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

A new record?

Whats this - three posts in three days? unbelievable for me. Well nothing to say really either - this is more of a housekeeping post for me to remind me of the changes i made to the blog today - and also to add the picture on here so i can link back to it later.

Nothing to add re my new living arrangements - had a look at an apartment yesterday but was to small and dark...the search continues - oh yeah - there was yet another storm last night too - that makes 7 in 8 days....

Johannesbug Storms

One thing i forgot to mention in the last post was the mental storms that we are getting here - I have never seen anything like it. I have now been here 7 days, and we have had 6 pretty major thunder and lightning storms....they are extremely electrical - i have never seen lightning like it . Yesterday I was able to take a few shots my favourite of which is over thre on the right somewhere....

An update....

Wow - its been a couple of months since i last posted to the blog, and what a couple of months it has been...For reasons that might become apparent, i am not going to be able to go into loads of details, but here are the highlights....

Nov 29 - moved away from Germany.....my apartment has been packed up and shipped (see below) and I fly to Japan

Nov 30-Dec 22 - FIFA Club World Cup 2007 in Japan. Yup its the same event that brought me to Japan this time last year. Not going to say too much about the event other than I did not go to any of the games (Personal choice - wanted to catch up with mates instead) but the event was the easiest so far in my opinion. Loved being back in Japan, and was great to catch up with all the people that i did, as well as meeting a few new and interesting people along the way..

Dec 22 - Jan 8 - Christmas/New year - in the UK with Family and friends.
Was good to be back and caught up with a few people i havent seen in a couple of years - so all good.

Jan 8 - the big move. I moved to South Africa for a four year stint in preparation for the 2010 World Cup. I will still be travelling to other events too - but South Africa, and more importantly Johannesburg is going to be my base for the next few years.

I have been here a week now, and not much to say - I am looking for apartments, but biggest difficulty there is finding a reliable agent that wont keep cancelling on us. Currently living in some nice rented apartments in Sandton, one of the Jo-burg suburbs. Thats the biggest challenge about Jo-burg - it does not really have one centre - but more 5/6 different suburbs that are cool and i might like to live there...so before i can really look at apartments i need to work out where i actually want to live.

Downside to being here is that the new office (which opens in Feb - we are currently in temporary offices in Sandton) is going to be by the FNB stadium, which is almost in Soweto, and not in an area that i would want to live - so looks like i will have at least a 30 min commute to work each day - bugger...

FInally before i sign off - everyone always asks me about the safety aspect of south africa, and Jo-burg in particular. It is different down here, and it is worth taking more care than usual, but i have to admit i dont think it has been that bad so far - I so not feel particularly unsafe - although there was one evening when we ended up in a dodgy area in the car - but we quickly retraced our steps and got back on the main highway..I am suer there will be more on SA security in future posts.

Anyway - here i am, and this is where i will be for a while....as i am in temporary accommodation i no longer have internet connection at home so these posts may be few and far between for a while - but my intention now that i am here is to post more often with thoughts on the country area and people...