Because I have cabin fever and the opportunity presented itself, mom and I went on a three day trip to Zimbabwe to see the legendary Victoria Falls. We availed ourselves of one of them special package deals, pay for two stay for three nights, all inclusive blah blah blah. We thought we were going into a country that is merely an extension of South Africa. I was naive, I now realise. Yes I have heard reports about how bad their economy is and that luxury items like butter, soap, Coca Cola, chocolate etc are hard to come by but honestly I thought the media was once again blowing this out of proportion, as they did during our "state of emergency" in the 1980's. Well.................. was I ever so wrong. We arrived at our luxury hotel, no electricity and no running water in our room. The electricity came back on but not the running water. I reported it on four different occasions and eventually kicked up a major stink with the hotel general manager. They fixed it. Everything was massively expensive. Lunch which consisted of two salads and two sodas set us back USD45! One tourist paid USD6 for a Coke at the airport. They ran out of soda water at my hotel so I couldn't have a Rock Shandy. As for diet Coke or Tab, forget it. Butter and jam was served very sparingly - and if you wanted more, it wasn't a problem, it just took forever to be served to you because clearly it is locked up and "issued" upon request in the kitchen. It's like this everywhere and the staff were telling us how they make do by planting vegetable gardens to keep themselves going and doing anything legal for money. Oi, what an eye opener.

BUT! The Victoria Falls were spectacular. Mom and I decided to rough it and not use umbrellas or raincoats. We got soaked, drenched. The water dripped off the sides of our peak caps and our eyelashes. The locals call the falls "Mosi au tunya" which means "the smoke that thunders". Dam right, they are loud and proud. When you stand next to them, you simply must believe in God, it is such a spectacular sight. They are the biggest falls in the world in their depth and width. Twice the size of Niagara and narrower but deeper than the Angel falls in South America. The Vic Falls are 1.7km wide and fall a depth of 107m. In the dry season (which is now) 500million litres of water spills over the edge per minute and this increases to 750million litres of water in the wet season. Quite a strong shower!

The Zambesi river (4th biggest in Africa) also teams with game. We went on a river cruise and saw crocodile, hippos and elephants. The waters are tranquil and calm but they belie what lies beneath. You don't see swans, ducks or geese on this water - nope - too many crocodiles.

The highlight of my trip - I treated myself to a helicopter flip over the falls. It lasted all of 15 minutes and it was an Oh wow experience. First time in a helicopter too.

I'm glad I went, I'm freaked out by the dreadful conditions imposed on these beautiful people, I wish I could help. I'd like to go back in ten years time, to see if there is any improvement. I pray there will be.

Alas my love you do me wrong, to cast me out so discourteously. For I have loved you so long, oh my lady Greensleeves. "Nearish" to my home is a medieval theme restaurant called Greensleeves and instead of working as your common garden variety waitress at a normal restaurant, I opted for the "drama" and "wenched" at Greensleeves as a teenager. This was during the eighties. It was kinda like theatre and I loved it. Some of the people I met there became very important to me and still influence, inspire and help to shape my life today. I worked there for 12 happy years, made friends, fell in love, learned to party and adore live music. It was there that I was introduced to the concept of work hard and play hard and quite importantly it was my training ground for learning to work under pressure. Those of you who have worked in restaurants will agree, the pressure is unlike any other industry. There is always an element of chaos. Some of the people are still there, one lady has worked at Greensleeves every weekend for 33 years!! It gets into your blood.

A few weeks ago, I had the occasion to go as a guest to Greensleeves with a group of friends. It was wonderful. Everything - and- nothing has changed. I could still recall the script of the show word for word. The food looks and tastes the same, but the feast halls and the kitchen have been updated and modernised. The costumes for the serving staff (wenches and lackeys) and the entertainment staff are fresh, new and sparkly and like all successful businesses they have succumbed to technology - all orders are computerised. No more handwritten orders. I can remember Aldie and I used to scream with laughter at some of the creative spellings and abbreviations used for the drinks orders by the wenches and lackeys. And then we would bawl them out for being unclear. It was also a great way of getting to know them, you could tell so much from their handwriting and the way they listed their orders. I can remember the girls were inclined to be slow and ultra neat and the boys fast and furious and very cocky.

I had a wonderful evening. It was a happy reunion - Aldie and I even considered going back to run for the lackeys and wenches for old times sake. Perhaps we will, watch this space.

Yesterday, whilst driving around, I passed a tow truck. The name of the tow company was "The Happy Hooker". It cracked me up, I think that is so clever. I'm almost sure a woman was driving the truck but I couldn't really tell.

Numerology......I'm hopeless at numbers but for fun and out of sheer curiosity I had my numerology chart done. Does one say that - my numerology chart? Turns out you don't really need to be that good at numbers. The numerologist does it all for you. And this is my chart. I'm delighted at how colourful it is. Looks like a box of Smarties(m&ms for my American friends). Not only is it bright and cheerful but my chart, when analysed and interpreted, is bang on the button. Actually quite scary. It does give me an indication of good and bad months and so on, but I'm really not interested in that and in the 32 page report, which reads like a dossier of my life, desires and personality, I haven't even so much as glanced at that part. But........I have devoured the rest. I'm not going to go into the detail, it would bore the bejesus out of you, however, the major "findings" are: I am good at writing, I am very spiritual and intuitive, I enjoy the arts, I am hyper sensitive and so on and so on. Before we got into discussing the details of my chart the numerologist asked me if music is part of my life and whether I play a musical instrument? I started piano lessons two years ago! Kinda freaky. He says it shows im my numbers. Guess it all adds up then.

My birthday was fabulous. We enjoyed high tea at the Westcliff Hotel. We felt so larny. I was spoiled rotten and as always I'm completely astounded at how loved and blessed I am. The day before my birthday I received a parcel from my friend Barb in America. We are e mail buddies. We have never met. Yet, her parcel was the kind of stuff that only a friend would know I appreciate. It was brilliant and very orange. Today, almost three weeks after my birthday, I received a parcel from my friend Brunhild in England. And it too, had the kind of stuff in it that only a friend would know I appreciate. That's what's so great about friends. They just get you. I'm in awe. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I love this time of year. The Jacaranda trees are in full bloom and when I see these majestic purple trees in town, it always reminds me of my birthday. When I see the first purple trees I know that my birthday is around the corner. They also smell divine and make a grand mess. Tip, if you ever visit Johannesburg, never park your car under a purple tree, you will regret it. They tend to rain ugly splotches, similar to bird poop, on your car. A mission to clean.

