It's back baby

Been waiting since the May when season 5 of Bones ended on well [spoiler alert] the team deciding to take time off for the year.

Driven by Brennan (Bones) who had pretty much had too much of the crime-solving and her need to get perspective on her life and her relationship / stance with Booth led to our super hot knight in shining FBI standard issue armour also taking time off to return to the US Army to train soldiers. Angela and Hodgins who married towards the end of the season went on a long honeymoon to Paris, while Cam and Sweets stayed behind.

The long story short... Brennan and Booth couldn't carry on the path they were going: the 100th episode ended in a kiss, which in a heartbreaking scene saw Brennan deny Booth to further act on his feelings for her, - though hers were fully evident as well - led to the decision being made to take a year off.

Here's that heart crushing scene...



And so we have it. Nearly 4 months later and we are ready to start season 6 only 7 months later after the team is called back to help out Cam. As a fan for the past 5 years, I'm honestly looking forward to this season.

The season 6 teaser 

Forget PigSpotter

In all honesty, all this fuss over PigSpotter (Jhb, Cpt, Dbn and so on) is getting a bit old and if the police are so blind to what social media is and the power of crowdsourcing information, then so be it. 

Knowledge is power

Think of it this way: If I see a police trap I tend to phone (using handsfree) my family and friends and warn them about this awesome oke, looking like a yetti, hiding in the bush on the M5 north towards the N1. It's the same with social media, just using a different method of communication and being on... say a more visible and public platform. As @art2gee put it so simply: "We are all @PigSpotters"

So as a hard working (tax payer) individual like the majority of the people in this country, I simple ask one thing of the police:

Forget PigSpotter and sort out the taxi chaos on the roads. I know it's an age old issue but I drive the N2 to Stellenbosch every day of my life and cannot tell you how bad it is. Day in and out taxi's are travelling at 140km/h on the right lane (at no safe distance whatsoever) only to swerve across three lanes (yes, cars are in those lanes) to the emergency shoulder only to do the exact same back to the right lane again. 

Here's another...

On Tuesday I watched a taxi swerve past the back of my car and drive in the emergency lane narrowly missing a motorbike. This is just one incident of hundreds that happen daily on my journey (which is only 50 minutes) and what do I see? 

• Traffic officers on the opposite side of the road stopping the wrong vehicles stuck in bumper to bumper traffic
• Traffic cars parked on the N2 watching the traffic by the old Athlone Towers
• Provincial Traffic cars by the airport station ALL parked and not on the roads during those peak driving hours

Incidents like the Blackheath train tragedy where 9 innocent schoolchildren lost their lives or the underage taxi driver who knocked down and killed my mom's friend Kevin Brookes in a hit and run in the centre of Cape Town (in front of another family member who witnessed the entire incident) is becoming out of hand. There are many stories like this and I fear every time I get on the road to work that I may become a statistic and no one in their right mind should have to fear to drive to work. 

So wake the *&%k up and sort our roads out. I'm not worried about PigSpotter or your traps, in fact I welcome this type of information because it promotes awareness / better driving among the public. 

I'm worried about something more dangerous on our roads: death by a taxi driver.

Wear a lifejacket

It's that simple...

Music Monday

In honour of loving the great Florence and the Machine right now, who has had a revival on my iPod, I give you her latest video: Cosmic Love

And cosmic it is

Running around painting this old town

Absolutely loving 'Lovesick' by The Arrows.

If you've never heard it (where have you been?) then watch the video

Getting a grip

I used to think I had a grip on my finances, a very important part of any person's life but I was a little wrong. 

My bank account was outdated and I had no idea what package I was still on along with no online banking or sms notifications when I've made a transaction pretty much was screaming at me for a while. I dragged myself into ABSA today and within an hour I had sorted out my life.

• Goodbye student account (why I still had it, I don't know)
• New package
• All cards linked to my cheque account
• Internet banking setup
• Mobile banking setup
• SMS notification setup
• Secondary card 

Tried to go to FNB to open a savings account / whatever will work account but the branch is having renovations. 

