Blogs from Saint Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 2

“An infected mind is a far more dangerous pestilence than any plague- one only threatens your life, the other destroys your character.” – Marcus Aurelius (1800 years ago) 2021 is truly underway and no doubt the hopes of millions of people around the globe that this would be a better year, are vanishing fairly quickly. The Covid-19 “buzz” is now all about rampant second waves, a new Covid-19 variant born in South Africa “nogal” and stricter lockdowns for many, many countries. Fascinating how South Africa was fingered with gifting the World with this new variant. How on earth did the scientific boffins determine precisely which country this new strain came from? So, the picture is generally one of doom and gloom although there is a brightly shining star out there. Vaccinations are underway in many countries ... read more

Yesterday’s celebration for Nui’s birthday was a success. Only Nenad ate and drank too much. It is difficult to be disciplined with all that fresh food and delicious wine in this country. The last time Nenad ate a lobster thermidor was also at the shores of the Indian Ocean, in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania in 1980 (outsch). The owner the Italian restaurant a son of an Viennese father and Milanese mother, tried really hard to make it a special evening. He joined us for a longer conversation joking chatting, reminding us of our dear friend Domenico and the numerous Sole Mio celebrations we had in Bangkok. No we are not homesick at all, but miss our friends from Bangkok. And Nui who bravely is trying all sorts of different foods around the globe does miss ... read more

“There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hope soon to be swept away.”- Winston Churchill There is much in the media presently about the imminent availability of a vaccine for Covid-19 based on relatively successful outcomes of the Pfizer (90 percent effective) and Moderna(94.5 percent effective) trials. Never mind that these vaccines have been rolled out in record time and have leapfrogged many of the accepted processes which normally result in years of ongoing trials and reprocessing before being approved. Both shots rely on a technology called url=https://link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/click/22124421.32536/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmxvb21iZXJnLmNvbS9mZWF0dXJlcy8yMDIwLW1vZGVybmEtYmlvbnRlY2gtY292aWQtc2hvdC8_Y21waWQ9QkJEMTExNzIwX0NPUk9OQVZJUlVTJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV90ZXJtPTIwMTExNyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249Y29yb... read more

“Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to seek those answers that continues to give meaning to life. You can spend your life wallowing in despair, wondering why you were the one who was led towards the road strewn with pain, or you can be grateful that you are strong enough to survive it.” – J.D.Stroube 2020 rolls on towards its inevitable end but for many, many people around the globe, it will be a year best forgotten given the turmoil unleashed on humanity by Covid-19. Whilst it is no longer centre stage, this pandemic remains on the radar screen and will be there for some time into the future. How long? Well, the reality is that no one knows which in itself is scary as we humans would rationalise that by ... read more

“Myth is an attempt to narrate a whole human experience, of which the purpose is too deep, going too deep in the blood and soul, for mental explanation or description.” – D.H.Lawrence Interesting times to say the least! Here we are in early Spring still trying to figure out how a virus could possibly have hijacked this year’s late summer, winter and then autumn seasons. Spring is a month of renewal when plant life recaptures it’s calibrated growth DNA and the animal kingdom looks to the urgent task of reproduction to ensure the survival of each particular species. Homo sapiens, on the other hand, has endured months of a rampaging pandemic which to date has recorded 27.9 million infections and caused 905,426 deaths. Bizarrely, the daily updates and incessant chatter on TV networks about Covid-19 have ... read more