PS, I wrote this during November. Our internet connection has been down since then - the "perils" of living in Africa

Last weekend the girls at the office were treated to a weekend away on the tranquil banks of the Vaal river. Except, it wasn't so tranquil. Around the corner from this very Zen spot, is a raging torrent, which we negotiated for most of Saturday morning. We were kitted out in life jackets and crash helmets, given a quick rundown on river rafting techniques and put into rubber duckie thingies two by two. My partner, Charmaine who is our receptionist, bless her - could only paddle on the left, so we kept going round in circles! Sounds like a normal day at the office to me. Before we were set loose on the water though, we had to hike to our starting point over obstacles and through the river. I hated it. Let me say that again - I - F$%#*ng! - hated - it! I'm terrified of heights and had to climb up trees and hold onto ropes while crossing parts of the river where the water flowed less peacefully, plus it was slimy and slippery and sometimes just eeeuuuwwwww. I did learn something big though. I found that the more I helped the other girls along the more my terror subsided. In fact, the fear just melts away. Who would have thought I'd get that from some sticks, stones, water and rubber ducks? Oh in case you were wondering we did go through a rapid which dropped two meters across a five meter decline. That was great fun, rather like a water ride in a Disney theme park.

How fortunate am I? I work in the heart of an idustrial area. This is the drive way entrance to our warehouse and offices. I stopped to photograph this a few days ago. Our IT lady Sanet, overseas these gardens. I think she does a fabulous job. To be greeted by this sight makes me love popping in and out of the office every day. We also get to pick the roses and put them in vases on our desks, cause the more you pick the more they flower. Ahhh I love summer.............. I am blessed.

This is Tony Cox. In a previous posting, I wrote about how much I loved his very brief performance at a charity event I attended. Last Saturday, I managed to watch him in a full length performance. He was brilliant. I was completely mesmerised. He tells stories about each of his songs, why and how he got to compose them. None of the stories are about mind blowing revelations, just about ordinary stuff and the normal things that happen to us. Even so, the music was phenomenal and I was riveted. I desparately needed to pee, but wasn't prepared to miss a note of his show. It was the kind of music/evening that made you feel enriched for having experienced it. I bought a dvd and cd and he signed it for me - that's always a nice touch. He was gracious.

One small thing - his posters and website still show pics of him with lovely long wavy curly hair. Clearly they need to update that.

Billy Joel, has always been a part of "My Life"(pardon the pun). He'd be there on my radio, cd player and lately my Ipod. I have super memories of many happy hours spent in pubs singing along to his songs when I should have been studying or at lectures. Last Thursday, all those memories came flooding back, when I, together with 16 000 other pub crawlers, from the Eighties, saw him live for the first time ever in South Africa. He is the first artist not to gush about how great South Africa is and how wonderful it was to be here - instead he told us how great he is. We lapped it up! And he was fantastic. As you can see from my pics some of the fans dressed the part. Piano Man and Uptown Girl, along with 8 of their pals travelled all the way from Pietermartizburg to see this show and I'm sure they weren't disappointed. For a sixtysomething, he rocked the house. Performed most of his big hits, My Life, Innocent Man, New York State of Mind, Anthony's Song, You May Be Right and a whole lot more. Something for everybody. He played a grand piano which rotated on the stage between songs, so that his back wasn't to the same side of the audience for the duration of the show. A camera was placed on the end of the piano keyboard, showing his fingering which they projected onto the big screens. Posted a pic, crappy quality I know, but it gives you the idea. Gosh he can play the piano! The highlight of the show was when he picked up the electric guitar, asked his guitar technician to sing and together they belted out Highway to Hell by AC/DC. BJ broke it down on that guitar - now that impressed me! Another highlight was his delivery of Innocent Man. He stood alone in front of the piano arms raised clicking his fingers - a beautiful motion. He closed the show with Piano Man - best sing a long ever. Ahhhhhhhh. It was great. I left the show with a lot of joy in my heart and a slightly hoarse voice.

It is said that if you send your wishes and dreams out into the Universe, and your intentions are clear and pure, your wishes, and desires will happen. So..... I am very clearly asking the Universe for a miracle. And that miracle is to somehow make it happen for me to go to the final U2 Vertigo concert on 9 December in Hawaii. It would be a dream come true for me, because, not only is it the final U2 concert for this tour, but also because Pearl Jam will be opening for them. And.........I have just discovered Pearl Jam!! (Thank you Barb!) Once again, I ask, where was I in the 90's?!? Their music makes me want to scream and sweat. U2 make me want scream, sweat and rejoice. Watching both live, on the same stage, on the same night is going to be awesome and amazing. An intense experience for sure.

It's a big dream this. I have checked out the tour package prices and a one week hotel stay with a GA ticket would set me back about R25 000 and that's before I've paid for an airticket! Also Hawaii is about as far away from Johannesburg as you can get. At least 36 hours of non stop travelling. But........I live in faith and hope.

U2 have launched a competition on their website in which you can win a trip to this final show. Shall give it a go. Hey, God helps those who help themselves! mmm wish me luck.

I have friends who are incredibly talented musicians, one of them Marcus, is an awesome guitar player. I was invited to watch him and his brother perform at a charity event. It was great. One of the performers, called Tony Cox, was amazing amazing amazing. Turns out that he is a highly respected musician in guitar circles, both here and internationally. He was born in Zimbabwe and now lives in SA. He played three numbers and I was riveted. So much so that a lady from another table came over to ask me if I had enjoyed his performance. She said, my face beemed as I watched him. Seriously - he was incredible. I had no idea that you could get a guitar to make some of the sounds he was producing. Apparantley his style is that of "fingerpicking" which speaks for itself I suppose. He played Henry Mancini's Walk of the baby Elephant from the Pink Panther movies. This is the guitar he played. It's custom made from all kinds of exotic wood. Who would have thought, that what once was a tree, could make such a beautiful racket.

Unbelievable - his fingers glided across the strings. I noticed that his fingernails on his right hand were long and manicured, like a woman's. A bit of a turnoff that but I suppose he needs them for the fingerpickin!

Do you like my new template? I'm tired of pink. Thought I'd change to green in celebration of spring and all that. It's softer on the eye. I'm slowly coming out of hibernation. I have not been in the mood to blog or go out much lately. Guess I've been a little bit depressed or down or blue or whatever ...... BUT, I feel the fog lifting and I find I want to do stuff.
Exercise is always a good place to start, and I have been going for walks with my doggie Buttercup everday. And as usual I wonder why I didn't get into this habit much much sooner. There is nothing quite like the joy of your doggie when they hear the leash and chain clink clink and they realise, it's walkies time. Buttercup just about platzes. At first I was dragging her around, because she didn't understand this walking thing and now she takes me for a WALK and I mean a WALK. I was completely out of breath after our last one. Great exercise and a great way to get up to speed with what and who and how is happening in the neighbourhood.
Sadly my kitty Bianca passed away a few weeks ago. She was fourteen years old and had a lung and heart condition. I miss her in a bad way. My wonderful friend Barb in America sent me a sympathy card. It was just about the nicest thing I have ever received. Don't get much of that here. If a pet dies, you get on with it, pull yourself together and stuff like that. And receiving that card and knowing that somebody else gets as sad about their pets illness or dying as you do touched me deeply.