Anyway, today will be the day I start getting a grip on my finances, starting with my bank account and I've organised a chat with my financial consultant friend to explain some more on how I can save effectively and use my finances efficiently.

Excited that I am getting some part of my life in order, especially on the day I nearly lost my life.

What's the fuss?

A few weeks ago a bunch of us folk decided to head to Paulaner Brauhaus opposite the Clock Tower at the V&A Waterfront. Being a German beer house and restaurant I wondered what I could possibly have to eat taking into account that I don't' eat pork.

"We'll find something on the German menu" said Folk 1

"Or you could just eat a lovely piece of wors" chirped Folk 2

Folk 3 killed the Jew jokes with "You could have their chicken schnitzel"

Victory I thought and victory is was but what was the best part of the evening is that I found a beer that I actually like. The last time I found a beer I drank, it was at a dodgy local pub at my first job in London around the corner from Leicester Square called the Chandos. It was an in-house, sweet and smooth, had a hint of honey and well for 3 pounds it went down super well after work.

But my new find is the Paulaner Weissbier which is sweet and smooth but most important, drinkable. Should I ever feel the urge to have another beer, that will be the option.

Is there another fine 'woman friendly' beer I'm missing out on in Cape Town?

Where it started

The show that started my love of art on the small box: Alias. Found these promos on YouTube from years ago by Channel 4 in Finland. Now I don't need to understand Finish (is that correct?) to know how awesome this show was. In fact I'm thinking of pulling out the 5 DVD boxsets and started an Alias marathon for the next few months and with Bones season 6 starting in 2 weeks, it will be a great TV treat

5 years of espionage, family drama, relationships, friendships, love, conspiracies and a superb cast including Jennifer Garner, Bradley Cooper, Michael Vartan, Ron Rifkin = happy tv fan

Blindingly beautiful

I love my music. I'm a big fan of Florence and the Machine who's popular song 'The Dog Days are Over' has been on the local airwaves for a while. Her debut album Lungs is an absolute pleasure to listen to and I've been lucky to have it for a long time. Her song I'm currently absolutely hooked on, is the powerful 'Blinding' which strikes every nerve in my body that makes my hands turn into Dancing Phalanges.

No more dreaming like a girl so in love...

All guts, no glory

This was originally posted in the Sea Rescue magazine (Winter 2010 edition) and is the editorial post from CEO Ian Wienburg...


"President Harry Truman once said “it is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care about who gets the credit". I think that sums up the ethos of Sea Rescue. Anyone who wants to be the hero or who has visions of leaping in front of the camera does not last long. All of us clean the bathrooms and all of us wipe up behind the casualties. Very few of the 920 unpaid volunteers appear on the evening news, very few of them have their names published.

So while you may often see my name and my face or even more frequently hear the words “Craig Lambinon said....” – we are merely the mouthpiece for a phenomenal team."

On Thursday 26th August, the NSRI honoured some of it's volunteer crewmen, woman and public  - who performed courageous acts for mere strangers, some in the middle of the morning (03:00) to just before midnight (the Seli 1 ground in September 2009) - at the NSRI 2010 AGM.

Award winners Steven Freeborough, Reinhard Geldenhuys , Darryl Moon, Jaco Louw, Jody Foster and Sandile Mkari at the Sea Rescue AM awards. Picture Andrew Ingram/ Sea Rescue.

So if you want to see the everyday faces of the people who will drop whatever they are doing and head out into treacherous seas then look no further then the NSRI AGM 2010 gallery

Where you can find the NSRI online:

• Website
• Facebook
• Flickr
• YouTube
• Twitter

I won

The first time I've - probably - ever won anything and all because I love me some Valpre sparkling water and happened to be playing with 'stuff' on my desk, got bored with that, SMSed the barcode and ta-dah; winner!

Pretty

A Traditional Tea by the Sea for Two at The Twelve Apostles Hotel (part of The Red Carnation Hotel Collection).

Winner!