All posts in Cape Town

This story appeared in the local Ballito newspaper (North Coast Courier) a couple of weeks ago. So often the wellbeing and rights of pets, wildlife and animals in general are violated for human gain (rhino poaching ring a bell?). What a relief to know there are still people who care about the welfare of other living things. This man is a hero!

Animals saved in warehouse fire

Firemen and paramedics rushed to the scene of a fire on Wednesday February 1 at a mosquito coil and polystyrene warehouse in Tongaat. The fire had shrouded the area in toxic black smoke.

Twelve people were treated for smoke inhalation and five animals were rescued.

Paramedic Shaun Paul said that he had been at the building before and was aware that there were animals on the premises and asked the owner where they were.

When told that they were trapped in a small kennel in the alley next to the building, he made the call to rescue them.

Netcare 911 paramedic Shaun Paul with one of the rescued cats. Photo: Netcare 911.

“I knew that the two dogs and three cats were all elderly and partially blind and as a paramedic humans are a priority, but there is a fine line between living creatures. All life is precious. The animals were defenseless and with the smoke and the heat they would not have made it.”

Black smoke could be seen from kilometres away when a factory caught fire in Tongaat last week.

The fire started at about midday and although it was under control by the evening, firemen checked the site periodically during the night to check that the fire was effectively damped down.

Durban fire department Divisional Commander Bheki Hadebe said that they had to damp down a few hot spots during the night, but that the fire was under control when their shift started.

Paramedic Shaun Paul said that the Ethekwini Fire department was, ‘top class and did an outstanding job.’ He said that the potential for the fire spreading had been very high and that the way they contained it was ‘absolutely amazing.’

Municipal fire chief Adrian Barnes said that their unit was on stand by for the whole northern area while Ethekwini fought the fire. “This is a reciprocal agreement we have where we handle all other calls to free up their services in an emergency.”

By Sandra McAllister

Published on February 8, 2012 at 11:20 am

Visit the North Coast Courier website.

Looks like the weather is going to cool down for a while, which I’m quite relieved about!

Are you looking forward to the cooler days, or do you hope that Summer will roll on much longer?

This is a statement released by the mayoral committee member for utility services, councillor Shehaam Sims on February 14th 2012:

The levels of the City of Cape Town’s water supply dams are 6% lower than the same period last year. It must therefore become a priority for all of us to do as much as we can to save water.

The City’s Water Inspectors and Water Pollution Control Officers as well as law enforcement officers will be patrolling, monitoring and enforcing water by-laws.

Their main focus will be to check that residents are adhering to the specified period for watering one’s garden and to minimise illegal car-washing and dumping of chemicals into drains.

The following water by-laws apply:

• Only water gardens before 10:00 or after 16:00
• All hosepipes used for washing vehicles must have an automatic self-closing nozzle fitted
• Residents that use borehole water must display a sign to that effect. Signs can be obtained from the municipality. Borehole water users are encouraged to only water their gardens during the times allocated for all residents.

To report pipe bursts, leaks, blocked drains or any other non-compliance, please call the City’s 24-hour Call Centre on 0860 103 089. You may also SMS details to 31373 (max 160 characters).

Water is a precious and limited resource. Let’s all keep saving water, while we can.

Looks like we’re going to experience a cooler week this week, which I’m more than happy to welcome with my arms wide open:

Oh wow, summer’s seriously kicking my butt – 34 degrees today and that’s no exaggeration! It doesn’t look like it’s getting much cooler any time soon either, just take a look at this weather report:

Must admit, I’m not looking forward to all the meetings I have lined up this week, here’s to hoping there will be aircon!

Sun tan lotion if you’re outdoors folks!

For those of you who live in Cape Town, you’ll probably be breathing a sigh of relief now that the sun has gone down! My thermometer read 36 degrees this afternoon and weirdly enough it actually felt hotter! It’s not going be be as hot at the beginning of this week, but it looks like it’s going to be towards the weekend, so get that pool clean!

Woweeee, so how hot was last week? I’m really struggling in the heat, even when I’m sitting on the couch, let alone business meetings in offices that don’t have aircon – it’s somewhat cruel of the powers above!

So the good news is that the weather’s going to get a little cooler, but the bad news is by not much..

Don’t get me wrong, summer in Cape Town is awesome, it’s just the continual heat that is exhausting.

This heat wave has been absolutely killing me! I’ve always been a winter person, but over the past couple of years I’ve started to enjoy summer more, well, that was until this week. I’m not too good with really hot weather, my brain slows down, I get irritable and I’m just not nearly as productive as I usually am, that’s why I’m sitting here past 23h00 writing blog posts because I can sit outside and actually concentrate!

I was hoping that we’d experience a thunder storm with evening in Cape Town, but alas, it seems like that’s not going to be the case and it also seems like the weather’s not going to change any time soon either, it’s going to be hot this weekend:

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t rather have an entire weekend of rain, but I wouldn’t mind a thunder storm or a slight drizzle, for my own sanity, but also for my bonsai’s! I find that the bonsai’s grow so much better with rain water rather than tap water.

So this weekend’s all about getting up early and doing things, being close to a pool in the afternoons and being sure to have sunscreen around at all times!

A few hours ago, Wimpy announced on Twitter that between 7am and 8am tomorrow that they’ll be serving breakfast for free. I’m not kidding, this screenshot taken from the Wimpy website:

This is only valid in South Africa, you’re entitled to one streaky bacon breakfast and you have to sit down, no takeaways.

Moving along onto the topic I’m obviously interested in and that’s how they went about marketing this – Sure, they updated their website and they sent a tweet out, but what I did pick up on was that they tweeted at influential people on Twitter. I see that they tweeted to Gareth Cliff and DJ Fresh (5FM DJ’s) the following, “Biting your nails for the big day? Free Wimpy Streaky Bacon Breakfast tomorrow morning 7-8am, sit down only.” – Clever way of doing it, a tactic that you might want to add to your social media guidelines if you’re in the business.

So, if you’re getting up early tomorrow and you feel like some bacon, pop on over to Wimpy and enjoy it!

My only question is, is the coffee free too? ;)