Jamie Cullum was great. Loved his show. And am now officially, a fan. Used to be that I was just "interested" in his stuff. Now I love it and have become a huge admirer. He's so young, he's so talented and he is so charming and he appears to be so intelligent. A deadly combination in my books - talent, charm and intelligence. Plus he is musical, I mean totally and completely musical. You can see and sense that he has an absolute passion for music, the sound, the sensation and the emotion it creates. And can he play the piano - oh my God! Lovely, lovely, lovely. I'm sure God smiles at him everyday because he uses all the talent given to him.

It was the kind of show, at which I, for the first time in a long long while, really wished I had a boyfriend. Some of his stuff is quite romantic. It also helped that there were quite a few good looking fellas around; intense, intelligent, nerdy but distinguished types. I thought I'd mention to my friends who were with me at the show, that I'm kinda ready for a boyfriend now because I think I would make a really great girlfriend. Well................ They set me straight and proceeded to tell me that, in their opinion, I am not and will never be considered good girlfriend material. Because, they say, I'm too opinionated, not needy enough and have been on my own for too long. (My friends are both very happily married) Well, again.................... that took the wind right out of my sails. Here's me thinking, that I would make the ideal girlfriend, precisely because I can stand on my own two feet and because I want to be with a guy and I don't need to be with him. Just goes to show, what do I know? My friends were quite amazed that no one had ever told me this before. I really do hope that they have it wrong. I'm still holding out for someone who is as good for me as I will be for him. Yep, I'm waiting............... and having great fun in the meantime.

While doing some grocery shopping at the local Pick 'n Pay this weekend, I came across, in the bargain bin, a DVD of Jamie Cullum live at Blenheim Castle. Bought it and decided to give it a watch last night. Well.................... it is awesome, beautiful. He calls his music Pop Jazz. I like that and I really enjoyed the DVD. Wow, can he play the piano; and probably just about every other instrument around. His singing voice is also really interesting; kinda scratchy, like too many cigarettes and coffee. I own some of his cd's and like to listen to them on my home late at night or when I'm feeling mellow or a bit melancholy.

So, this morning I decide to check out his website and guess what? First thing I see is that his next gig will be on 24 August in Johannesburg South Africa. Couldn't believe it. Went to Computicket and- yep- there it was, he is performing together with Jonathan Butler. How did I miss that? I booked. The ticket prices are reasonable too, unlike Mr Billy Joel who's ticket prices are the equivalent of my monthly grocery bill! But that's a story for another time.

Can't wait....

After all my grumbling and groaning yesterday about the dry weather, the heavens opened up. Not only did we have a lot of rain yesterday afternoon, but hail as well and today...........would you believe it...........snow!!! Actually it's more like sleet, but crumbs am I cold. It is freezing cold max temp is 7degrees celsius.

I will never grumble about the weather again. Obviously someone is listening. So I'm going home to my duvet, a cup of hot chocolate and something great to read.

I have the winter blues. By this time of the year I am in a constant foul mood - it's from all the shivering and shaking during the past few months. My body is all cramped up and that makes me miserable, plus the air is bone dry. We need rain, I need rain - please pretty please!
Mom, Aldie and I did the 702 Walk the Talk last week (for those of you who don't live in this country 702 is our local talk radio station). We opted for the 5km walk. It was crowded and lots of fun. The field was 61 000 people strong - that's a lot of Joburg folk walking about. I'm so proud of mom, despite the fact that she has a spur on her left heel she still walked and way ahead of me too. My feet are still burning - I've been doing a lot of running around since the big walk - for work. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. We each received a medal at the end, which I thought was a great touch. Confession - I have never completed any kind of race and this is the first medal I have received in my life. It now hangs about in my cupboard, like a grand piece of hip hop bling. 702 tried a new venue this year, because the field was so big, and they sure had their teething problems. Mostly parking. They didn't provide any park and ride facilities, so not only did you have the race to walk, but the distance from the parking to the start was probably another couple of kilometers. Mom and I grumbled and groaned a lot about that. Ah well....

Mom has just returned from a weekend break in Durban and goes to Germany in two weeks time. Lucky her. Actually no, not lucky her - she deserves it - in spades. Our rennovations are so to speak complete and she was the one who had to deal with all the building contractors who simply turned her house and her life upside down. I reckon she deserves a break and a change of scenery. I can't wait for her to go, cause when she comes back she always brings lots of news and pressies from everyone. German gummi bears (bit like wine gums on juicier) are the best. Mmmm looking forward to those!!

July is simply the worst month of the year for me. I'm always flat broke because most of the people I know and love in this world happen to have their birthdays in July. What really gets me is that I know this and still, every year in July I run around spending a fortune on birthday gifts, like it's Christmas or something. Plus every year I resolve to plan ahead so that I do not end up having to buy everything in one go and yet, somehow, I miss the boat and run around like a loony. Ahhh I get so cross with myself!!

Also I hate the weather in July. It's the heart of winter and it's dry dry dry. Most of the veldgrass has burnt down, so the landscape is dark, black and dusty. And each year the dust and dryness seems to become worse. I took these pics over the weekend. Both are typical scenery at the moment - it's so depressing don't you think? But wait............there is a silver lining on this cloud. In six weeks time all this will be a lush green which is hard to imagine right now. All it takes is a little bit of moisture, a freak 5 minute cloud burst and within 24 hours the land is transformed. I can't wait for that. But right now, I live with the dust, the smell of burning veld, the dry skin, especially hands an lips. Viva body lotion and lip balm. Roll on summer!!!

I'm German when it suits me and yesterday it suited me, that is, until Italy scored not one but two goals in the final two minutes of the Soccer World Cup Semi Final match in Dortmund last night, securing their place in the final to be held in Berlin this Sunday. What a match, wow. Both teams make it look so easy. The match was energetic, graceful, a work of art, in short - the beautiful game!

Like this picture of this German fan, I'm devastated today and I'm being teased and ragged by everyone at the office. Oh well, let them have their moment. As far as I'm concerned the Italian team all look like porn stars and have names that sound like ice cream flavours and they were lucky. That's my little dig. Actually I wish them loads of luck for the final.

Watch out for Germany in 2010. Imagine them winning on South African soil. I will go kraysee kraysee kraysee.

Ole Ole Ole. Well done Italy.

