Author: Soutie

Off line

A short note to advise that my connectivity is somewhat restricted at the moment and probably will be for the next 6 or 7 days.

The SEACOM cable serving a lot of us down here is broken somewhere between Mombasa and Mumbai.

It appears that whatever alternative routes our providers are finding are somewhat erratic and at odd times.

So, if a fail to pick up the odd approval or edit forgive me, I’m not ignoring you (but then again in some cases I might be 😉 )

I go to Rio

I’m in, the missus says fine so I’m planning.

Natal looks like a reasonable spot to use as a base.

We are looking for a small town like our own, we don’t care who gets drawn there, we’re just going to watch the football and enjoy the atmosphere.

I wasn’t aware that Sao Paulo was the most populous city in Brazil, I couldn’t go to Rio (too big) but I have to be at the coast.

It appears that both Recife and Natal are going to be host cities in 2014, which would make using one of them as a home base a whole lotta sense.

Anybody else want to join us?

When my baby smiles at me I go to…………………….. Continue reading “I go to Rio”

Rhino horn smuggler gets 10 years

Some of you may remember my post on the rhino shot by poachers at a local game park and the subsequent loss of the calf to predators. a bit of good news from our Times.

“A Vietnamese man has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars for trying to smuggle 16kg of rhino horn out of the country.

Zhong Whong, 29, a security guard in his home country, was found guilty in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court of fraud and breaking the  Biodiversity Act.

He was caught at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport with 16.1kg of rhino horn in his luggage. It would have been worth about R2.2 million in Vietnam, reports Beeld newspaper.

“Fines are clearly not a deterrent,” Magistrate Prince Manyathi was quoted as telling Whong on Wednesday.

“You came to South Africa knowing you were going to do something unlawful. Continue reading “Rhino horn smuggler gets 10 years”

Holland vs Slovakia – I was there (in 3D)

Incredible, absolutely incredible, if you haven’t yet watched a match in 3d get off your backside and go buy a ticket.


I wouldn’t think that it matters whether it’s Tennis, Football, Grand Prix, whatever, I simply can’t describe the feeling. Continue reading “Holland vs Slovakia – I was there (in 3D)”

The English are coming!

There’s a convoy of about a hundred vehicles following the England supporters around the country, these are not your everyday camper-vans as you might expect, oh no, they belong to our Riot Squad!

A pal of mine who works in the Police Service phoned me and said that he’s never seen so many in his life. Okay, he’s too young to have worked during ‘the you know what’ for ‘you know who’ when sights such as these were common but that of course was 20 years ago. Continue reading “The English are coming!”