SHould I start this up again?????

thinking, thinking, thinking.....

Montreal, Niagara Falls, and New York City

So - I finally took a vacation - first one since January - and enforced (thankfully) due to the wedding of Mat and Michelle. The first week was spent in Montreal with M&M and their friends and family (and my folks) and the second week was spent with my folks driving to Niagara and back, then flying to NYC for a few days.

Loved the holiday - Montreal was great - I really didn't expect much - never really considered it as a destination to go spend a holiday at, and I doubt I will be in a rush to go back - but it was definitely worth a visit once. Spent the first week slowly being introduced to Mats friends as they arrived from NZ meaning that every night was a new party, finished off with teh wedding night itself at which i danced myself silly - dont remember ever having danced so much at any party before, but hey - i enjoyed myself.

The drive down to Niagara was about 6 hours, which was about 3 hours more than I expected originally - which was fine, except it was pissing it down when we got there!! People had told me that Niagara Falls was a bit like Blackpool on drugs, and I can see why - what a crazy place, but in the morning the sun was shining and we rode on the Maid of the Mist etc etc - well worth the drive.

The next day we flew to NYC. Was my first time in the Big Apple and I have to say that hte first few hours as we walked to Times Square from our hotel, were not pleasant - It was all too chaotic....but slowly I got into it, and really enjoyed the few days there, gettin to catch up with an old friend in the process. I particularly enjoyed chilling out in Central Park with all the weirdo's (one guy in a black bikini - hmmm)

Driving in SA

OK - so once again I am going to try hard to keep this blog up to date. And I have a few ideas for topics for the next few posts at least anyway....probably going to be a lot of bitching about SA, so I will make the point now that i do love this country, but there are a lot of things about SA that I still find quite unbelievable.

One of the things that you cannot get away from in Johannesburg is traffic. Public transport is next to non-existant, and more and more people are earning enough to own a car - i dont know the exact figures but someone mentioned something like 5 times the number of cars on the road as there were 15 years ago (during apartheid.)

This in itself is one thing that really needs sorting out, although I am not sure how as the road links are pretty good its got to be said. However, the worst problem is the state of the driving in this country, and it is not only a Jo-sie problem.

I am not convinced that most of the drivers on the road have ever even taken a driving lesson, let alone a test for a license. Just this morning, I had one guy in front of me driving for a few minutes straight down a road, with his left blinker on. He drove past several roads on the right. This is something i have also done in the past, it happens. However, the guy then turned his blinker off, and 3 seconds later decided to stop suddenly on the right hand side of the road, WITHOUT using his blinker to indicate it to me....this beggars belief in my mind.

Roundabouts here are a deathtrap. Noone seems to know how to use one. Seems that SA drivers are of the opinion that the first one at the roundabout has right of way - not quite true people. Driving on the highway is also a risky business. In most civilised countries overtaking is only allowed on the outside of the car (ie in the fast lane.) I am still to find out the actual law in SA, but whether its law or not, everyone here passes on both sides of the car if you are in the middle lane. This is so dangerous.

I have been here for 7 months now, and i have personally witnessed more accidents on the road in the last 7 months than i ever have in the past 32 years. Also, I broke my duck. In 15 years of driving I had never been involved in an accident where i was driving, until I lived in SA. I was practically stopped at a stop sign, and a guy came out of nowhere (we think he didnt see the stop sign until too late then saw it and swerved) and came in front of us and clipped the front right - see pic. Had I been 2 metres further forward he wouldhave rammed straight into my door...grrrr - he had the balls to say it want him as well - idiot.

JET Memories...

Someone sent me this link today - forgot all about it and surprised it is still up...but worth keeping this link for future reference..

http://www.jet-uk.org/jetreports/malcolm.html