World Cup Soccer 2006 kicked off in Germany yesterday and being the major soccer fan that I am (major in checking out the legs and butts, don't have a cooking clue about the game) I celebrated with some great friends in a rather unusual fashion. What I really am, is a major music fan (for real, ask any of my friends), so what better than to combine the "beautiful game" with my passion - music? So, we were invited to a musical launch party at the Bassline in Newtown (now I too, can boast that I have been there, supposed to be very trendy...mmm) and here's what they did:

They set up two big screens on stage onto which they projected the opening match - Germany versus Costa Rica. Under each screen stood a jazz quartet and the idea was for them to watch the game and interpret musically what was happening on the screen. Well.....well.... I'm sure you can only imagine. Basically to my untrained jazz ear (I'm a music fan but certainly not a jazz purist) it was a mess. Occassionally they would get it right and gel and it worked which was really interesting especially when a goal was scored. Mostly though it was pretty awful. This soiree was attended by the German Ambassador to South Africa (wonder what he made of it all?) and during half time they held an impromptu dancefloor soccer match in which the German Ambassador participated. Pretty cool I thought. See, see, see Germans can have fun!! Still trying to dispel that myth.

After the game, Tele, a Berlin based rock/fusion band took to the stage. They kind of reminded me of Maroon 5. All their lyrics are German and because I'm not familiar with them and their live sound, I battled to understand them. They were okay. During their final number called "Dillema" they pulled a bouncing African hip hop artist onto stage. He rapped in English and the lead singer rapped in German, and man - did they break it down! Enjoyed that and by the look on Tele's faces they loved it too. I'm told Tele is Germany's 2005 newcomer band of the year - hence the German Embassy bringing them to good old SA. They leave for Tanzania today - imagine that.

So - as corny as this may sound. I had a ball. Lots of lovely men to look at both on screen (has anyone checked out the German team, hot hot hot hot - eeeouuuccchh) and off (some yummy numbers on the stage and dancefloor. Ahhh nice.

In case you are interested. Germany won the game. Both the opening world cup match and the impromptu dancefloor match. I'm told the German team are not really good enough to win the world cup but I live in hope. You never know.....................

Took a drive out to Sun City this weekend to go and see the Black Eyed Peas. And.... they were fantastic. The Superbowl is still, in my opinion, the best concert venue in South Africa. I opted for a seat as opposed to a standing ticket and I'm very glad I did. It was a long show, they blitzed us with their awesome energy for well over two hours.

I like this "band". I like their engergy, I like what they stand for, I like what they do. During their first tour here, they promised they would come back and they promised they would play for the poor people in the gettos. When Will i am, said that, I silently thought that I would believe that when I see it. Well, they stuck to their word and they came back and they played a free concert yesterday in Johannesburg stadium. I couldn't go, and I wonder how it went down? If the Sun City show was anything to go by, I'm sure it was amazing. I believe out of the 40 000 possible free tickets only 25 000 showed - still hats off to them - at least they kept their word.

They opened the Sun City show with Hey Mama, one of my best BEP songs and pretty much just razzled us from there. Shut Up was a highlight (it's a song about relationships) and at the end of the song Fergie stood alone on stage and "merged" Shut up into Sweet Child of Mine (Guns and Roses). It was a spine chilling moment. That woman has a set of pipes on her and can she move. You try and sing, and do one armed flick flacks across the stage at the same time, especially when you are no longer a teenager!! At the end of Don't Lie, Will i am pulled up a guitar and "merged" the song into No Woman No Cry (Bob Marley) - awesome, awesome, awesome. They can play musical instruments - which, in my eyes, makes them even more credible as artists. Clearly they compose and write their own stuff.

Where is the Love. Well..... well...... emotional stuff. They dedicated it to the Indonesian Earth Quake victims and to all poor and struggling people in the world. All the lights including the stage lights were switched off and out came the cell phones. Okay as I write this I realise how corny this sounds, but believe me it was great.

The BEP's have this astonishing cross over appeal. I saw old, youth and very young at this show. Sitting next to me, was a man well into his late fifties with his wife. I thought perhaps he had brought his kids to the show. No way man - he booked the minute he heard they were coming and he was breaking it down. Such fun!

Finally, their style and dress and branding is so interesting. Fergie opened the show in an orange glitter tracksuit. Her name embroidered on the right leg and on each butt cheek she had BEP embroidered. I love it - clever and cheeky(Get it?). Will i am had the most awesome Addidas tracksuit. White with black stripes, and, on the front right hand pocket positon the number 9. On the back in black the bust of Beethoven and in red printed over it, "lovely Ludwig". (Get it? Think about it.) I think it awesome and I soooo want a tracksuit like that. Taboo started with the red workman gear and a smallish Mexican flag sticking out of his back pocket like a cleaning rag. Later he changed into a green, red and white tracksuit with Mexico printed on the shirt. Guess where he comes from? They were a visual feast, great eye candy.
Ahhhhh I had a ball, great show and would love to see them again. Still bouncing from their incredible energy, what a way to spend the weekend!

It was Mother's Day last weekend and Ithought I would take some time to honour my bestest buddy's mum - Auntie Anne or Nana as she was known to her family. Auntie Anne passed away earlier this year from a massive stroke. I miss her like crazy, crazy, crazy. It's horrible not having her there all the time anymore. She used to sit in the same spot at my friend's house, either on the chair in the kitchen, mostly with the cat nearby, or on the bench on the stoep, calmly watching the comings and goings of the neighbourhood. She was the softest person I ever met. Not only was her heart complete putty, I often watched in amazement at how she would let her grandchildren get away with stuff I know she would have given her own kids a complete bollocksing for, but when you touched or hugged her she was all soft and squidgy like old people get. She was also softly spoken, full of fun, amazingly talented at handicrafts, which all of her daughters inherited from her, intelligent, patient and kind and very very wise. Her favourite colour was pink. She loved to read, especially crime and conspiracy stories. She devoured the Da Vinci Code. She also hated pasta or anything she considered to be "exotic" food like Thai or Italian. If it didn't have rice, potatoes, three veg, meat and gravy, it wasn't food in her book. She left us at age 86 and on the day of her funeral the heavens opened - it poured - we all got soaked. She was wonderful and I miss her a lot. Rest in peace Auntie Anne - I love you lots.

A few weeks ago I was part of a very eclectic mix of people who watched Sir Bob Geldof and his band perform his hits from The Boomtown Rats. It was great fun, he was very entertaining and full of stories. I knew two songs. I don't like Mondays and Banana Republic! He swears like crazy but he has a heart of gold. My pictures aren’t great, the crowd was small so security had nothing to do except pick on me and my camera

He was gracious in an Irish kind of way. After swearing at us, he thanked us for coming to see him even though we didn’t know any of his "F*&^%$#" music! The Boomtown Rats did not allow their music to be released in South Africa because of Apartheid. So we missed most of their stuff. It was a small audience, about 1000 people. They were polite and reserved and at the end gave him a standing ovation. He performed an encore which we all stood and danced to. He also played requests for the “three people” in the audience who knew his music. Nice of him to acknowledge them.
It was a great evening. My friend Leoni said it was like being part of VH1 Storytellers. Except if ever, he does record an episode of Storytellers they would have to edit half his language out of the show! He was great - good music, good tunes, good stories, good voice. Want to find out more about him, think I'll buy his biography. Glad I went, it was a lovely evening.

