5 posts tagged “johannesburg”
The minister of home affairs lands in Johannesburg tomorrow (Friday) afternoon! I cannot wait.
:-)
On Saturday morning the minister of home affairs and I went on another photographic expedition, this time to the Johannesburg Zoo. The idea formed last year already when we attended the AGM of the Esperanto Association of Southern Africa there.
The last time I was at the zoo before then was in the 1970s. At that time it was an old-style zoo with all the animals kept in sparse cages - not my idea of how animals should be treated. Since then, the zoo has been transformed, and now animals are in large enclosures approximating their natural habitats. It means you don't always see all the animals, as now they can hide in long grass, in trees, caves and even holes in the ground, but it is much more humane.
We took some great pics there, some of which I have published on my flickr page (click on "My Photography" in the links sidebar).
The photo posted above is not going to be on flickr, as it is not a great photo, but I kept it for my blog because it appeals to me on some level.
I was trying to photograph a young buck when it became curious and shoved its face in my camera as I took the shot. Then it wanted a good scratch behind the ears. Naturally, I complied. It is a very cute and friendly animal. It ruined my photo, but I think it is sweet.
But my favourite photo of the day, which is on flickr, was the one of the yellow baboon. I hope you like it too - I waited for ages to capture that shot. If you have a flickr account, I'd love comments on my photos, whether positive or negative.
My grandfather, Robert Craig Scott, died at the age of 87 this week, at 16h50 CAT on 5 September. He was born on 24 January 1920.
On 12 November 1998, Glyn Williams, the former editor of the Daily Dispatch, a newspaper printed in East London, wrote about my grandfather in a column. In his honour, I reproduce it below:
Great Scott -- you can't keep the old folks at home
BOB SCOTT was aged 65 in 1985 when he came to East London from Johannesburg and ran the 42,2 kilometre Buffalo marathon from Berlin -- which was the route in those days -- in a few seconds over two hours 58 minutes.
It is every runner's dream to complete a marathon in under three hours. At 65 it was an astonishing athletic feat that was in itself a tribute to a modest, likeable and abstemious man.
He deservedly won the Buffs' most prestigious award for the outstanding performance of the race. There was a standing ovation for him when he went up to receive his trophy. After that, I always called him the great Bob Scott. He still remains an inspiration to youngsters like myself.
Bob, who runs for Rand Athletic Club, has a son living in the East London area, which gives him and his wife a second home status in the city. A grandson, Iain, who is now an editorial executive with Business Day, worked as a reporter for the Daily Dispatch.
Bob called me out of the blue the other day. At 78 years old he was as bright and optimistic as ever, despite a couple of operations, including one for the bane of older men, the prostate. It seemed almost superfluous to ask Bob whether he was still running; it is in his blood now after a relatively late start in life -- he first concentrated on his career and bringing up a family.
He said he still went out regularly and is planning to enter and complete a 32 kilometre run in the Gauteng area. Bob had considerable success in his age groups in races up to and including the 56-kilometre Two Oceans but he never entered the 90km Comrades, out of deference to the wishes of his wife. He told me he knew she would worry too much about him tackling the gruelling ultra at his age.
Bob is not alone. There are lots of other older people who are shunning the rocking chair. Jenny Allen, who is 86, has just run a 16km race around Dundee, Scotland, after entering her first marathon at 71.
There are others: John Vine, 80, who goes scuba diving in the English Channel and who used to swim with killer whales and giant octopi in his 70s; Margaret Ballard, 69, and her husband, Owen, 74, go water ski-ing near Bedford, England -- and that includes slalom and jumps; astronaut John Glenn has just completed a 5,6 million kilometre journey in space at the age of 77; in the world veteran marathon championships in Durban last year I was overtaken by scrawny, biltong-like tough 80-year-olds. It did not please me, but they had my admiration.
It emphasises that elderly people can continue to be active and take part in activities that used to be dangerous if not impossible -- perhaps just as well in a country and a society which hardly respects its older generation and gives the impression of considering them dispensable.
The recipe for quality life in later years is to keep active physically and mentally, and eat and drink sensibly.
There is little junk food in our household but there is plenty of exercise for body and mind.
The snag is, as always, that as people live longer, the more they outlive their dogs and horses. Our faithful old boxer Jess can no longer be taken on the long walks she loved; but we will all stay together as long as we can.
Tomorrow is the big day. In the evening we take off from OR Tambo International Airport for our trip to the US.
We are stopping over at Dakar, Senegal, for an hour for refuelling, then depart for Atlanta, Georgia. We then have a flight to Orlando, Florida, where we will catch the shuttle to DisneyWorld.
I am a bit nervous about the connecting flight, as we are supposed to leave Atlanta an hour after landing, and yet we still have to get through customs etc. I really hope everything will work out.
We have the same problem on the way out, but at least we will not be going through customs on the return leg.
So this is my last post until our return.
See you on July 16!
How do you pass the time during a flight? What do you bring in your carry-on?
With our trip to the United States looming, I suppose I had better come up with something to do. It's going to be a long one - Johannesburg-Dakar-Atlanta-Orlando with Delta - and I simply cannot sleep on planes.
The last long flight I had was in 2005, when we flew Johannesburg-Paris-Toronto (and back, of course). That was awful. Going there was not bad - we could watch movies on the screens at the back of the seats. That was fine, but coming back was a disaster.
On the Toronto-Paris leg, a French couple sat in the row in front of us (we were flying Air France). I should point out they were obese, and they smelled like they had been sleeping in a dumpster for three weeks. In any case, they could not get comfortable, so they launched themselves backwards and broke the seat backs, which then ended up on our laps, so they could lie back and sleep. The air crew did nothing about this, of course.
So no movie. Just sitting with a smelly person lying on your lap, greasy hair spilling over onto your stomach.
The second leg, Paris-Johannesburg, was in an old plane, with just a single large film screen up ahead. I suppose it would have been fine if only my earphone socket was intact. So no movie.
This time the flight is too long to use my iPod - the battery will never last that long. So I think this time I will take a carry-on, and that carry-on will contain:
a) A good book (possibly two). At least one will be hardcover and very thick. This serves two functions: (i) a weapon to beat off offensive people who start trying to break the seat in front of me; and (ii) in-flight entertainment.
b) A can of air freshener. This is to ensure that the air around me smells lemony fresh even if there are dumpster residents in my immediate neighbourhood.
c) A French dictionary. Not a complete one - just a list of the worst swearwords in French, in case I bump into the same couple.
d) A large bread roll stuffed with pickled onions, mustard, tomato sauce and everything else that oozes out when you bite into it. This is in case a, b, and c fail and the aforementioned couple do end up on my lap. Then I shall at least have some in-flight entertainment while I eat my sandwich over their heads.
