Tag Archives: traffic police

Corona Virus: Lockdown Journey Journal, Day 14 of Level 1, 4 October 2020.

 

Sunday 4 October 2020, Day 14 of Level 1, Day 192 of Lockdown. 😷

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#Grateful for a wonderful day all round, the weather superb, my first Lockdown brunch, and my first dancing at La Parada Constantia Nek since the beginning of Lockdown; for the City of Cape Town coming to collect the broken glass this morning just as I went for a walk, happy that I could express my thanks to the staff personally; for fetching croissants from Maison J, having pre-ordered them; for feeling far safer in Camps Bay today, with 10 Law Enforcement Officers, two traffic police cars, and a Metro Police car proactively present in Camps Bay; for a wonderful Heritage Brunch at my home, lasting six hours, the second longest one ever; for the happiness of going back to La Parada Constantia Nek, seeing so many people from the pre-Lockdown dance nights there, yet it was so different, with minimal dance space, but the highlight was The Kiffness playing; for surviving a taxi overtaking me in a curve of the road and scraping my car on my way home, but not seeing any damage to my car (yet); and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙 Continue reading →

Bastille Festival Sweet Service and Stellenbosch Municipality Sour Service Awards!

Bastille Marquee inside Whale CottageThe Sweet Service Award goes to the Franschhoek Wine Valley and DnA Event Management, for a superb organisation of the Bastille Festival two weekends ago.  The perfect weather, the new massive marquee, and new location next to the Huguenot Monument met with great acclaim from visitors as well as participating visitors, and even the shop owners and restaurateurs on the main road were happy, despite their initial reservations about the marquee moving out of the centre of the village.  The only complaint from some visitors was the many drunk revellers crossing the main road without concern for motorists.   A heavy presence of Stellenbosch Traffic police on Saturday helped to keep some of the problems under control. Continue reading →

Chaotic Cape Town lacks infrastructure for Festive frenzy in Camps Bay!

Camps Bay beach 2Yesterday was the most chaotic day I have seen in Camps Bay in 20 years of living in the suburb.  We know that New Year’s Day is busy, and is a stay-away zone, due to the thousands of Cape Town residents who come from other areas and take ownership of the beach in the suburb, without the City of Cape Town sending any reinforcements to secure the suburb.  What was experienced in Camps Bay yesterday may be the deathknell for tourism in Camps Bay and Cape Town.

We warn our guests to stay away from the Camps Bay beach on 26 December and 1 January, but nothing could have prepared us for yesterday.  One should have known that chaos was coming, when all the restaurants on the street level of the whole beachfront strip, with the exception of health food franchise Kauai, were closed for business!  When I was advising my guests about alternatives of things to do and places to eat, I had to admit to them that most restaurants in Cape Town are closed on New Year’s Day, despite the city teeming with tourists!   I drove down Kloof Street, and was pleasantly surprised that about half the restaurants on this popular restaurant street were open for business, a few proudly Tweeting that they would be open until about 22h00 last night, which is a whole lot better than last year, when only the franchise restaurants were operating.   Manna Epicure, Da Vinci’s, Arnold’s on Kloof, Vovo Telo, Hudson on Kloof, Knead, Mozzarella Bar, and newly opened The Black Sheep are some of the restaurants that were operating, and should be commended for feeding the many tourists in Cape Town.  The restaurants in the city centre were all closed.

In Camps Bay I needed Bay Response at my guest house, but they had to cut short theirCAMPS BAY BEACH 1 JAN 2014 CAPE ARGUS service when they were called to assist Pick ‘n Pay Camps Bay, of which the front door was being broken down by unruly beachgoers!  We heard sirens throughout the day, especially early afternoon, when there was a near-drowning on Camps Bay beach, despite lifeguard services offered.  The beach is just too full, and often inexperienced bathers and unsafe rip tides can lead to loss of life.

I had driven to town for a quick coffee break in the early afternoon, and it took 15 minutes to travel 250 meters from Hussar Grill Continue reading →