25.05.2013 The Highland Gathering, Johannesburg

South Africa is famously labelled the 'Rainbow Nation' and is an incredible country full of diverse traditions which are passionately upheld by its many peoples. Rather randomly this weekend on Africa Day, the local school of the area which we are currently living in, was having a Highland Gathering, celebrating all things Scottish. As my husband is from Scotland this was something we really had to see.

It is not surprising to find Scottish culture and traditions being followed in countries far from bonnie Scotland - even Moscow has a very active Scottish community and I challenge you to find a modern capital city without an Irish/Scottish/Celtic pub in it - but the level of dedication, organisation, passion and skill that we saw at Johannesburg's Highland Gathering was something else. Also the amount of tartan on display was a joy to behold.

The pipes, the pipes were most certainly calling.

At the De La Salle Holy Cross College event (an event which I am reliably informed is certainly not the biggest in the country) 15 different piping bands from across the region (more if you include the junior sections) were competing in different fields such as march, strathsprey and reel. There was also a very impressive competition for young drum majors (the guys at the front throwing around the sticks) and a highland dancing competition which unfortunately we missed.

The large majority of South Africa's piping bands are connected with prestigious local schools and some of these bands were formed as recently as two years ago. However, there are also a number of bands such as the Transvaal Scottish (1902) and the South African Irish Pipes and Drums (1939) which trace their history back to military regiments posted in the region in the early 20^th Century.

At first I thought these guys were wearing Springboks colours, then I saw the gorgeous shamrock and  harp detailing. Definitely my favourite kilts of the day

Piping became popular in South Africa during the years of British influence when various Scottish and Irish regiments were based in South Africa. Immigration from Scotland and Ireland also helped the music to flourish and over the years playing in a piping band has become a source of immense pride for youngsters of all backgrounds attending schools with Celtic associations as well as for those of the older generations who trace their roots back to the British Isles.

Old lads in kilts

Young lads in kilts

Marvellous hat and scarf tartan combo

The undoubted highlight of the Highland Gathering is seeing the massed bands perform at the end of the day. All the bands which had competed marched together across the playing fields to the sound of traditional Scottish folk music -and yes, they even played the Scottish national anthem Flower of Scotland! The sound and spectacle was incredibly moving and I have to say it did make me feel quite homesick, but in the best possible way.

At one point it was announced that they would play Amazing Grace in memory of one of the bands' former Drum Major's who had died from cancer that week. A lone piper struck up the tune first before being joined by the whole mass of hundreds of pipes and drums. The sound was overwhelmingly beautiful. As the man standing next to me put it, it was 'enough to bring a tear to a glass eye'.

The Highland Gathering proved to be a really great family day out. There were bacon butties and sausages on the barbeques, a beer tent (of course), a big crafts market plus the chance to try your hand at some fun and games such as throwing tomatoes at a man in a box (random fun) and of course tossing the caber (traditional fun).

Some of the strapping young lads from one of the bands made this caber tossing stuff all look quite straightforward.  

However as my husband found out - it's definitely not as easy as it looks.

24.05.2013 In Linden

Due to various set-backs in our flat-hunting mission, we have been forced to rent a temporary place for another 2 weeks before we can finally move into our proper home. The upside to this has been the chance to explore a new 'hood, which we wouldn't otherwise have spent much time in - Linden.

It may be a bit out of the way, but Linden is a special little place. It's got that friendly small town feel to it, with a healthy smattering of local shops and cafes, just one supermarket and not a mall in sight. There's a real sense of community here which many areas of modern Johannesburg seem to lack.

Here are some of my favourite places in Linden:

The Argentinian

Corner 7th Street and 4th Avenue, Linden

An Argentinian bakery specialising in croissants. You can get a really good fresh breakfast roll (or croissant) with eggs, mushrooms and more here, plus a juice and a coffee for about 50Rand - excellent value. The music is good old-fashioned 1960s folk from Bob, Janis and the gang, staff are absolutely lovely, there's free wifi and not a whiff of pretension. I'd breakfast here everyday if I didn't think such behaviour was absurdly extravagant.

I haven't eaten many croissants in Africa,  but these are definitely very good

The Whippet

Corner 7th Street and 4th Avenue, Linden

This is Linden's trendy cafe and it's always packed at lunchtimes. They have all kinds of smart, well-appointed design details like light bulbs in jam jars and Phillipe Starck inspired tea pots. The Whippet has an impressive selection of exotic tea blends from across the continent and great coffee too. The wifi is not wholly efficient (just 25mb at a time), but the food is gorgeous, they open late on Fridays for after work drinks and they are very dedicated to the local community - as they say themselves it's all about 'South Africans rediscovering their neighborhoods and their own history'.