I went on a Buddhist retreat at Nan Hua Temple in Bronkhorstspruit this weekend with my friends Aldie and Wendy. Don't panic, I'm not about to give up all my stuff, shave my head and go and sit in a hut and meditate for the rest of my life!

I really enjoy going there. It's like a mini holiday. I feel like I am in another corner of the world when I'm there. It's quiet and peaceful and tranquil plus the buildings are completely unlike anything else in this country. The temple and surrounding buildings are all designed and constructed in Chinese style. They are huge, very bright, colourful and completely cheerful. The art, the furniture, the food is all way out of my daily box. They do veggies and tofu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This I can handle for a weekend, not so sure I could eat that way everyday of my life. Man, even their way of thinking is totally foreign to me.

The retreat consists mostly of lectures, this time it was about The Four Noble Truths, and meditation. The Buddhist philosophy of cause and effect, resonates with me. Always has. I like the fact that my actions have a direct effect on what happens to me in my life. Makes me responsible for myself and mostly I can deal with that. The thought of someone else pulling the strings for me, doesn't do it for me. I also like the fact that they rarely say, "Don't do this or that". Instead they give you options of what you can do to make your life work. So what I mean is instead of saying "don't kill", they tell you "to preserve life" and "don't steal" becomes "honour property" and "don't lie" becomes "be honest". See what I mean? There's also this thing about being mindful. Through meditation and a couple of other simple exercises, you become mindful of what you think and say and do. I'm amazed at how much shit goes on in my head! All thoughts eventually become actions. So if you think shit, your life will be shit. Mmmm....... I'm sure you will agree it really is a different way of thinking and at face value it all looks a bit namby pamby wishy washy, but believe me, when you sit down and think about this and it's presented to you by people who know this and live it, it really is mind blowing stuff.

Okay, so now I can see you are all thinking, "she's freaking me out here!" Don't mean to. I like cultivating an open mind, and if there is something new I can learn and apply to my life, well I reckon, what have I got to lose and if I can be good and kind to others and myself at the same time, I double reckon - way to go!

Oh, and yes! That stuffing empty roll of toilet paper followed me all the way to this temple!!! It simply will not let go!

I have this theory that there is an empty roll of toilet paper that follows me around. Whenever I need to "go" - I walk into the jazz and there it is. I duly remove it out of it's holder, dump it in the trash can and replace it with a brand new full roll. Yet somehow, whenever I "go" again, there it is. It seems to have quite a crush on me. Oh Oh and it has also on some occasions managed to disguise itself. The other day, at gym, I had a choice of two different stalls. One stall had an empty roll and the other had what looked like half a roll. So I thought I'd use the latter. BUT when I got round to rolling off the paper, there were like, only two sheets left on the roll!!! Go figure.

Before I start. Barb in New York. E mail thing is still not working. I received your parcel yesterday thank you, thank you, thank you. Letter is on its way.If you can, please leave a comment so I know you have seen this.

Went to the Bryan Adams concert in March - still catching up on my blog news. It was fantastic. We had golden circle tickets, we had a comfortable time standing and weren't crushed by the crowds. We found a spot next to the sound booth so I had a great time watching the sound engineers (who looked about as happy and excited to be there as a tub of frozen yoghurt).
I'm not a big Bryan Adams fan - don't have his cds in my collection. Actually I do, it's an MTV unplugged one. But I love him live. He really rocks. This is the third time I've seen him. He keeps coming back here which is nice of him. The thing about Bryan Adams is that he has no airs and graces. It's him and three musicians on stage, jeans and black t shirts, just doing their thing - no backing vocalists, no flashy special effects, no grand costumes - and it works! He too, is a pro at interacting with the audience and always pulls someone up onto the stage to play his guitar or sing with him. It's an ahhhhhh moment. This time he pulled up a girl from Krugersdorp (lots of jokes about that) and she sang one of his songs with him (I can hear the song in my head but the name has escaped me). She was good, even Bryan was surprised. She knew all the song words and she rocked - not bad for a chick from K'dorp!

The highlight of the show was "Summer of 69". In fact he didn't sing it at all. 16 000 fortysomething South Africans did that for him. He introduced the number by picking up the green guitar in the picture here and started talking about this being his favourite guitar. He then sang the intro "I bought my first six string...." and well that was it, we took over. Great moment.

He was also so gracious about our country, said "we have a good thing going here" and told us how much he likes spending time here. That always makes us feel gooey and warm and fuzzy and nice.

He ended the show by serenading us for half an hour. Just him and his guitar. The final number was All For One And One For All. It was spine tingling stuff - he certainly has a great voice.

So for the third time, been there, done that, bought the TShirt. The girl in the pic with me is my friend Velda. Would I go again? Of course!

Went to the bush this weekend and recharged my soul. Not in the sense of getting back to nature and gazing at the wildlife and getting in touch with myself again, but in a totally "rad" and vibrant, youthful, madly energetic kind of way. I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with a group of amazing plus minus 25 year olds. Just how lucky can a girl get!! I have forgotten how much energy 20somethingyearolds have. Fresh, good looking, sheer eye candy, with major personality to boot and OMG funneeeeee. I met a "hardcore" Wimpy fan. Didn't know such a thing existed - she literally knows every item on the menu and has ratings for them!! Also was introduced to Ipod karaoke and I will never listen to Caroline by Outkast in the same way again. The topic of conversation literally bounced from sport, celebrities, favourite places to visit, plastic surgery, diets, music, movies, the nature of animals and plants in the wild, blogging and of course - SHAGGING! When I say, conversation bounces, I mean it does exactly that. That's the energy - the conversation - literally vibrates with life, love and laughter. I cannot remember when last I laughed so much - I think I had a permanent grin plastered to my face. The only time they were quiet was when they were sleeping. Of course, they drank like fish and ate everything in sight . I certainly wouldn't dream of even trying to keep up with them. I just went with the flow.


It was decided to visit the Kruger National Park but being a long weekend the park was full. By the time we got there the park had reached its daily quota and was closed for the day. This after we had stood in a cue for about an hour. BUMMER! Do you think that would deter this group? NO WAY DUDE! Instead we went bouncing alongside the river and managed to see elephants cavorting in the water, hippos lolling about and a massive crocodile (fortunately they were all on the other side). There was plenty of bird life too. Later on some of us crashed and others went to the local to watch a rugby match ( I have no idea who played - I'm a total sport know nothing). They soon came bouncing back and we spent the evening braaing (cooking green beans to a cinder), playing 30 Seconds, drinking, dancing, chatting and roasting marshmallows. The next day we went to the river to watch the sunset. Lovely.

I learnt a new expression too. "Rad". I assume it's an abbreviation for radical and is used whenever something is cool, hot, amazing and interesting. So, I say, these people are totally rad. They will go very far in life. They are beautiful, have bags of personality, stand knee deep in their lives, pay attention and are very very smart. I want some of their fairy dust to rub off onto me please! When I look at the group photo I feel like I'm part of the cast of St Elmo's Fire (very old 80's movie for those of you who don't know).

