Joe Rotheray

Joe Rotheray

The use of such a facility is outdated and painfully slow, especially when SARS, in spite of having our user friendly email address, use it.

What the wife said:

Block the hole

Why?

I do not want the bird coming in.

What if I want the bird?

No, leaves stuff behind.

What stuff?

Baby bird, and what a mess.

Oh!

Lice as well.

I tell you what, if it is a starling, she goes, but if it is a hoopoe, we keep it.

Whatever you say, just get on with it.

Our friend Malema!!!

Malema's tender bonanza: News24: South Africa: News

Malema's tender bonanza: News24: South Africa: News

Sounds like a true capitalist to me, but without fairness thrown in
for good measure. The backward drag is such a pity.

On occasion some children seem to refuse to learn.

BBC News - Are you being served?

BBC News - Are you being served?

I must admit that when you walk into some shops you are met with complete disinterest by staff concerned, and that does not encourage you to make your purchase at that particular shop. The problem is especially exasperating when staff are employed on the basis of colour and not of skill. It is the willingness to assist, not forgetting the smile, that achieves the desired result.

The above applies to all sectors of economic activity from top to bottom. The tendency is evident in South Africa, and doubtlessly elsewhere, where services both public and private have taken a dive. It is akin to a child who has a favourite colour, he will take the green one because the colour is right, in spite of the fact that he knows that the blue one will work better.

I guess it is up to what the employer wants. If he wants his business or public service to thrive, he will employ the correct tools to maximize efficiency.

joe_rotheray's photostream

joe_rotheray's photostream on Flickr.

My collection of images on Flickr.

Settlers Park in Port Elizabeth

Port Elizabeth’s Settlers Park in 1984 when there seemed to be some hope of beautifying the area as a place to indulge in some of the wonders and pleasures of nature.

 Follow this path anticipating what may be seen around the next bend.

Occasional flooding adds excitement and nature's subtle changes to the area.

Down there it was a forest of fun.

Pleasure for the family.

And then our Parks department decided to renovate with the wholesale removal of many of the trees. At the final stages of this removal, it was decided that ring barking was a good method to use for the killing of the trees. Unfortunately, this is a slow process. Furthermore, the remains are not removed when life is gone, but left standing, not exactly adding to the attraction of the area. How long term is this project?

 I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Night

I am not used to being struck with the inability  to sleep. It is 11.45 pm and just had two slices of bread slathered with butter and home- made tomato jam. Following that a cup of Yorkshire tea. I dreamed of very large meat pies, not sure I ate them though.

I am told the temperature reached 38 degrees centigrade today, extremely hot. I think it has been raining solidly for the past 3 hours, high humidity at the moment.. We have been waiting for the rain for a fair while. Maybe at last the drought is to be broken. The rain can be heard coming down at a rate, an almost forgotten sound, the swishing of passing cars through the water in the street.. Seemingly the humidity refuses to abate. We may have another flood on the way, in spite of what the forecasts say, an average of 30 degrees over the 6 forthcoming days.

Well, cannot sit here all night. I have finished my snack and the tea. I am off to bed and hopefully sleep as well.