safish.com

I'm kinda over blogging. I don't have the time. So I've changed mys ite to be more photo-oriented, coz that's the shit I like.

We spent the easter weekend in Salt Rock with my folks, Chris, Peta and little Ciaran. Freaking awesome. Good weather, some fun surf, and just a generally relaxing time. Unfortunately, over the weekend Eugene Terreblanche, leader of the AWB, was murdered on his farm, allegedly by two black workers over a pay dispute. It's opened a HUGE kettle of works here in South Africa. We've all known it, but racism (from both camps) is certainly not dead, and some of the sensationalist UK newspapers contain headlines spouting civil war. I do think it's one of the biggest crises this country has faced since 1994 - it remains to be seen how the ANC deals with it. Julius Malema is being his usual abrasive, racist, self, and continues to make the headlines locally on a daily basis. Grrr....why can't we all just get along?

The legend known as AMY turned 4 today! I can't believe it's four years since we met her. Time just goes too fast once you have kids.

In other news, Indians appear to want to be white. It really makes me laugh that those who are brown, want to be white, and those who are white, want to be brown. Humans are just never happy. Maybe one day, with enough interbreeding, we'll all end up one indistinguishable shade of brown, and we can find something else to hate each other for.

I've finally updated my site to be something that doesn't look like it was created 10 years ago. Which it was (almost). I've been doing it bit by bit so it's likely to be a bit buggy - if you encounter any errors please let me know, as well as the browser you were using.

We've been making the most of the Durban summer this year - we've had great weather for the last month, and my little family done something fun pretty much every weekend day. We've had birthday parties, numerous beach visits, a trip up the arch of the new Durban Moses Mabida Stadium (which is pretty spectacular), and a Prime Circle concert in the Botanic Gardens.

Some photos of the joy here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mrsalmon/Summer2010

Jeez, we finally have a phone again. What a disaster. After a huge storm took out our line on the 10th of last month, Eskom and Telkom decided to lay new cables outside our house. So, on the 12th of last month, without notice, Fee arrived home to find she couldn't get into our house because they'd dug a 50 centimetre wide and deep hole straight through our brick driveway.

We finally got our phone line yesterday. It turns out, the assholes who laid the pipes, didn't install a phone cable. What superb work. What really grates me is the method of service delivery. Contractors just rock up at your house (sometimes at 8 in the morning on a weekend) with no notice and expect you to be there. They then ask the same questions the previous palooka did, root around a bit, and disappear. You can't find out the progress of the job, because the people at the call centre don't know, and you basically just have to wait for them. We've been in this house 6 months, and we've had 2 full months without a line - compare that to the UK where I had about 6 hours outage in over 5 years. Oh for some decent competition.

In the meantime, we've been up the arch of the new Durban staidum, to the beach pretty much every weekend, and work is stupidly busy. 2010 hasn't had a good start, but it's starting to improve!

Good grief. Today there is a big humdrum because they finally realised Julius Malema has a ridiculous number of assets. The thing is, he has other business interests, so I'm not sure all the song and dance is justified.

What IS pertinent, however, is that this is the same guy who shouts communist slogans and wants to nationalise the South African mines. Basically, it's the most obvious contridiction ever: criticise captilism and it's trappings when talking to your followers, but embrace all of those same trappings in your OWN lifestyle. Do as I say, not what I do. I really wonder if he can actually see this himself, or if he's just to stupid? I really battle to fathom how someone can be this much of a hypocrite.

Is it just me, or does this picture of Andy Murray also scare the SHIT out of you?

I had a pretty awesome weekend. Saturday, the waves were really really really fun in Umhlanga, and my last wave was 2 turns and a nice little tube. I spent the rest of the day with my girls and wife, cruising at home, capped by some pizza and wine. Good times.

The waves were good again on Sunday, but that wasn't the highlight of the session - the highlight was the 100 or so dolphins that played around us for 10 minutes, surfing and jumping out of the water. One big guy jumped about 3 or 4 meters from me, fully out of the water. I didn't catch a wave in ages, I was just trying to swim down to check them out - a very special experience.

Of course, however, it can't all go well - after a 4 or so month break from disease, Amy got hit with a ridiculous temperature yesterday evening. 3 days back at school and BANG. Poor little girl. Hopefully it clears up in the next day or so, at the moment she's feeling terrible, although I have to hand it to her, she doesn't complain at all.

I added some new albums to picasa too:

• General Pics
• Craigieburn Dam, January 2010
• Bel
• Amy

BWA HA HA HA this photo cracks me the hell up. My two (AWESOME) little girls have just gbeen given some toy jewelry by Fee's cousin Nicky, and the pair of them went totally apeshit. They were literally bouncing around the room whooping with joy. Oh to be under 4. That was Christmas Eve, and I'm back at work now feeling like I didn't even get a break. Holidays over the Christmas period are just too hectic - trying to see people and get shit done, it's just not relaxing. Having said that though, I did have a good time. The waves were actually pretty good and I got in a few really fun surfs, and I finally cleaned our filthy driveway with a pressure hose - it took me 3 days but it's done and all sparkly.

The girls were a delight, Amy is frigging hard work because she's go-go-go but she's the coolest kid in the world so I forgive her. Bel is coming on in leaps and bounds, she's very advanced for her age and is desparately trying to talk to everyone. She's actually got quite a big vocab now: Dada (me!), Mama, Mommy, Hello, Bye-bye, Dow (Down), Da (Duck), Up, Amy, Un (On), Baw (Ball), Baby, and a pile of others I forget right now. Very amusing though, and she still walks like a penguin, haw haw haw.

This year is gonna be even more hectic then the last one I think. We've had a million appliance issues (phone, fridge, stove, computer, and counting), and the bills are racking up - it's going to be rough! Home ownership is expensive, it's like you're throwing wads of cash into a bottomless pit. Still, the place is finally starting to take place and we're loving it. Both of us miss Westville and I miss being closer to the sea, but we both still feel it was a good move. We STILL haven't taken transfer of the damn place, but it should go through in the next week or two, fingers crossed.

My brother, his wife and Ciaran also return home from the UK this month, in fact Peet is already back and we'll be seeing her and the little man this weekend - WOOO HOO. Chris gets back in 3 weeks, so amped. It'll be good to have another mate home, it's kinda lonely being the only guy with kids coz I hardly ever see my friends, all I hear is them doing cool stuff. Such is life, wouldn't trade it for anything. With Bel growing up, hopefully we'll start getting out more - it's Rich and Anna's wedding in May and all the London boys will be home, we're hopefully going to St Francis with Todo and Andrea, and we've got a few other plans so we'll see how it goes. Let the good times begin!

Pics of my girls: http://picasaweb.google.com/mrsalmon/Christmas2009.