The Whippet in Linden

Yugo Store

56 4th Avenue, Linden

Yugo store is an historic relic that looks like it just fell out of 1980s Bradford, although apparently according to some web reports Yugo dates back as far as 1946. Impressive. It says it's a supermarket, but actually it's more a warren of all kinds of random odds and ends, some of which have real obvious use, such as the African brand pots and pans, and others which have evidently been here for the past three decades waiting patiently for someone to come in and say 'yes, that's it! The pineapple shaped ashtray I was looking for!' It's like Poundsaver only most things cost around three pounds and some of the stuff is really old.

In fact I might go so far as to say that Yugo Store needs a blog post all of its own - it is just such a unique place in this land of countless anonymous shopping malls. It's an absolute Aladdin's cave of random stuff; bucket and spade, bicycle wheel, photo frames, nails, strange local soap brands, toy soldiers, loose cigarettes (sold individually - many people queuing up for these), sweets (so many sweets), seeds, towels, coca-cola. You can buy it all in this one shop.

There's an old fella (Mr Yugo I presume) who mans the till all hours, greets everyone by their first name and knows where literally every item in his store is. I've come here on numerous occasions in the last week looking for tin openers, irons, saucepans etc and he always reels off the exact directions 'left side of the store, 3^rd shelf, bottom' in a heartbeat. He seems to know everyone and always has time to chat. He is the reason that local stores are so important in the 21st Century - they keep communities together and remind us to be friendly to each other. Love Yugo Stores.

The Cheese Shop and Cheese Cafe

71 7th Street, corner 3rd Avenue, Linden

I love cheese. Me and my husband even had a cake made entirely of cheese at our wedding, because that was my cheese dream. For me cheese is basically an improvement to pretty much any meal. At the Cheese Shop you can not only buy fancy small-farm South African cheeses such as extra strong Karoo cheddar, you can also have a cheese meal in the cheese restaurant next door – class.

Rembrandt Slaghuis

57 4th Avenue, Linden

Slaghuis means slaughterhouse in Afrikaans (one of many amusing Afrikaans words) and Rembrandt is the real deal. This meat is really outstanding stuff, some of it is so succulent and fresh you could eat it cooked up just with salt and pepper. Damn, it just has so much flavour, it's pure meat feast luxury. Mr Rembrandt likes to give me a gentle ribbing over my terrible Afrikaans, which I actually find quite charming and not annoying as I have been wont to feel in other places. In fact he's actually trying to help me learn. Sweet.

Rembrandt Slaghuis

Oh and on Saturday mornings they set up a braai outside the shop – nyom!

Linden Cycle

63 3rd Avenue

At some point I think I am going to quit walking everywhere and splash out on a bike. When I do, I am definitely getting it from here. They have decent looking second-hand bikes from as little as 500Rand (about 35quid).

Herby's

Need a Swiss or Bavarian hairstylist? Call this guy.

The Blue Room

57 3rd Avenue, Linden

This is a cute little store specialising in 1950s era furniture and other sweet design pieces. They have a set of sparkly early 1960s kitchen chairs in there which I am in love with, but alas I think sensibility will win out. They also sell Lenin bust candles (randomly) and have a good value clothes store next door.

Amuse Cafe

34 5th Street, corner of 4th Avenue, Linden

Unfortunately there are not many bars in Linden. In fact I could rephrase that and say there are next to no bars in Linden. Thank heavens the football season's over.

Linden's one contribution to nightlife is the inviting, vaguely bohemian and gay friendly Amuse Cafe. They have live music from local bands Thursday through Saturday (acoustic night on Thursdays) and the friendly owner Dirk is so laidback he doesn't mind punters just hanging out drinking after-hours and getting on stage to mime the West End Girls video while listening to the full whack of Pet Shop Boys Greatest Hits, as we did last weekend. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Local folk singer Lucy Kruger

05.05.2013 Parys, Free State - Carryblaire River Retreat

May 5^th was our wedding anniversary. As it was our first we thought we should set the bar high and do something special to celebrate. Plus we really needed to escape from the stresses and annoyances of flat-hunting for a little bit.