So thank you guys (especially the Daniel Clan) for inviting me. Thank you for recharging my soul. You are totally "rad" and I hope that you will stay in my life.

Robbie Williams does it for me in a big way. Don't ask me why, I haven't a clue. He just does. He kept his word and kicked off his world tour in South Africa. So this year I decided that instead of doing the seaside holiday thing, I am going to spend my leave going to the three Robbie Williams concerts in our country. I went to each concert with a different friend or group of friends and had an absolute ball. I also wrote reviews for an Australian fansite called www.robbiewilliamsoz.com and posted my concert pics there. I have published the reviews on todays posting and you can go and see all my pics at the website. If you are not a Robbie Williams fan, don't bother reading further, and if you are, or were possibly at the show/s I hope you get it. I'm still decompressing from the shows as is the rest of the country. It's been two weeks and I still hear people talk about him and his shows in coffee shops and restaurants. So here goes:

Durban, South Africa - 10th September 2006 (brief review)

It\'s 8am on Tuesday morning, the owner of the B&B I'm staying at in Durban has kindly let me use her computer for a little while. I'm travelling back to Johannesburg today and tomorrow I will be able to send you something more substantial.But quickly, the show was awesome! He was amazing. In his own words, "that was ACE!" He gave it his all, and afterwards everybody seemed overawed by what they had just witnessed. South Africa certainly has not seen a show of this calibre ever! He was so nice to everyone, totally charming and full of fun. Robbie style. I'm going to run through the set list and put short comments for the moment. Detail and lots of photographs will follow later when I get home to my computer and stuff.

Radio - he appeared in a blinding flash of light and smoke!

Rock DJ - wonderful - the crowd went nuts

Tripping - amazing lighting - green seems to be the new favourite show colour

Monsoon - danced like a dervish at the end of his walkway.

Sin Sin Sin - lovely story about the making of the video, more later

Trouble with Me - ahhh lovely

Millennium - hands in the air - looked fantastic

Back for Good - nobody knew it!!!

Advertising Space - amazing footage, stage looked incredible!! Lovely lighting

There She Goes - He played the guitar, we loved it

Ghosts - nice nice nice. He stood victorious, the only man to make you ....

Come Undone / Take a walk on the wildside - did a singalong with us.

Feel - Yep we felt it alright - once again amazing lighting and a lovely singalong

Place to Crash - this one bombed out totally!!! No one knew it - even Robbie was devastated in his nice way though!

Kids - we bounced like a bunch of mentalists

Make Me Pure - he lit a cigarette and just charmed usWent of stage for a little bit

Let Me Entertain You - OMG! It was amazing, loads of special effects, rocked the house, the crowd went ape

Strong - biggest karoake Durban has ever seen. The words were really clear on the screen and everyone, but I mean everyone sang along.

Angels - he was really nice to some special fans during this one, brought them on stage, but I promise to tell you more about that later.

Okay, that's it for now. Must quickly mention that before There She Goes, he mentioned that his friend Jonathan's wife is in labour and asked if someone could tell him if something happened during the show. I think he was supposed to perform There She Goes with Jonathan!

Durban, South Africa - 10th April 2006

I’m back home, in Johannesburg, It’s Wednesday morning and I think I’m slowly beginning to decompress from Monday evening’s show. This was my first ever Robbie concert, and he did not disappoint. If you are expecting another Knebworth, you will be disappointed. Knebworth was about three times larger than this show, but you have every right to expect something spectacular. If like me, you sometimes don’t want to know the detail so that you have no expectations of the show then stop reading now. But - IF you are into the detail, I hope you will enjoy my ramblings. I remember once hearing or reading an interview by one of his roadies who has seen virtually every show Robbie has performed and he said that Robbie has NEVER been crap. Amen to that!

Durban had never seen anything quite like this. Everyone who is anyone was at the show on Monday, and a lot of fans came from out of town. Reports have it that a group of German fans, who couldn’t get tickets in Germany, travelled to Durban for this show. 48 000 people packed the stadium (an it wasn’t even sold out!) Yet the atmosphere was great. It poured with rain during The Wired Daisies and Freshly Ground’s performance – which was a real bummer for them. Still the crowd on the field loved them. Those of us in the stands ran for shelter, including me (I’m a woos!)

The stage is huge. It spans the width of the rugby field, and a ramp extends out into the inner circle. Massive video screens flank the sides projecting plasma screen crystal clear images of whatever is going on. There is also one in the back of the stage. “Tripping mazes” are a design feature on the sides of the stage, which look really cool when lit up. The rest of the lighting rig is massive, it’s just lights, lights, lights everywhere as well as two massive follow spots situated at the top of the stadium.

At 21h00 sharp our man made his debut appearance in South Africa and on this tour. He took my breath away. The video screens lit up with images from the Radio video, his new logo and a lot of static. Redorange light poured from the stage and flames burst into the sky from the side of the walkway. Just when I thought, “I am going to pass out from excitement” he appeared like magic at the bottom of the walkway, dressed in his trademark black long coat, jeans and popstar sunglasses. “OUCH!” He certainly made our engines go “WO OH OH!”

He just took off from there. Radio went into Rock DJ, followed by Tripping. Somewhere in between he managed to say “good evening”. The lighting dazzled me. Green and blue were the colours for Tripping – oh wow – felt like I was in his dream. I must also mention his backing vocalists are incredible, powerful voices adding a gospel element to the show. During Monsoon he came down the ramp and stood at the end of the walkway. He grabbed someone’s camera, took a pic of himself and tossed it back into the crowd (I hope the owner got it back) Then, oh then, he stood at the end of the walkway and ……. “so put your hands across the water. Mushroom, Monsoon” and while singing this he dances in a circle like a … Monsoon, I guess (corny I know!) He looked phenomenal. Finally he starts talking to us and after admonishing everyone in the boxes for not switching their televisions off he reads the banners in the audience. Of course the obligatory “Rob show us your knob”was there. Except of course they mispellt it, they left off the K which he gave them a right bollocksing for. He introduced Sin Sin Sin, with a story about the video he has been shooting in Cape Town. He told us that the video is his fantasy and he had 18 models on set and “F me! They all have boyfriends! Except for two - who didn’t care!” Ahhh laugh out loud. Why does this make him so adorable? Sin Sin Sin moved into Trouble followed by Millenium. The hands in the air looked amazing, almost evangelical. He then mentioned Take That and sang Back for Good – asked us to sing a long. He soon realized we didn’t know the song. Take That wasn’t that well known in SA. He then joked about Take That reforming without him. He called them “Ache That” Clever! Wonder how many people got that? Advertising Space is number one on our local top forty, so the audience went ape when images from the video played in the background during the song. Even as a cheesy Elvis impersonator he is so darn good looking. My oh my! And his Elvis hipshake - I was swooning!

