday afternoon and our approach to Cape Town, after whistling down a modern four lane highway, gives way to a less salubrious drive passing chunky low rise concrete buildings that'd be at home in the Australian outback. Climbing the steep hill to our guesthouse, I hazard the guess that this probably isn't where Elton John recently stayed when he was in town and there aren't enough flowers for one. Reluctant to say bye to the cab driver faced by a derelict ground opposite and a spooky lack of people, I press the 'Upperbloem' buzzer. Moments later, our petite host Katrin appears and leads us through the herbaceous garden to the contemporary building housing our room. The handful of rooms share a large kitchen with terrace providing superb views of Table Mountain. We'd booked a small ... read more

Having been promised a phone call from Air Seychelles the next day to confirm everything, I find myself calling them to find out what was happening. I'm told that the flights are confirmed but they're just waiting to hear about the accommodation and that they'd call me the next day. The next day is the day before we're due to leave. Its 3.30pm, their office shuts at 4pm and I still haven't heard from them. So I call them, they say they'll call back. They do, just before 4pm. Guess what, oops there go my bloomers, it seems that the hotel we were told we'd stay in, we're not staying in. The four star has now become a three star. While not a hotel snob at all (see our Kenya/Uganda travels or Portsmouth and Newcastle homes ... read more

Given my astounding success inserting a break with HTML and what appears to be an emerging inner geek, I can't help but think What If? What if I'd decided to pursue a career in computing instead? No, don't choke those of you who know me...there are some positive signs. Like severe Buffy and Big Bang Theory fandom, liking Chuck who's just Seth from OC*, lovin the original Star Wars trilogy, early success at Pac man and the Rubiks cube, earnest discussions about the meaning of Terminator and Donnie Darko and the fact that often no-one understands what I say (not I fear due to my 'off the scale' intelligence). I also sit for hours on the internet and spend just as much time tinkering with Ning. It could have been my dream career...except... I never went ... read more