I am a firm believer that tempestuous weather leads to tempestuous actions and it’s been a hot week in both temperature and temperament in South Africa. The temps were high and the wind was howling a few days. Add to the mix the movement by the University students protesting the high cost of university education and it’s a volatile situation.

The marching and protests were at all of the universities and across all cities. There was even global support with London and NY marching. On my way to the car after work a cavalcade of police cars raced past and then the next thing I was in the midst of the march.  There were probably a breadth of 10 or more young people striding past shouting, blowing whistles and dancing. They were marching to the Houses of Parliament but were met with very aggressive police action. 

The students were angry at the Universities themselves until a sneaky video was released on Wednesday of the moronic uneducated Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande saying ‘if the students don’t accept this, we’ll start our own movement. Students must fall’ before he burst out laughing. This video was published and went viral. This resulted in drawing the attention to the governing party the ANC rather than the Universities. The ANC have been our governing party since Mandela led the Revolution and defeated apartheid.

  
The thing that most of the anti-ANC people can’t understand is why people who vote them into power yet who are struggling with poverty do not vote in another party.

  
The majority of voters are afraid to turn away from the party that freed them from the shackles of apartheid, but they are questioning why the promises made by the ANC are still out of reach, dangling like a carrot on a string held out to keep them voting. 

The people are hungry, they want that carrot. 

Add to the lack of life changes for the majority of the SA population post apartheid, the ‘born free’ generation has a 40-45% unemployment rate. Many companies out source their labour. The high cost of tertiary education means that only 7% of people in SA have a university degree. 

This is the generation to have complete unity in SA, where the kids have grown up in multicultural classes. They had a rainbow assortment of friends, were exposed to many cultures and religions. These students stood together regardless of religion or race. The students made a wall of people to protect the Muslims who had prayers on Friday.

   
 

And they held hands in unity.

  
They were successful of sorts in that they had promises from the government that there will be 0% fee increases next year. However that doesn’t provide a viable solution the the problem of inaccessibility to education for the majority of South Africans. 

  
A long term goal of free education is needed. The good thing is the people now have their eyes opened to the bloat and greed of the ANC. Let’s hope the DA can win over enough trust to be our chosen government.

Education of our youth is our only hope. 

Of course Nzimande has stated he has no idea how to fund this 0% increase. The ANC really demonstrate they are incapable of governing.

It was a busy week but I popped by and did a bit of a shop on my way home from work last Monday in order to try and make sure I cooked at home at least a few nights. Monday I made pork chops in a rich spicy tomato sauce, baked potatoes, fried mushrooms and artichokes with melted butter. It was really yummy.

Tuesday we had book club at Dawn and she served chicken with wraps and apple crumble. I had already planned our dinner for Wednesday so I ended up having Mexican 2 days in a row. In fact after you add in my usual Friday lunch time treat with my friend Helen at Tortilla Modern Mexican by my office and I was on Mexican overload. But as I love Mexican it’s not a complaint.

Thursday night we had brinner (breakfast for dinner) so I made southern fried potatoes, grilled bacon, an omelette stuffed with spinach leaves and sharp cheddar cheese, and mushrooms for Caitlin. It was a heart attack on a plate but damn it was tasty. 

On Friday morning Lily took Pixie back to the chiropractor again and she seems to be benefiting from it.

  
Afterwards all 3 of the doggies went to the groomer so we have a few days where the house doesn’t reek of dog. But it doesn’t last. Oh well. I love my beasties. 

Speaking of smells. As you may remember the dogs are on a raw diet. This week they got duck egg omelette when we picked up their food and ohhhh my word we have nearly died of dog fart inhalation syndrome.

Jeez Louise. 

Anyway. The joys.

Friday we just chilled at home after a busy week, Josh came down for the weekend so we ordered pizzas from Mimmi To Go. Norm and I were both pretty much snoozing in front of the telly, I was very tired. 

The dogs hoped a bit of crust might come their way. 

  
Saturday we had Mzudumo in so we popped into Earthworx Nursery and bought some plants to go in our newly tidied front garden area. 

  

Of course the dogs were a big help.

   
 
It looks nice and soon we hope the flowers will spread a bit and the empty bed fill in with some colour. This was R500 worth of flowers, a whole trolley full, but it all just disappeared in the big bed. We still have to cover it with mulch.

  

  
Saturday afternoon we watched the South Africa Vs New Zealand Rugby World Cup game. I expected the boks to do much worse, but they seemed well matched as the scores stayed even, despite the boys losing in the end. 

Today we had a long lazy morning in bed and headed out for a late breakfast about noon. We decided to try the new Allegria at Mainstream Mall in Hout Bay.

   
  It’s such a relief that the road is now open! The roadworks is still in place but traffic can flow.

We sat outside as there were no ashtrays so we hoped that meant they were going to adhere to the law and not allow smoking. That was why we stopped going to the previous venue, Gabriella’s. If you sat inside you smelled of bacon frying and if you sat outside you were surrounded by smoke. 

Today was a muggy but cool day and perfect for sitting outside. The intense heat of last week has eased up. As always in this wee village we saw quite a few people we know and Norm ran off for a few chats.

We were attended to quickly and we ordered a cappuccino while we looked at the menu. The coffees arrived quickly and were perfection, not burnt, not bitter, just creamy and rich with a sprinkling of cocoa. A really excellent cappuccino. Yum. I almost ordered 2 but I’m so sensitive to caffeine I would have been able to levitate round the shops.

Norm ordered the Grande at R68 which was 2 eggs done as you preferred, bacon, a tasty beef sausage, a fried tomato, fried mushrooms, toast and jam.

 
I had my usual Eggs Benedict. It was R65 with bacon.
  
My eggs were done exactly as I asked, soft centre and no slimy whites. My bacon was perfectly crisp. I was interested in how the sourdough bread would work as a base but I really liked the dense texture and it was toasted nice and crisp the way I like my toast. It was as if I made it myself and that is a compliment in that it was exactly how I liked it, not a boast as I would never be able to achieve that perfection myself! I loved the hollandaise, it had a lightly lemon tang, nice and creamy and rich. So divine. 

The owner or manager came over and said hello and made sure we were well looked after, she was a great host.

We really enjoyed our meal and as we were parked there decided to do a shop at Woolworths rather than Pic n Pay. We did a huge shop as we were out of everything and headed home. 

Norm has had a day of ticking lots of items off of my honey do list, on top of all of the gardening he has changed 2 locks and hung a mirror and put up the mask the girls bought for me. 

  
We will watch the rugby later on as Australia and Argentina are playing. 

I’m going to roast a silverside roast and veggies. I got sweet potato instead of the usual delicious normal potato roasties as I’m going to try and reduce my carbs and exercise a bit as I need to get healthier. So the family must support that and suffer with me.  😉

This weekend has flown by as always – life marches on. Enjoy yours.