Garden Gnomes And Other Creatures

This post was inspired by a link my older brother found about a garden gnome that was "kidnapped" and sent on a holiday of a lifetime around the world. Photos of the kidnapped gnome in exoctic locations started sufacing on the web......but the story does have a happy ending. He was returned to his garden looking just as fresh as the day he went missing. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1043552/Gnome-Stolen-garden-elf-returned-7-month-adventure-world.html

A sneak preview of the gnome (called Murphy) is shown on the left standing outside the Sydney Opera House. But not all stories have happy endings. One gnome was kidnapperd and held for $10,000 ransom! http://bigpondnews.com/articles/OddSpot/2010/06/03/Kidnapped_gnome_is_a_pint-sized_mystery_469148.html unfortunately the article doesn't say whether the Australian couple paid the ransom or whether the gnome was returned in one piece. Read the article and see if you can solve the mystery. And it doesn't get any better than this........a google search on "kidnapped gnome" brings up a spate of articles such as: "Have you kidnapped a gnome today?" "Kidnapped Gnomes: Have you seen me?" and the best one of all "Garden Gnome meets Paris Hilton".

Tweet! Tweet!

Another type of Twitterer or Tweeter

No I have not gone completely mad, and this post is not going to be about birds either. In fact it's about how to tweet on Twitter. Try saying that quickly after a dew beers....ha ha!! Everybody asks: "Are you on Twitter?" People say you can follow TV show updates on Twitter. So I suppose there is some use in the application, my only criticism is that you are very limited in the amount of "characters" you use, for example if I wrote on Twitter the same post as here.......I would only be able to tweet the first two lines! I have two followers on Twitter, but here I have only one. I suppose it takes time to have your tweets and blogs read by people, on the other hand people probably read what you have written but have not signed up in order to be able to follow you. I actually share this blog on my Face Book profile.  I'm taking this tweeting and blog writing one day at a time, and hopefully will get more followers as I sit writing this. Did I mention I started writing a children's book? It's a sort of collection of short stories in the Harry Potter vein. I'll tell you more about it next time......

The Great Durban Street Re-naming Debacle

Who is Stephen Dlamini?

Lilian Ngoyi, Sylvester Ntuli, Dr Pixley KaSeme, Che Guevara, Problem Mkhize...........who are these people? Am I compiling some sort of list of names? No these are all  new street names in Durban. And you may well ask what these people did to deserve this recognition? Well I have no idea. If you take Gardiner Street for example it was so named after Captain Allen Gardiner, a fearless missionary. If it wasn't for him there probably wouldn't have been a Durban. And then along comes a Mike Sutcliffe who decides to rename 90 of our roads and streets without consulting us who pay our rates. There's a street renamed after Yasser Arafat.....now you tell me what did he do to deserve a street named after him? Take the photo above for example.......Who is Stephen Dlamini? It used to be Essenwood Road which every cab driver and local citizens know the location of.........but ask them where or who Stephen Dlamini is/was, and they won't have a clue. Some of the names are unpronouncable like Masabalala Yengwa Avenue which had all historians up in arms as it used to be called NMR Avenue. NMR stands for Natal Mounted Rifles, one of Durban's oldest regiments who fought heroically against the Nazis in World war 2. Masabalala Yengwa on the other hand as far as I can see did nothing much to warrant a road to be named after him. What is the purpose of all this renaming? As radio personality Gareth Cliff said "Stop renaming things. Build new things to re-name."
  I'd like to suggest to Mr Sutcliff to read a book called "Who Was Who in Durban Street Names" by David Dick before making name changes and don't forget to consult us Durbanites beforehand. Maybe he will realise the big mistake he has made before it's too late.

Who's in Charge?

I was watching the news on SABC TV at the weekend, and saw that President Jacob Zuma was in Egypt holding talks with the government there. A little later on the same newscast, there was our deputy president holding talks with the government in Jordan. What's going on? Does the deputy president have a deputy who takes over? Someone please explain it to me! Who is running the country whilst these two are wining and dining with heads of state? Maybe the person left in charge is told to contact the President only in an emergency.........I can just imagine Mr Zuma recieving a call something like this: "Mr President, the teachers are on the rampage and are demanding to see you. What should I do?" This is where actors can show off their talent. A "look-a-like" Jacob Zuma is employed to sit in his office chair and speak to the masses or maybe the goverment can "borrow" the President Zuma puppet from ZA-NEWS at least the man in the street might then believe someone is in charge. For the uninformed, ZA-NEWS takes a humorous look at SA poltics in the form of videos on YouTube.

How can you tell?

Are these two gay?

A group of guys have been busy discussing on Facebook whether a certain male TV Weather presenter was gay. Firstly it's really none of their business. Secondly how can you tell whether (no pun intended)  a TV weather presenter bats for the other team just by watching him present the weather? Are these guys pshycic or something. Two males holding hands, kissing etc in public are more likely to be gay (bent, queer) than a guy presenting the weather forecast. These FB guys will then argue.....look how he dresses. I know men who are straight as arrows who wear pink shirts and pink ties. Look at the one rugby match at Durban where  the entire team wore pink in support of breast cancer awareness. Some guys presume that when a man dresses up in woman's clothing, he's gay. Well that is not entirely true either.......trust me! With that said it would be interesting to hear your views and comments on the matter.

Neighbourhood Watch?

These two dogs are huge and I am sure they
are very good watchdogs

What is a neighbourhood watch........I often ask myself? Is it a group of vigilante neighbours going round beating up suspected criminals with baseball bats? Or is it neighbours who phone the cops if they see something suspicious? A lot of people will argue that the police take too long to arrive so it's best to take the law into their own hands by playing Rambo. On the other hand I believe in the "innocent until proven guilty" as your version of suspicious behaviour may differ greatly from mine. It's a matter of knowing your neighbours, whether it be the security guards in your street or the maids that arrive every day in your area. Personally I don't believe in Neighbourhood Watches as the members do not observe the "innocent til proven guilty" rule. I have seen a neighbour hitting a guy because he supposedly stole the son's bicycle. Let a judge decide the fate of the "guilty" party, as you could have a costly lawsuit on your hands if you start assaulting the suspect before the police arrive.

Where's The Security?

I think these people ran out of money to complete the secuity wall!

Had you ever thought about the security on your property..........is it enough? Or is it non-existent? I know they (the criminals) usually say that if you have six metre high walls, you're hiding very valuable stuff. And what about the people on the outside? If your property is in the process of being robbed, and you (the owner) is being held at gunpoint........how can I alert the police if I can't see into your property? The crime may only be discovered six days later when your maid returns from leave or when she arrives for work the next day. Statistics show that in most cases the maid is usually to blame as she will gossip to her friends about the lovely big house she works in, when the Madam goes shopping, the size of the TV etc. Sometimes the maid also accidentally lets in the bogus meter reader, whose buddies will be close behind him. When leaving your premises always be observant, take note of any supicious cars outside. It could be criminals watching your every move.