Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Levi's Stripped Espadrilles

Summer is in the offing, even though Cape Town weather doesn't seem to be showing signs yet, judging from the cold, wet and windy weekend we just had, well anyway the shops are already all stocked up with summer gear. This weekend i was at the V&A Waterfrront and decided to walk into Markham, gasp, yes me, walked into Markham; I've realised recently that they've changed things up and have started following current trends or at least trying. Not so long ago I bounght a waitcost from them, and it was very well made, this made me start paying attention to their stock. So while in there I noticed they were doing a lot of espadrilles, and these featured (by Levi's) were my favorite, as far as espadrilles go:P Now I'm toying with the idea of perhaps buying them... anyway to those who don't know, espadrilles are casual fashion sandals originating from the Pyrenees. They usually have a canvas or cotton fabric upper and a flexible sole made of rope or rubber material moulded to look like rope. The jute rope sole is the defining characteristic of an espadrille; the uppers vary widely in style. In Quebec French, however, espadrille is the usual term for running shoes..hehe

Friday, November 6, 2009

Beauty: An Island As Seen From Space

Islands are some of the most beautiful, peaceful, violent, desolate and unique places on Earth. While experiencing a tropical island from its sandy beaches, or a volcanic island from its towering peaks is wonderful, experiencing them from above can be inspiring as well. We’ve collected images taken by astronauts and satellites from space of some of the most interesting islands on the planet.
Atafu Atoll, Tokelau, Pacific Ocean
Around 500 people live on Atafu Atoll, mostly in a village that can be seen on the corner in the left of the image above. Atafu is just five miles wide and is the smallest of three atolls in the
Tokelau Islands, a New Zealand territory. Atafu is made up of coral reefs that surrounded the flanks of a volcano that has since become inactive and submerged. Like many tropical atolls, Atafu is very low lying and vulnerable to sea-level rise. This photograph was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station in January.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Day Of My Drivers Test

I just realized I never wrote up about the day I did my drivers test. Well for one I woke up at 6:30am so I could be ready to be picked up at 7am because a friend of mine who lives out of the country was in town and leaving that morning but we were going to have breakfast first. Well apart from the fact that I was up 2 hours before the usual time the morning seemed like any other Monday morning, a lil bit blue, a lil bit grey – then I got ready, but the friend was stuck in traffic so the breakfast was running an hout late when at 8am, a reminder on my phone notifies me that I have my drivers test on that day – gasp! Now ordinarily in Cape Town one often rejoices when the date finally arrives because one often has to wait a good 5 to 8 months for a date, this was not one of those ordinary occasions as I was freaked out. One, I had not taken a preparatory lesson; I mean I do drive but I needed to know how to drive according to K53 which is always gratuitously more strict that ordinary driving. Two, I had not arranged a car to test with, and didn’t wanna use a driving school’s car cuz they only have non-power steering cars, which I don’t like. And I had no clue where my receipt which I needed to prove I’d paid to secure my date. Some would have taken the day off, but I treasure my leave days too much to waste them on a driving test I’m gonna fail anyway; I thought to myself and made my way to work. Then spent the whole morning trying to figure out where I was gonna get a car, didn’t manage to find one. So I went there to do my test, hired a driving school car, with no power-steering, and went inside reprinted my receipt and paid for it again and used one of the four pics I need for the license to get a new one. Finally this is all sorted now, I need to do the test, I do not remember the pre-trip inspection or anything at this point as the nerves have gotten the better of me! So I mumbling random sh*t about the car’s exterior, I was just naming everything car related counting on the fact that he cant say, I’m wrong for over-checking, I remember counting everything under the bonnet/hood; oil, water, brake fluid, fan belt, engine, gasket, radiator etc, I stopped upon realizing the man’s reaction was like, ’this is gonna take a while’. I did the inside and the guy said, good and let’s go. Then we drive to the testing ground, my nerves were beyond, the whether had suddenly become scorching, so I was sweatier than a strained Lebanese. And throughout trying to parallel park and everything, my clutch foot was shaking like a tail-feather. But to cut a long story short, I passed the field test then we went on the road and I was pretty good there, and when we got back, turns out I had passed – so what can we take away from this, lol, preparation is not always vital….when you’re awesome ;) Now I'm busy car shopping any suggestions welcomed.