Tag Archives: travelling somewhere could be anywhere

Far over the Misty Mountains cold

  By Ron | April 29, 2013 - 22:56 |
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This coming weekend happens to be the weekend of Little Sister’s day of birth — and, in celebration, she and her husband have organised a weekend away in the Cederberg for a whole group of us.  Of course, with me being family and all, I was first on the invite list — and the majority of this blog’s readership should know that I don’t turn down such opportunities!

Advance warning: expect a massive photo post around this time next week.  Won’t happen while I’m there though: there ain’t no mobile phone signal in those parts (which is actually part of the appeal in the first place).

Now for some reason, I have Tolkien looping around in my head:

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.

…

The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

I rode a bus, and I liked it

  By Ron | April 1, 2013 - 08:41 |
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Earlier this year, I wrote about wanting to try out the MyCiti bus service as my daily commute, but couldn’t due to a spanner in the works.  That was sorted out, and the Woodstock feeder route came online on March 2nd.  So, later that same week, I decided to give it a try.

And… I liked it.  :)

Haven given it a try for a month now (yes, I was slacking with writing random stuff on here last month — don’t ask!), impressions of it are that it’s clean, reliable, safe and efficient.  Just what one could ask for from a public transport service.  My only criticism is that it can be on the cramped side during peak hours, but then, I guess that it’s peak hours after all.

Moreover, it’s cost efficient.  At current pricing, it costs R5.30 to ride a feeder route, and R10.60 to ride the trunk route between the Cape Town Civic Center and Table View — but, by riding the trunk route, one gets a free feeder route trip on either end.  So, it’s R21.20 for a round trip, per day.  Meanwhile, petrol is around R13.00 per litre, and with my car doing around 13.5 kilometers for every litre of petrol that it slurps up, it costs me around R1 per kilometer to drive to the office and back.  And with a ~42 km round trip — yeah, the bus is far, far more cost effective.

So, I’ve ditched my car for three working days out of five (the other two, I’m raiding in the evenings, and so take the car to make sure I’m home in good time).  Don’t see this changing for the foreseeable future.

New MyCiTi routes delayed

  By Ron | January 28, 2013 - 14:50 |
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Earlier this month, I mentioned the possibility of using our overly-awesome MyCiTi bus service to get to and from work.  Since I wrote my earlier post, Cape Town recovered from the New Year’s hangover and turned the R27 into a massive car park, so in order to keep my sanity intact and transport expenses under control, using the bus service is fast becoming a necessity rather than a possibility.  The only requirement for me to switch over is the commencement on operations on the Woodstock/Salt River feeder route.

Unfortunately, according to this press release from the City of Cape Town, I’ll be waiting a while…

The implementation of new routes for the MyCiTi Bus Service, such as Walmer Estate and Salt River, is subject to the awarding of operating licences by the Western Cape Provincial Regulating Entity (PRE). These routes – along with the new smaller buses and newly constructed bus stops and stations, such as the Gardens Station – cannot become operational without these operating licences.

The City of Cape Town respects due process, and from the beginning of the process the application, supported by the City have followed the legal and procedural requirements set down by the PRE at all times. The process began in August last year when operating licences for the new routes, which were then due to launch at the end of 2012 were submitted.

The first hearing set by the PRE was for December 2012, but the PRE postponed the hearing to this week due to objections from concerned parties. The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) – on behalf of some taxi associations – and Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS) lodged objections with the PRE.

The hearing resumed this past Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at which time the PRE heard the applicants’ full application for the required operating licences. Before the City could provide its presentation in support of the issuing of the licences, GABS raised procedural objections, claiming to not have had sufficient time to prepare for the hearing. The hearing has now been delayed until the first week of February.

The City is disappointed by these delays, and that this is holding back the implementation of our public transport service which aims to benefit all people in Cape Town. We believe the objections can be dealt with in a manner that does not prejudice and inconvenience the people of Cape Town.

We trust that this will be the final delay, and that we will be able to activate our new routes and infrastructure soon, in order to bring the world-class MyCiTi bus service to an even greater number of awaiting residents and visitors.

All I have to say is: *sigh*

(For what it’s worth, I was toying with “Help, I’m trapped in a traffic jam against my will!” for a blog post title…)

West Coast trafficking

  By Ron | January 8, 2013 - 16:24 |
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Now that I have a 20 km daily commute to the office (and that’s one way!), traffic has become more of a factor than it is.  So far, it hasn’t been bad — the R27 has generally been free-flowing, except for yesterday around the Royal Ascot and Sunset Beach areas — but I’m guessing that that’s partly due to my unconventional working hours (I get to work and leave for home well after most people) and partly because much of Cape Town is likely still hungover from New Year.  So, in between work, play and everything else, I’ve been taking a look to see what the alternatives are.

And first off, there’s the MyCiti expansion plans.  Currently, the main route is from Table View down to the Civic Centre in the CBD, with some feeder routes in Table View/Parklands/Sunningdale/Bloubergstrand.  That’s about to get a major expansion.  First off, more main routes are coming onboard: from Table View, main routes will be extended to Du Noon and further on to Atlantis.  Secondly, the feeder routes in my area (Parklands) are getting a major revamp.  And thirdly, there’ll be more feeder routes: not only in my neck of the woods, but also down the Atlantic seaboard from Green Point through to Hout Bay (as well as a feeder route going particularly close to the office; worth keeping in mind if I decide to work more regular hours (fat chance!) and/or the petrol price skyrockets (which is far more plausible)).  Take the bus instead of fighting for parking when my friends decide to congregate on the Clifton Beach flavour of the month?  Oh yes, please!

