Posts

Posted on

Monday/ the Voortrekker Monument

The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa. The granite structure is located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers (pioneers) who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854. It was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk.
Construction started on 13 July 1937 and the monument was inaugurated on 16 December 1949 by Prime Minister D. F. Malan.
[Information from Wikipedia entry for Voortrekker Monument].

I walked around the monument today, before going inside. I climbed the 299 granite steps from the carpark to the top (at the inside), in the process. From the ceiling balcony one looks down at a cenotaph* that says ‘Ons Vir Jou Suid-Afrika’ (‘We For You South Africa’). 

*A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere.

Posted on

Sunday/ ‘no need to despair’ 🍺

My favorite African beer Windhoek Light⁠— a 2% alcohol beer from Namibia Breweries⁠— is not available in stores. Its production has been temporarily discontinued.

Says the Namibia Breweries website: ‘Consumers looking for a substitute need not despair, as NBL will continue to offer its other low- and non-alcoholic beverage products‘.

Windhoek Draft beer (4% alc. by volume) from Namibia Breweries is the closest substitute to Windhoek Light.
The brewery was founded in 1920 when Carl List and Hermann Ohlthaver acquired four small breweries with financial difficulties. The breweries were merged under the name South West Breweries Limited (SWB).
Posted on

Saturday/ leading the charge ⚡️

Tesla has not yet announced any plans to bring the their electric vehicles to South Africa.  EV models from Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Mini Cooper, Porsche, Volvo are available in South Africa.

These car companies are leading the charge to build out the EV charging network in the country, and a total of some 280 public charging stations are currently available.

BMW owners with a BMW Charging card charge for free at all BMW Retailer chargers in South Africa. Here is a BMW iX3 that I found today, being charged at a public charging station at Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria.
This EV charger uses a Type 2 cable and plug— the standard for European and Asian vehicles from 2018 onwards. It’s a triple-phase plug and can charge at a level of up to 43 kW.
If I read the BMW website information correctly, this wall box delivers about 11 kW. It will take 1h 38 mins for a range of 100 km (62 miles).
South Africa’s EV charging network currently has 280 public charging stations, half of which are clustered in the Johannesburg-Pretoria area.
It seems to me it’s definitely possible to drive from Cape Town to Johannesburg— with careful planning, and patience.
It’s just not going to be possible to make the trip in 12 hours the way one does with an ICE car.
Posted on

Friday/ a blast from the past 📻

My friend is hoping to find someone to help her restore this Loewe Opta vacuum tube radio from the 1950s to a working condition.
It was made by the Loewe AG company based in Berlin, Germany.
In addition to the front speaker, ones are found on each side to create an early version of “3D sound”.

This model already has connections for turntables, loudspeakers, a VHF antenna, and a diode plug for recording radio transmissions on tape, on the back.

The vacuum tube radio Loewe Opta Meteor Plastik 781W, manufactured circa 1955
Plastik refers to its sound qualities, not the materials it is made of.
Dimensions 600 mm (24 in) x 400 mm (16 in) x 280 mm (11 in). Weight 12,3 kg (27 lbs).
Posted on

Thursday/ ready to braai 🔥🥩

Summer is winding down⁠— officially over, of course⁠— here in South Africa, but the grocery stores still have their ‘Ready to Braai’ displays up. Any time of year is good for a braai*.

*braai
transitive verb
South African for grilling— especially meat, boerewors (sausage), and also  veggies and tomato-and-cheese sandwiches.
noun
The South African equivalent of an American barbecue.

Posted on

Wednesday/ arrival in Johannesburg 🌇

All went well with the flight to Johannesburg, and our Boeing 747-8 pulled up at the gate at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport at 9.20 am this morning.

Johannesburg— also known informally as Joburg, Jozi or Goudstad (Afr. for ‘The City of Gold’)—  is South Africa’s biggest city, and the capital of Gauteng province.

Frankfurt-Johannesburg is a 10h 35 m flight across the length of Africa.
The obligatory airplane engine picture, from my perch on the upper deck as we approached Oliver Tambo international airport. These are General Electric ‘GEnx’ engines.
In the distance, obscured by the haze, is downtown Johannesburg, the city that is the real El Dorado (the city that gold had built).
The main Witwatersrand gold reef, Earth’s largest known reserves of gold, was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes, son of Jan Bantjes, and this triggered the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the founding of Johannesburg in 1886.
The ‘Queen of the Skies’ at the gate at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport. This one was christened ‘Niedersachsen’ (Lower Saxony, a state in northern Germany).  
Posted on

Tuesday/ southbound ✈️

It’s Tuesday night here in Germany, and it is time to fly south, on the redeye flight to Johannesburg. It leaves at 10 pm and arrives at 9.30 am in the morning.

Our magnificent flying machine is a Boeing 747-8. Lufthansa has 19 of them, and 8 of the older Boeing 747-400.
I am sure I will sleep on the flight, because I had to check out of the hotel before I could take my afternoon nap of the last few days.

The streetcar on the No 17 line at the Festhalle/ Messe stop.
The check-in lounge at Frankfurt airport’s No 1 terminal.
The view to the outside is somewhat obstructed by the lines on the windows. I will try to to get a picture of our Boeing 747-8 as we board or after we have landed in Johannesburg. 
Posted on

Sunday/ arrival in Frankfurt 🏙

My flight went without incident, and I took a train and a tram to get to my hotel here in Frankfurt.

