Charly's Bakery - Cairp Tahn

Its not so much that Leon and our childminder, Mary, were completely felled for a day and a half, after eating a carrot cake cupcake from Charly's Bakery (and getting severe food POISONING) that made me mad as a snake - it was the behaviour of the manager when I reported it to her!Look, I suppose I was naive. I fondly imagined that the manager of Charly's Bakery (you know that uber trendy place opposite the Fugard - with the lovely pink and white...

Out Damned Spot.

I have had my share of dealing with large government tenders.  It is a hell of a process and it would, in my experience, require an enormous amount of collusion to get round or to manipulate in favour of one or other particular company.  That it can happen, and does happen, is undeniable.  But what is clear from the recent price fixing revelations of the major construction firms involved in the bids for the 2010 soccer infrastructure...

The soul of the first people

It has always struck me as singularly odd that the national Coat of Arms should be so spectacularly anachronistic.  Why would we choose a language for our coat of arms, which we recognise nowhere else?  (You must admit, that is a strange thing!)  And the stick figures on the Coat of Arms are clearly meant to represent either the Khoi or the San or something in-between.  Why would we choose them, when we continue to recognise almost...

Lies, stories and truth

JDF Jones, Storyteller - The Many Lives of Laurens van der Post, John Murray, London, 2001I bought this book many years ago, on one of those Exclusive Books sales, where there are piles and piles of mouth-wateringly inexpensive books lying on tables outside the shop.  And you simply can’t resist.  It is hardcover, with one of those dust sleeves on it and it cost nothing!  Who, I ask with tears in my baby blue eyes, can resist that?I...

Reflections of an ex-Christian at Easter

(Pic - "The Sermon on the Mount" from Ecce Homo. Elizabeth Ohlson Wallin, 1998, Photograph, 79" x 60")My journey with Christianity has, it needs to be said, been a fairly robust one – on both sides, I suppose. I was born and raised in a fairly ordinary Christian home.  By this, I mean, that we went to a little parish Church within walking distance of our house.  We cooked a turkey at Christmas and had Christmas pudding aflame with brandy. ...

"Sweet Tooth" by Ian McEwan,

 Sweet Tooth. A Novel by Ian McEwan, Alfred A Knopf, Canada, 2012It didn’t take much to get me excited about reading the latest Ian McEwan.  I saw, firstly, that it was dedicated to one of my favourite people, the redoubtable Christopher Hitchens, who died in 2011.  Secondly, McEwan has a way of hooking the reader into his story from the first page.  It is a remarkable gift, this – he seems to do it every time, for me, at any...

The Ultimate Lentil Burger

You can relax!  The search is officially over for the ultimate veggie burger.  (Believe me, the search has been a long and a hard one - but finally, here it is!)These patties have past the most stringent family tests in my household, with requests (I could hardly believe it!) for more!I make a bigger batch, by trebling the quantities and then freezing them for use on other occasions.400 g dry lentils (if you insist - I just use 1 tin rinsed)1...