Secondly, Sandown Road in Sunningdale and Parklands Main Road (in Parklands, obviously) are planned to be extended all the way through to the Postdam interchange on the N7, giving those with a public transport aversion to use the N7 and take pressure off both the R27 and Table View’s Blaauwberg Road.  Obviously, it depends on the destination of those people, but it’s much needed.  I’d use the new link to get to the Southern Suburbs, for example, but I’d continue using the R27 to get to the city centre.  At the moment, that’s estimated to be completed and opened at the end of 2013, though there didn’t seem to be much activity there when I drove past a few days ago.  (Admittedly, at around 23:30, so there wouldn’t have been much to see anyway!)

Then, not directly related, but due to the new Industrial Development Zone up north at Saldanha, a few provincial roads not far from me are getting upgraded — the R27 continuing out of the city towards Laaiplek, as well as the N7 through to Malmesbury and then the R45 to the Saldanha area.  I haven’t found much detail on this — I’m told that the only mention is in the provincial government budget at this stage.  However, a result of this will be an upgrade of Wingfield Interchange (that’s the interchange between the N1 and N7 for any non-locals reading this) by 2018.  That will affect me quite a bit with regards to using the new link road mentioned above.

So in short: if the traffic gets bad, I can either MyCiti all the things, or just slog it out for a year.  Good to know that I stay in a city that does indeed work for me.

Real life questing

  By Ron | December 18, 2012 - 12:25 | , ,
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With a public holiday yesterday, and with an old friend from Durban finally coming down to visit, I decided to take some people on a tour through the Winelands.  Also joining me were my two future housemates, and a new friend of mine: a visiting master’s student from Canada (being the only non-nerd in the group).

Of course, in true nerd style (much to our non-nerd’s bemusement), we did this in the style of a World of Warcraft quest chain:

  1. Assemble a party of fellow questers.  Your fellow party members may be found in Mowbray, Sunningdale and Gordon’s Bay.
  2. Journey to the Boschendal Wine Estate and acquire 1 Bottle of Fine Red Wine.  Completing this quest requires 50 gold.
  3. Journey to Fairview and acquire 2 Cheese Platters and 1 Loaf of Freshly-Baked Bread.  Completing this quest requires 100 gold.
  4. Prepare a Banquet of the Winelands to feed your party.  A Banquet of the Winelands may only be prepared at the Afrikaanse Taalmonument.  Party members that spend at least 10 minutes eating and drinking will be Well Fed and will receive the buff “Scribble Big Bang Theory Quotes on Ron’s Car” for 6 hours. (My fault for not washing it!)

I also took everyone to Nederburg and through the Huguenot Tunnel afterwards before the group disbanded.  Muchness of fun.

Destination: The Cape of Needles

  By Ron | February 26, 2012 - 21:18 |
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I hadn’t done this for a while, but on Friday night I got the sudden urge to jump in the car the next day and just drive somewhere — so I did.

The destination this time was somewhere I’d wanted to go for a long time but hadn’t managed to get around to — Cape Agulhas, the southern tip of Africa.  After leaving Cape Town at around 11:00 and making a lunch stop en-route, I snapped this pic with the mobile phone camera around three hours later:

End of the road!

(You may need to click on the image to load the full size version if you can’t read the text on the plaque.)

After exploring the area, I took the scenic route back — cut across a dirt road from Bredasdorp to Gansbaai, and then followed the route along the coast through Stanton, Hermanus, Kleinmond and Betty’s Bay (bringing back pleasant memories) before hitting the N2 again at Gordon’s Bay and following that home.  (No photos, sorry — the light was fading by this time.  Maybe next time…)

Total distance travelled: just a touch over 500 km.  Just short of the road distance between Durban and Johannesburg.  Not bad going.

Up next: grab some mates and head off to Ronnie’s Sex Shop!

Roadtrip rules

  By Ron | January 19, 2012 - 21:51 |
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These come courtesy of Megan (an old friend of mine), who has recently driven down from Durban to Stellenbosch to start studying at Maties.  Having recently done the Cape Town to Durban roadtrip myself (albeit the N1-N5-N3 route, whereas Megan followed the N2 down the coast), I definitely agree with these!

  1. The driver picks the music.
  2. “Aww, I like this song!” trumps rule #1.
  3. If you stop at a township, you have to take a shot.  Pun not intended.
  4. No car flirting in the Transkei, there are only trucks on the road.  [Ron -- this also applies to anywhere on the N3!]
  5. Fist pumps are acceptable, and indeed welcomed.
  6. Don’t say “I’m going to crash early tonight” when still on roadtrip.  ”I’m moeg” will suffice.
  7. If you are not the driver, you don’t need to see.

I’ll add more as I think of them.  If you have any good ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments below…

The Stilbaai excursion

  By Ron | September 12, 2011 - 13:26 |
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Yesterday evening, after playing in the church band for the Sunday evening service, a few of us headed out to a local eatery for dinner.  The conversation between two of the guys revolved around their planned weekend away in Stilbaai (this coming weekend) – and halfway through, they turned to me…

“Hey, want to come along?”

You don’t need to ask me that twice!

Hence, I won’t be around this weekend (but may be able to post remotely).  This time though, I will remember to take the camera with me, so there should be a few photos posted around this time next week.

Stilbaai is, for those who have never been there, a rather peaceful and relaxed little dorp on the southern Indian Ocean coast, around four hours drive east of Cape Town (you take the N2 out and turn off just after you go past Riversdale).  I’ve been there once before in January, when some friends from Gauteng were staying in a holiday house there and phoned me up inviting me to pop over for the weekend.  I’ve only good good memories of that place, and I should be adding more in a few days time.

This does however mean that I need to get moving with my roadtrip playlist…