Just about an hour away from landing, somewhere over the British Isles. The Airbus A340-300 has FOUR main engines. The newer jets such as the A350 and Boeing 787 have only two. More efficient (less fuel) but more risk in the case of an engine failure?
On the tarmac at Frankfurt airport— the view from the bus that will take us to the terminal.
Here comes my train. The train station is underneath Frankfurt airport’s Terminal 1, and the S8 or S9 regional train will get one into the city.
Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station).
Heading outside to catch the tram (streetcar) to the hotel.
A little later, after I had settled into the hotel, I went for a walk in a park called Senckenberganlage.  It got to 16 °C today (60°F) but will fall back to 10 °C (50°F) tomorrow.
The tower is the Messeturm, or Trade Fair Tower, 63 stories and  257 m (843 ft) tall.
Posted on

Saturday/ at the airport 🛫

It’s a cloudless afternoon here at Seattle-Tacoma airport, and I’m waiting for my flight to board.

I forgot to take a picture of the Lufthansa bird at the gate before coming up to the lounge, so for now an online image will have to suffice.

Lufthansa is the largest operator of the Airbus A340-300, with 17 in its fleet. The airplane was built from 1991–2012 and was replaced by the Airbus A350-900. (Boeing offers the 787-9 as an equivalent airplane).
Posted on

Friday/ my bags are packed ✈️

Flying northeast out of Seattle for some 10 hours and 5,100 miles, will get you to Frankfurt.

I am bound for Frankfurt on Lufthansa tomorrow afternoon— the stop on my way to Johannesburg, South Africa.
I will stay over for two nights in Frankfurt.

I double-checked, for Germany as well as for South Africa:
Travel is allowed;
Quarantine is not required;
Proof of a pre-departure COVID-19 test is not required;
Visa is not required for Germany nor for South Africa (US passport holders).

So I am just about ready to dislodge myself from the comforts of my home and go board the flying machine that will take me across Canada and Greenland to Europe.

My phone is all set for international use (how did we ever travel with no phone?), my debit card for those foreign ATMs, and my credit card with its RFID chip.  I already have some Euros and South African Rands (paper money).
New for this trip to the set of gadgets & cables in my bag: a portable charger for my phone. Electricity is in short supply in South Africa (rolling blackouts).

Posted on

Thursday/ a shirt as a stamp 🚴🏻

Here’s the cool envelope that my vendor from Antwerp, Belgium, put the stamps in that I had bought.

The stamp was issued in 2021, and it depicts a cycling jersey.
The 2021 UCI Road World Championships was between 19 and 26 September 2021 in the Flanders region of Belgium.

VERENIGDE STATEN is Flemish for UNITED STATES.
Posted on

Wednesday/ hello daffodils 🟡

The daffodils are out here in my neighborhood.

Narcissus is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae.
Various common names including daffodil, narcissus, and jonquil are used to describe all or some members of the genus.
Posted on

Tuesday 3.14/ Happy Pi Day 🥧

No matter what size the pie (the circle) is, its circumference divided by its diameter is always pi*.

*The number pi (symbol π) is a mathematical constant and is a transcendental number (a number that is not algebraic—that is, not the root of a non-zero polynomial of finite degree with rational coefficients).
The value of pi is approximately 3.14159.
Pi appears in many formulas in mathematics and physics.

Posted on

Sunday/ stop changing the clock! 🕒

We changed over to Daylight Saving Time here in the USA last night.
The Sunday after changing the time forward— or back— always feel a little weird to me.
For the record, my opinion about changing the time on the clock twice a year: it’s STUPID.

Cartoon by Ellis Rosen for The New Yorker Magazine, for the Mon. Mar 13th, 2023 issue.
Posted on

Saturday/ Westlake & Lenora 🚋

Here are a few pictures from along Westlake Avenue and Lenora Street.

We still don’t know what will happen to the Cinerama movie theater, even though it’s been more than three years since Paul Allen had passed away.
The swank new apartment building on Lenora Street is The Modern.
Sample rents:
1 bed, 1 bath, 499 sq ft: $2,791 – $2,986.
3 beds, 2 baths, 1,666 sq ft – $8,830.

Posted on

Friday/ pitching in 🌧🎾

The Indian Wells Open (BNP Paribas Open) tennis tournament is underway in California.

Friendly fans pitched in to help dry the court tonight, after a burst of rain early in the evening. I like those spongy squeegees— they will come in handy for drying up the tennis courts here in Seattle.

It’s a team effort in Stadium 4 to get the courts dry. An official coaches some fans using the squeegee rollers.  The rain interrupted the match between Denis Shapovalov (age 24, Canada) and Ugo Humbert (23, France). In the end Shapovalov prevailed 7-5 6-4.
[Still from a video clip posted by Bailey Arredondo @BaileyKESQ on Twitter]
Posted on

Thursday/ war and peace ✌

This poster on a lamp post calls for Peace in Ukraine, a cause which we can all support— but when one takes a closer look, it quickly gets very complicated.
Yes, the US should not have invaded Iraq in March 2003.
Does that mean the US should also not supply weapons to Ukraine? Only food and shelter with heat, now that all the cities are getting destroyed by Russia’s invasion?
I don’t think so.

There’s a logo at the bottom of the poster that says ‘Party for Socialism and Liberation’. Is that an American political party? Yes.
Wikipedia: The Party for Socialism and Liberation is a communist party in the United States, established in 2004.
Posted on

Wednesday/ a geodesic dome 🗻

The New York Times posted pictures shared by their readers in California, of the snow there. I like this one.

A geodesic dome in the Santa Cruz mountains. The snowpack in the vast Sierra Nevada mountain range is the deepest it’s been in decades, exceeding 200% of the normal snowpack depth in some areas.
[Photo by Karrie Gaylord]