Some good service

Sadly, SA is not noted for its customer service. Or rather, it is, but not in a good way. That’s why when I have some good customer service, I like to tell people about it. And this week has been a revelation in what other countries would call “service”, but what we here in SA call “fantastic service”. These companies should be celebrated and rewarded. I will do the celebration bit here, you sort out the rewards bit by doing business with them.
Companies must adapt or die. As this unnatural form of natural selection proceeds, so poor customer service will die out like the dinosaurs (but without massive meteorite involvement) and good customer service will evolve to be the dominant species.

Hi-Q Wynberg
After my op, I wasn’t allowed to drive for a while. And when I did want to drive, my car wouldn’t start. Even trying  to jump-start it via its big sister didn’t work and I deduced that it needed a new battery. Cue a call to Andre (021) 761 7063, who did exactly what he said he would, exactly when he said he would and got me back on the road.
Nice.

Geysol
Having decided that we needed to save money on electricity (who doesn’t?), we turned to Geyerwise for assistance. They got one of their distributors – Leon from Geysol (076 036 0623) – to pop around and fit our unit for us. One prompt, fast, friendly, helpful and clean job later, we are saving money on our electricity. How much, I’m not sure yet, but I’ll let you know. I’m hoping that the unit will pay for itself inside three months. After that, it’s pure saving goodness.

ADM Home Appliances
With two kids and an annual Cape Town winter, a tumble dryer is a luxury necessity. And it’s only when it goes wrong that you realise how much you rely on it. Not so much yesterday, with its 29.5°C temperatures – more on days like today with its 29.5mm+ of rain.
Ours went badly wrong last Friday and so we called in Deen from ADM Home Appliances on (021) 797 2321. He came, he saw, he took the machine away, he gave us a quote, he fixed the machine and he brought the machine back. What’s not to like?

Pool Doctor
Ironically right next door to my friends at Hi-Q (see above), Pool Doctor (021) 761 9121 dropped in right when they said they would to sort out my leaking pump. Then they sorted out the leaking pump and my pool is looking ready for summer already. This seemed like such a good idea in yesterday’s sun. Today, I’m going to see how the overflow works.

So, if you need bits for your car, to save money on your electricity bill, an appliance repaired or your pool sorted out – please give these guys a call and do your bit to promote decent customer service.

“BraaiDay” song set to take SA by storm

Yeah, yeah – whatever. IMHO, this is amusing and deserves more exposure so I am exposing it.
Not that anyone outside the Republic will understand the nuances of the song, but so what?
Herewith “Derick Watts and the Sunday Blues” [sic] and their rendition of Braaiday:

 

Of course, “Braai Day” is actually held each year on Heritage Day: “a Public Holiday on which South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their cultural heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people”, but those complaining that the celebration has been hijacked by Jan Scannell and Desmond Tutu should note that their “Braai4Heritage” project does have the backing of the National Heritage Council.

And let’s face it, without their call to braai, we’d all just sit at home and watch the footy on Heritage Day – or er… have a braai.

Tori Amos in Cape Town, Joburg – November 2011

Much excitement last night as someone (@frantaljaard?) while (presumably) searching “Tori Amos” and “Concert” and “South Africa” and “November” on Google, discovered that Tori Amos is due to perform some concerts in South Africa in November as part of her Night Of Hunters tour.
Isn’t Google amazing?

The dates currently held are Saturday and Sunday 12th & 13th November at Emperor’s Palace in Gauteng and Thursday 17th November at the Grand West Arena in Cape Town.
Tickets are R390 – R765 for Gauteng and R395 – R695 for Cape Town and are being sold through Computicket.

This flame-haired, modern-day Kate Bush has been around for a while: I saw her in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the first night of her Under The Pink tour in February 1994 and never thought that I’d get the chance to see her in Cape Town almost 17 years later. Or any other city, to be honest. Well, it’s not the kind of thing you do think about, is it?

The iconic, platinum-selling singer-songwriter continues her legacy of ground-breaking recordings with this 21st century song cycle inspired by select classical pieces spanning the last 400 years. This is, quite literally, vintage Tori Amos, in scope and in sound.
With Night of Hunters, Amos carries on the classical tradition of variations on a theme: taking inspiration from classical forms to create a bold new work while paying tribute to the mastery of the original compositions.

So classical piano music with a contemporary twist? We’ve been here before, haven’t we?

To celebrate, here is her wonderful live cover of Radiohead’s Karma Police (which does eventually get going after a whole lot of whooping fans) which is fully downloadable via janovlk on Soundcloud:

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/janovlk/tori-amos-radiohead[/soundcloud]

I’ll let you know when the tickets are being released (once I’ve got mine) 9am, Thursday 8th September and I’m sure that there will be some stuff from the new album available to post on here in the very near future.

Le Onde

It might not seem like a big deal for many people, but I didn’t enjoy being stuck in hospital, even though it was just for a couple of days. I was bored, sore, drugged, a bit scared. It wasn’t nice.

What kept me going was Ludovico Einaudi – more specifically his music – and even more specifically, his “Greatest Hits” collection Islands. One favourite track therein is Le Onde which translates as “The Waves” and it’s no big surprise to me I like it. As I said before I went in, the thing I’m looking forward to more than any other (save maybe from avoiding future excruciating abdominal pain) is getting back down onto the beach for some blustery walks near the sea.

Sadly, while I wanted to share the goodness of Le Onde with you, I couldn’t find a decent version online. Sure, there’s plenty of Einaudi stuff on Youtube, but I don’t expect you or anyone else to enjoy staring at a picture of an album cover for 5½ minutes (pretty though it may be).
The music is evocative, delicate, powerful – it deserves more than that.

So I did my own version:

 

The music is Einaudi’s (obviously – that’s the point of this whole thing).
The images are mine – taken in and around beautiful Cape Agulhas, South Africa. (Flickr)

And sure, it’s not professional in any way, shape or form. I have neither the software nor the talent to produce a masterpiece.
But it sums up what the music means to me. And that’s what’s important, right?

In addition, it gives you something to look at while you enjoy a few moments of calm in your otherwise hectic day.
You will feel better after watching this.  

Please feel free to let me know what you think. Be gentle. I am a sick man.

0834319513

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t think that hanging bog roll from trees in Cape Town is art.

I’m not really sure that the 0834319513 “interactive social project” is art either, but at least they provide a bit of a laugh to Cape Town drivers and they clean up after themselves.

This one seemed particularly apt after the events up in Joburg today:

More images and information here.