Alone at stage center Robbie picked up his guitar and told us about his best friend Jonathan who’s wife is in labour – his excitement was tangible. And I distinctly got the impression that Jonathan was supposed to have performed the next number with him, which was “There She Goes”. I really don’t get why he has to do covers when he has so many fantastic songs of his own. Ghosts was followed by Come Undone which went into Take a Walk on the Wildside. He tried a sing a long with the audience but it didn’t seem to work. I expected him to pull a girl onto the stage at this point, but he didn’t. Feel was a definite crowd pleaser, with everyone singing their hearts out.He went off stage for a little while and the music and lighting became all space agey and weird which then burst into my absolute favourite - A Place to Crash. He sang and performed as if possessed and the audience went totally flat!!! I think they didn’t know the song. He was devastated and asked us if we could hear him and teased us about effing with his mind! Kids was powerful and lots of fun, the backing vocalist who does Kylie’s part (didn’t catch her name) is superb. He chatted to some girls in the audience and he mentioned an article he had read in which he was referred to as a Veteran Popstar. “Veteran, I’m 32! F you!” Funny!! He sat down to perform Pure, the lighting turned blue green again, and he smoked a cigarette. How does he do that without choking? For LMEY they pulled out all the stops. Incredible lighting, fire, smoke, you name it. Hugely energetic performance and the audience went absolutely dilly. Strong, the traditional Karaoke , the words scrolled up on the back and side screens in a strong, clear and bold font. You had to be blind to miss that. It worked! He spotted a few more girls in the audience and invited them up onto the stage. Earlier these girls had pretended they couldn’t hear him during A Place to Crash. One of them was 9 years old and I think her name was Jordan. He was so sweet and kind to her, I nearly cried. He sat her down on the stage next to him and then sang Angels. She went hysterical and so did the audience. Lighting went into hues of blue and we all sang as if this was our salvation. The band took their bows, he teased us about how we have been his loudest audience on the tour so far and thanked us for making the opening show so special – he also said “Angels was amazing” And then it was over. I hope my ramblings convey just how great this show was. His voice is amazing. He is breathtaking in the flesh. Better looking than any picture, video or DVD. He truly is the worlds’ most handsome man.

Cape Town tomorrow…..

ROBBIE WILLIAMS , CAPE TOWN THURSDAY 13 APRIL 2006
GREENPOINT STADIUM

What a great show that was! Cape Town has Robbie Fever real bad. Fans lined up from early in the morning at the stadium picnicking (as only the Capetonians can do) and having a great time chatting to one another. Some went to a great lengths to dress up and be noticed. Greenpoint stadium is much smaller than the Durban stadium so the concert had a real intimate feel about it. Robbie must be the only man who can have a conversation with a crowd of thousands of people and make it feel like he is speaking to you and your friends. And he was in a chatty mood indeed. Less jokes this time and more chatter. From admonishing the press for “trying to turn an entire country against him, bunch of effing….. !” , referring to the Nelson Mandela story which he says is totally untrue, to telling us that he “woke up this morning with a slightly chesty cough”. Then he joked about the obligatory “Rob show us your knob” banner because this time it was spelt correctly. Told the crowd about the misspellt Durban banner and stated that “if you can’t spell it correctly then how can I be sure which parts I’m supposed to show” This is what I like about the guy – even in front of gazillions of people, he speaks about everyday things and he can be so very funny.

I say again the atmosphere was fantastic, even though the sound seemed a little wobbly at the start of the show. I’m no fundi on this, but it seems to me they either correct it a few songs into the show or my hearing adjusts to it. The set remained the same as Durban ’s except he didn’t perform Kids. Instead he performed the first verse and chorus of Hot Fudge because he heard the fans asking for it. Really wished he had done the whole number and I hope he includes it in his next show in Pretoria . Again, the lighting and the on screen images are amazing, amazing, amazing! Rock DJ, Monsoon, Feel, Millennium and LMEY brought the house down. He even joked after Feel that he had one single tear in his eye but unfortunately the camera missed it. I’m beginning to appreciate songs like Pure which really works well live, it sounds great when he performs it and he looks fantastic, sitting on a stool, smoking away. And Sin Sin Sin has a great energy all of its own – perhaps I’m biased because I know that he shot the video in Cape Town .
Speaking of which, he had some really nice things to say about the place and thanked everyone for their kindness and hospitality during his stay. He told them that “ Cape Town is the best kept secret in the world”. Ahh that was nice. Made us feel all warm and fuzzy.
For Angels he called a young boy of about 8 years old, onto the stage, along with his dad. He watched in awe and amazement as the crowd sang along. And then - the second night of his tour was over. Two solid hours of performance felt like five minutes to me.
Chatting to some people afterwards, they were once again, completely dazzled by the man’s brilliant performance and the fantastic show. Some said that it took them a few numbers to get into it (wonder where I have heard that before?) and once they did - it totally rocked.

Going home now to catch up on some sleep, getting ready for the really big one …. Pretoria on Monday.

PRETORIA SHOW PREVIEW
I'm truly an obsessed fan aren't I? I've just come back from Loftus Stadium in Pretoria and have taken these pics of the set up for the final Robbie WIlliams Show in South Africa tomorrow. This is going to be his loudest and biggest audience, because Pretoria and Johannesburg are where it is happening. They are the biggest cities, in SA and although they may not be the prettiest they sure do have a big buzz about them.
At the stadium this morning I counted no less than 80 people on the field and stage, climbing up scaffolding and working their butts off to put this massive set together. It truly takes a village to stage this and I take my hat off to these people, they are the unsung heroes of these shows.
I'm really excited for tomorrow. I have standing tickets, although not Inner Circle (bummer) so I shall be standing in line bright and early. Can't wait to meet some more interesting Robbie Williams fans. Will send a review of this show on Tuesday. Hold thumbs that he performs Hot Fudge, dying to hear that one live.
Am very excited.... Robbie Fever has grabbed me big time!
Until Tuesday

