roadworks | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

The Sweet Service Award goes to Road Mac Surfacing, the road construction company, and is nominated by Stellenbosch wine-maker Sue McNaughton. Driving on the N1 to Paarl, where the company was doing road works, a stone hit Sue’s car windscreen, and caused a bad crack, which ran in no time. She stopped and obtained contact details from the supervisor at the side of the road. Within three days they had organised the replacement of the windscreen. The glass supplier was paid directly by Road Mac. The Manager Michael Corbin called Sue every day until the windscreen replacement was completed.

The Sour Service Award goes to the Slow Food Market at the Willowbridge centre in Cape Town, which operates on Saturdays. The Market is a “poor cousin” to the Stellenbosch Slow Food Market at Oude Libertas, which has energy and a very large selection of fresh produce for sale, even though it is not as great as the Bosman’s Crossing market, from which it originated. Even though the owner of the Slow Food Markets has registered them with Slow Food in Italy, the relationship of the markets to the principles of Slow Food seems tenuous, especially at Willowbridge. The ultimate dichotomy is seeing a stand selling Tupperware at the Market. Its launch poster advertised “Slow Wine”, but none was visible, nor was any “Slow Design”! Whilst Slow Food does not necessarily mean organic foods, it does stand for the following, according to the international Slow Food website: “Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.” The Slow Food Market does not reflect this.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

For the first time this past week Capetonians saw the Cape Town Stadium in its lit-up glory, while the lighting checks were being done. With such a magnificent photograph, taken from the V&A Waterfront looking on to the Stadium, there surely cannot be a single Cape Town sceptic left, who cannot see the benefit of the 2010 World Cup for Cape Town?!

The roadworks on the N1 and N2 are painful, but driving in and out of Cape Town is a lot easier than it has been during the road construction over the past few months. Ultimately our roads will be fantastic once June/July 2010 arrives!

The World Cup 2010 is a unique event that will be to the benefit of all – for Capetonians and our soccer fan tourists.