I trawled the internet for a nice retreat within a reasonable drive from Johannesburg and came up with the Carryblaire River Retreat, 90mins from Joburg. They boast that the most hectic activities available are reading and fishing. Complete relaxation.

Carryblaire River Retreat

About 15kms outside of the town of Parys, we turned off onto a bright red dirt track which led us round to the banks of the river Vaal and this lovely former farm. I was over-the-moon to find they had checked us into a hut called 'African Skies' and even more insanely excited to be greeted with a full milky way starry, starry sky. Bliss.

After a very good, made-to-order breakfast we asked about some nearby hiking opportunities and were directed 3kms down the road to some hiking trails up a hill from a farm called 'The Dell'. A mere 20minutes into our 'hike' we came to this bucolic view point before deciding to continue on up some of the other trails. 

Along the way we came face-to-face with a family of antelope (ok, we thought that might happen) which was cool. And then we rounded a corner and were standing about 10 metres away from...two giraffes - very cool!

John keeps repeating this story to everyone he can, but that giraffe did seriously freak me out - in completely legitimate fashion - nobody had told us there would be big animals and game on this trail. John has it that the giraffe scared me. But I swear to God I saw that giraffe run off just as some other golden coloured cat-like creatures rustled the bushes after it (lions?! No, they were wild cats I know now, but still...there were a lot of lion-coloured rocks on that hill). Slightly scared initial reaction aside - walking alone with two giraffes, a thrilling and magical experience.

Giraffe (sorry not a great picture, I was startled)

Back at the retreat we enjoyed a fantastic home-cooked 3 course dinner (180Rand a head – really excellent food and worth the price) and some wine. John just had to tell the owners the giraffe story, which they were considerably less wide-eyed about, 'Yes giraffes, we see them all the time. They even have a rhino there now'.

African Skies hut

Sunday was spent with heads in books, snoozing by the river and playing with the owner's adorable Jack Russell/dachshund cross. Before driving back we attempted to grab a meal in Parys but to no avail. Most places closed at 4pm (seriously) so we skipped out on this small town experience (I wouldn't personally head to Parys simply to see the town anyway, it's not especially amazing) and drove back to the big city for dinner.

Sundowner

Misty river sunrise

This was rent-a-wreck's (Mr Ford Laser) first experience driving outside the city. Sure we couldn't get up to the 120km speed limit on the motorways, but so many other cars on the road can't do that either. The only casualty was the front number plate, which is lost somewhere out in the Free State outback. Ooops.

Rent-a-wreck - Ford Laser

Verdict: Carryblaire gets 5 out of 5. We'd go back every month if we could afford it.

05.2013 May Day at Zoo Lake

To mark the mid-week May 1^st holiday earlier this month, we decided to head down to Zoo Lake. There are lots of pretty parks in Johannesburg, some of which have incredible views of the inner-city skyline (as in the picture on the banner of this blog). Zoo Lake does not have such views, but it is still currently my absolute favourite Joburg park.

The lake at Zoo Lake. There's a zoo here too...somewhere

This is a real people's park - you can lounge around on the grass, play sports, have a picnic and of course fire up a braai and all the while there are guys driving around on mopeds with ice-cream vending sidecars. There are no strict 'no ball games, no barbecues, do not walk on the grass' etc type rules. The only things not allowed are ghetto blasters, stereo sound systems and the like, a rule which I totally agree with and which I think most of the people visiting the park would agree on too.

Ice-cream sidecar

Overall though it's the cosmopolitan mix up of Zoo Lake that makes it so special. You can find all kinds of people here, it's truly a rainbow park. Within the twenty metre radius of our lounging spot on the grass there was a huge Arab family having an elaborate picnic and playing a hotly contested game of cricket, a group of trendy black students enjoying a highly animated game of sherades, a very loved up old white couple canoodling and a big multi-racial white, Indian, black, Asian kick around with a football.

It's a shame that Winter Is Coming and there won't be so much relaxing in the park going on in the next few months, but I'll bet as soon as spring arrives this place will be packed again - can't wait!

How I got there: We came here by car from Bolton Road (next to the Rosebank Mall). It is down a hill and then some, so if walking from Rosebank, you'd need to walk about 40mins plus.

05.2013 Because this is Sandton

We've been living in Sandton Central, Johannesburg for almost two months now. Despite housing the headquarters of numerous major corporations, there is little going on here and I'm going to go out there and say it loud and proud - this is probably the most soulless place I've ever lived in. This week we are finally breaking free, so as a farewell to this strange era I've listed up the most notable features of our 'life' in Sandton CBD.