REVIEW - ROBBIE WILLIAMS PRETORIA LOFTUS STADIUM

MONDAY 17 APRIL 2006

IT'S OFFICIAL. SOUTH AFRICA ROCKS!
It's official, the gospel according to Robbie Williams, "SOUTH AFRICAROCKS!" When he said that during his show on Monday evening in Pretoria, we went berserk, cheering and screaming and loving every minute of Robbie loving us. The show was without a doubt, the best of the three concerts he performed in South Africa. There were 61 000 of us in the audience and he was on top form. I'm still on a magical high from Monday night, even though it is already Wednesday morning. Intensive Care will never sound the same tome again. Every time I play the album or hear one of the songs on the radio, I know that I will go right back into that stadium and to that show.Everybody that was anybody in broadcasting was there. Listening to the various morning radio broadcasts on Tuesday, you could hear that the DJ's all loved the show as much as their audiences and that they were completely enamored by Robbie. One DJ even got to play in a secretly arranged footie match with the Robster and his team. Yep Robbie fever had reached its pinnacle.Like so many other fans my day started early and ended extremely late. The girls and I started cueing from 10am and by the time they let us in at 4pm we managed to get quite close to the Inner Circle barricade. Robbie did the real pop star thing and arrived in a black and gold helicopter which circled the stadium twice and then landed - so we had our own little Knebworth moment there. We know it was him because he told us so during the show.Once inside the stadium we still had a 5 hour wait ahead of us, which fortunately, was tempered by a really sweet performance by the Wirediasies in which the lead singer asked us to shout "Thank you Robbie" with her and an absolutely brilliant performance by our own Freshly Ground. In fact they did exactly what a warm up act should do, their funky African rhythm and melodies had us clapping and dancing and cheering in preparation for the big one. And then, our man made his appearance to Radio, in a blinding flash of light. The crowd went crazy, crazy, crazy. I couldn't hear a word of what he was singing because of all the screaming and shouting. He told us to"stop it or I will cry!" He once again, took my breath away with his swagger and sunglasses. (Can somebody please tell me what brand of sunglasses he wears?). Clearly during Rock DJ a girl in the audience managed to take his breathe away, especially when after the song he asked her to flash her breasts and she did! She was projected up onto the big screens baring everything. A huge cheer of appreciation from the "lads" in the audience, and Robbie saying he will be watching the DVD of this show. I must say, her breasts were huge. I can understand why he was so enamored and needed to share the moment with everyone. He also seemed determined to break a couple of world records during his show. After Tripping he told us that while being unable to sleep the previous night he wondered what would happen if we all simultaneously blew a breath of air at him. (Yep strange things occupy his mind!) So he asked us to and there I, along with 60 999fans, was completely suckered into blowing at him on the count of three. We must have looked really strange. The result? Absolutely nothing! Or in hiswords "effing nothing!" It was funny and that -ladies and gentleman, boysa nd girls - is - what makes Robbie Williams the most brilliant entertaineri n the world right now. He didn't stop at that though - he also asked everyone who could burp to burp in one go - he led the way and belched out a big one (Eeewww). Totally mad shit, don't you think? He told us he got theidea from Sade who back in the 80's did that at one of her concerts."Strange, never figured Sade for a burper" said he.
Of course, the lighting was magnificent and this show is spectacular. I would hazard a guess and say that this show is as big as anything that U2,the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi and Green Day produce and with the exception ofU2, is better than anything they have ever done (I know Robbie will forgive me for U2, cause he likes them as much as I do, which is a lot!) It has everything, shooting flames, fireworks, special effects, lights. It's dazzling. The shooting flames are so big and so hot you can feel them at the back of the stadium - Robbie and the band must fry on the stage. He didn't change the set list much, except that he left out Kids and APTC (my absolute favourite!) and alas he didn't do Hot Fudge either. Ah well, suppose I can't have everything. He seemed to battle with the altitude (we are approx 1700m above sea level) and told us that during his costume change he had to suck on some oxygen cause he was battling to breathe, so perhaps that's why he left out most of the fast dancing numbers. He cracked his usual jokes about the models during the Sin Sin Sin video shoot (by now I'm so dying to see this video) as well as Mick Jagger being ancient and still able to do this for three hours on the trot, when after three songs he (Robbie) is"completely effed". He ripped off Take That and our own local version of Heat magazine, saying that Heat magazine "is a very very good magazine indeed and you should believe everything you read in it!" He also set the rumour straight about him supposedly not wanting to meet Nelson Mandela,saying that he would never do that. "Mandela is one of the loveliest men onEarth - Viva Mandela Viva!" Of course we went mad for this! The BlueSteele pose was there too. And then he also told us about Minki van derWesthuizen and expressed his surprise at how big her breasts are, which he says he only noticed when he Googled her. (Now I wonder did he really meanit as in "Internet Google" or was that just another pun on oooggle?) Clearly he thought she was lovely "but she has a boyfriend. Plays table tennis or something...." he said. He just has such a lovely way about him and why is it that he can swear like a trooper and we love him for it? Even he says it's uncool and tells all the kids in the audience to ignore him and not take his language "into the playground". Perhaps the highlight of the evening for me and everyone else was when he told us how much he loved South Africans. He was so humble and expressed major gratitude towards us for theway we looked after him and his band mates during their stay. He told us we were the best kept secret in the world and that he has never ever seen so many beautiful woman and men anywhere. He also jokingly thanked our men formaking their women so available! Ahhhh you've got to give it to him - he just oozes charm. The funniest moment had to be his Michael Jackson and Prince impersonations. So, when it came to chatting and joking with the audience he was in top top form and I don't think that any other artist in the world, is as good at it as he is. Those of you who have seen him on previous shows, I'm sure will agree, he has this uncanny ability to reach out and touch you. You find yourself responding and oohing, ahhing, booing and laughing along with thousands of other people.
By now you are probably wondering did he actually sing anything? Of course he did, and he was great. Monsoon, Feel, Come Undone were awesome. LMEY rocked the house and as for Angels..... well, there were some girls standing near me that were sobbing. He didn't pull anyone onto the stage and after the final bow, he alone, came back onto the stage and sang the chorus for us. We truly felt "blessed with love". Then it was "I just wanted to hear that one more time. Thank you South Africa, God bless and good night". 10 minutes later a black and gold helicopter circled thestadium and flew away.
Looking back on all three shows, my favourites:
Show - Pretoria.
Performance - APTC - even though the audiences didn't know it.
Special Effects - On screen images for Advertising Space - it's freaky how good his Elvis impersonation is.
Lighting - Sin Sin Sin - it's just gorgeous (I suppose other countries mightget images from the video he made here).
Comment - On Take That reforming without him, so now they are "Ake That". I thought it hilarious.
Costume - Black Addidas tracksuit he wore at the Durban show.
Disappointment - no Swing numbers and no Hot Fudge and the frikking trafficgoing home from Loftus!
My pilgrimage has come to an end and life now returns to normal. Interestingly, the day after the show, the weather turned cold and our winter has set in. Thank you Robbie for coming here, thank you for the effort you put into your performances, for keeping yourself, fit, for your great music and for being informed and relevant. Thank you also to the village of people who look after Robbie and his show - your work at making him "The world's most handsome man" is incredible. I loved every minute of my concert journey and I would do it again - in a heartbeat! Robbie has flown onto Dubai and we are winding down from Robbie Fever. He promised to return to South Africa but I miss him already.
So thank you for letting me pour my feelings out in these reviews, and thankyou Nikki for publishing them on your site. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them. And when he performs in your part of the world, I really hope that you receive as much love from him as he has given all of us here in sunny South Africa.
CheersGela