Cut it yourself

Another post that was featured on facebook yesterday evening, but needs to be popped somewhere less transient for purposes of posterity.

I got home last night to discover that while the babysitter had been making the kids’ dinner, Alex had cut his own fringe.

He was extremely proud, as you can see from the huge grin above. Some words were had, mainly about the presence of scissors (albeit safety scissors) near his eyes, but I believe that this is actually a rite of passage of sorts.

After all, it’s not like his Dad hasn’t had his fair share of dodgy haircuts over the years…

Coldplay in Cape Town: transport & event details

This sort of information is always done to death on the local interwebs, but even after numerous big events there still remains a subsection of the stadium-visiting public who reckon they should be able to drive up to the stadium gates, park by the turnstiles and simply pop in – and then get pissed off and whine a lot when they can’t: the message just never quite seems to get through.

Getting 50,000-plus people in and out of any stadium is never going to be completely straightforward. There will always be some issues – hopefully minor ones – but these problems can be avoided if more people know what to expect ahead of time. Thus the City of Cape Town have released a five page document which tells you all you need to know about the concert, the road closures, the park and ride facilities and the public transport for the event. That’s why we’re helping out by sharing the information as well:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE EVENT DETAILS FOR COLDPLAY AT
THE CAPE TOWN STADIUM: 
WEDNESDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2011 

In addition, there’s more info including (again) the venue rules and regulations in this handy FAQ:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A FAQ ON THE EVENT
(INCLUDING STADIUM RULES & REGULATIONS)

There are plenty of options for getting in and out of town (although good luck on making the one Southern Suburbs train at 2340), including free park and ride facilities from UCT, Hout Bay and numerous rail stations, as well as the always-popular shuttle from the Civic Centre to the Stadium.

Make a plan that suits you (and doesn’t involve driving up to the stadium gates, parking by the turnstiles and simply popping in) and get there early. If you do that, the very worst that could happen is that you arrive while the Parlotones are still on – although admittedly, that would be a very bad thing.

If you can’t be there, you can always follow my twitter updates and pics from the gig.

Now: Please do your bit and use the buttons below to spread the wealth…

#deathby

Flu. Not “flu”. Not “manflu”. Actual flu. Influenza A virus H1N1.

The next time someone tells me that they were off work yesterday because they had “flu”, I’m going to punch them in the face. That is, assuming that I don’t have flu, because if I do, I won’t even be able to lift my arm up. If you’ve ever had flu, you’ll know what I mean.

For the first two days you think you’re going to die. For the next five, you wish you had.

For minute after minute, the King Kong that is my immune system fended off the pesky virus biplanes. But then, eventually overwhelmed by their sheer numbers and tenacity, it chivalrously placed the beautiful lady carefully atop the skyscraper roof before dropping, Rand-like, into the street below. Across the family 6000 city, similar dead primates were being dumped on low loaders and heading off for the Vissershoek landfill site.
What ensued was a catalogue of vomiting, sweating, aches, pains, rigors, fevers, coughing and general high fever malaise which I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy. We lost days. The drugs were of little assistance, offering scant protection against the onslaught – like holding up a pillow to protect you from a freight train.

This all began (for me) on Saturday. Today is the first day I’ve started to feel even vaguely human. And in that time, REM split up, the Rand… just… died (what happened there?!?), I missed out on a birthday and my dad’s knee exploded.

I think – I hope – that we’re through it now. But if you have a little sniffle, then don’t call it “flu” unless you’re going to do that hard yards like wringing the sweat out of your t-shirt, losing 3 kilos in as many days and wondering who stamped on your head.

Notably (and unsurprisingly), the only people in and around our family who didn’t get sick were those who had the flu jab earlier this year – on my recommendation. Next time around, I’m going to take my own advice.

Behold “The Ultimate Snacking Experience”

Need a snack? Of course you do. You need a really great snack.
Maybe you need even more than that.
Maybe you need The Ultimate Snacking Experience.


Only THE MUNCHIE MAN® – instantly recognisable as a furious gentleman surrounded by eggs – can bring you The Ultimate Snacking Experience.
Want to play? Obviously. But we need to start with a disclaimer. Legal spiegel, capisce?
Before setting off on the journey that will bring you to the nirvana that is The Ultimate Snacking Experience, you should be warned that once you have experienced The Ultimate Snacking Experience, every other subsequent snacking experience that you experience will be a disappointment. That’s why this is called The Ultimate Snacking Experience and not Just Any Old Snacking Experience.
This is it.
It gets no better than this.
By definition, there can be no great snacking experience than The Ultimate Snacking Experience, for it is The Ultimate Snacking Experience. Beholdeth it.

But why, you may ask, why is this The Ultimate Snacking Experience? How did THE MUNCHIE MAN® come to create The Ultimate Snacking Experience – what steps were taken to ensure that this would become The Ultimate Snacking Experience?
That’s easy. THE MUNCHIE MAN® began by using First Choice Quality Nuts & Dried Fruit. When it came to the handing out of choices of Quality Nuts & Dried Fruit, THE MUNCHIE MAN® was there at the front of the queue. No-one ahead of him. Not Chuck Norris. Not Bakkies Botha. Not even Riaan Cruywagen in a jacuzzi. He was there. Number one. Numero Uno.
And THE MUNCHIE MAN® chose wisely. And first.

But it could all still have gone horribly wrong. There’s more to creating The Ultimate Snacking Experience than just utilising the First Choice Quality Nuts & Dried Fruit as your staple ingredients. Far more. Watch and learn.
Once he has his First Choice Quality Nuts & Dried Fruit, THE MUNCHIE MAN® adds those two qualities that lesser Ultimate Snacking Experience maker wannabes often omit.
I’m talking Extra Care – Extra Freshness.
First, THE MUNCHIE MAN® treats that First Choice Quality Nuts & Dried Fruit with kid gloves, he treats them like a good wine, he treats them like a lady, like a newborn baby duckling, he takes them dancing on the lawns of stately homes. Motherly love ain’t got nothing on this. This is Extra Care.
And then, as if that wasn’t enough, THE MUNCHIE MAN® adds the Extra Freshness. We all know that legend states that only THE MUNCHIE MAN® and Willy Wonka can do this to a snack, and – sorry to break this to you so bluntly – Willy Wonka is merely a fictional character from a children’s book first published in 1964.
Game over. You lose, William.
By a process of direct elimination, that just leaves THE MUNCHIE MAN® with the ability to add Extra Freshness to that First Choice Quality Nuts & Dried Fruit.
It’s possibly where the word unique comes from.
It’s what makes this The Ultimate Snacking Experience.
Believe.

Hey, hey, I hear you at the back with your concerns about your religious sensibilities limiting your snacking choices.
Don’t. Panic. THE MUNCHIE MAN® has got that all in hand.
It’s covered, bru. Covered.

THE MUNCHIE MAN® studied The Torah before he embarked on project The Ultimate Snacking Experience. Extensively.
THE MUNCHIE MAN® read the Qur’an. Twice. Cover to cover.
You’re in the clear with The Ultimate Snacking Experience. Completely.
When you choose the The Ultimate Snacking Experience, you get Banana Slices Choice. No flying, creeping things here. No beasts having fangs. It’s all street legal, Musa spp.
It’s what your religious elders would choose if they wanted to snack.
Why would it not be? This is, after all, The Ultimate Snacking Experience.

Look, I’d like to think I have amply explained this product, together with the derivation and appropriateness of its nomenclature to you. I’d like to think that you have learned something from my brief presentation.

Take it to the rugby. Take it to a picnic. Eat it instead of toast.
Isn’t it time that you moved up to The Ultimate Snacking Experience?