1.    Hydropark

This is the 'luxury apartment complex' where we have been living in a seemingly endless flat-waiting purgatory. I wouldn't complain about this at all if it weren't for the fact that we have also spent at least four months living out of our suitcases in other temporary accommodation during the visa-waiting purgatory.

Notable features of Hydropark:

- They clean the place all the time - hotel style - and they also do our laundry constantly, even if it's only a few pairs of pants and socks in the basket.

- There's an immaculate swimming pool with three barbecues (braai). Nobody ever uses either of these things, ever.

- The capped internet. Don't get me started on this crappy internet...

2.    Nelson Mandela Mall

Outside of Hydropark I spend an uncomfortably large amount of time at this massive shopping centre (where the husband's office is). Being probably one of the biggest malls in the country you would think you could buy pretty much anything here. The only thing I have not been able to find here is a computer shop. But clothes, food, books, dry-cleaning, hair-dressers, shoe-repair, dentist, banks, rifles, fridges, coins with Nelson Mandela's head on...they have all of that.

Notable features:

- Giant statue of Nelson Mandela

- Joyful, joyful - the Sandton library! It's actually rather good. Just bring a proof of address and passport to join.

- Restaurants, loads of them. Stand outs are the Wangthai and the Butchery. For snacks it has to be Bread Basket. Duds include the hugely greasy Trumps Grill.

3. The Bar

There are loads of restaurants in the aforementioned mall, but strangely only one bar. This bar due to its proximity to the office is our de-facto after-work bar. The other things it has going for it are the sports on TV, indoor smoking and...ah I pretty much ran out of things.

On the shady side the supervisors seem to be complete bastards and are often seen publicly shouting down the wait staff in a pretty humiliating manner and there are always hookers hanging around. Oh and the house music gets really loud.  Caffe della Salute is certainly no Silvers, but it will have to do.

4. Delhi Dhabar

Tucked in next to the Benmore Gardens Mall (where the supermarket is) is a small strip of restaurants, ranging from super luxe to Fish and Chips. In between it all you have Delhi Dhabar which is a great Indian restaurant. There's also a strange little Lebanese shop and cafe which does a fine business in nargile smoking pipes.

5. The bus stop

I walk past this bus stop on the corner of West Street and Grayston Drive every day and I still don't really get what this is about. I mean, surely love is the bottom line, no? Conundrum.

Between 15:30 and 17:30 there are hoards of people waiting here for the buses which head directly all the way over to Soweto in the south-west.

Love sits way above the bottom line

6. The robots

South Africans call traffic lights 'robots' here. I like that. As for the robots themselves...bloody hate 'em. With not much 'street life' going on in Sandton people just tend to hurtle through the main streets of this area. Watching the robots changing colours and then preparing to dash across the cross-sections here is an uncomfortable game of chicken.

Just another Sandton street

7. The hotels

Hidden behind the big walls here are some very fancy hotels. So far I have only infiltrated a few, of which these are probably my favourites:

The Balalaika – for the name obviously. Also nice restaurant.

The Maslow – I went here for the Internations event and was very impressed by what lies out the back. A beautifully lit pool, surrounded by palm trees, looked over by some minimalist glass fronted cocktail bars and lounges. Glam.

The Radisson Gautrain – you wouldn’t know from the front but it has a roof terrace with a pool. The view is much of a muchness, but the general atmosphere is unexpectedly fancy.

8. The tuk tuks

In the back of a tuk tuk

Outside the Citibank building on West Street is the rank for Sandton's tuk tuks – Shesha tuks. They only travel a maximum of 10kms from Sandton (for 55Rand) so are perfect for short trips which would actually wind up costing you more if went the Gautrain plus bus route. For example you can get to Illovo Junction (home of Wolves Cafe and the Griffin Pub) for just 30Rand.

If you do go the tuk tuk route (and I would recommend you do) you need a map, as they never know where they are going. Also time your trip. Tuk tuks have a maximum speed of 40km p.h so it is pretty easy to figure out if they are trying to rip you off, which they will be.

Tuk tuks stop working at around 20:00.

9. Gautrain

Of course the best thing about Sandton is the Gautrain. It takes you straight into Braamfontein and the CBD in just 10minutes. I would seriously be lost without my trusty escape Sandton lifeline. Thank you Gautrain!