Going home

Taken on the way home on Tuesday evening (I didn't have time to take photos today... I know... I'm bad... it's the third day I've missed in one year!)
I thought I'd do a follow up on my post from last week all about my trip to work. There aren't many to show you because it got quite dark, and it's very difficult to take shots in the half light while you're driving LOL!

Maybe the construction workers aren't required to spell?

Bus stop

Power

Looking for business

Wet roads

Orange sky

Cross on a hill

Wordless Wednesday - Driving rain

Check out more Wordless Wednesday participants here... and join in too!

Going to work

Sweets and Angel has posts last week showing photos of their trips to work, and I've decided to do the same thing. I thought it was going to be easy! Well, it ended up being more tricky than I thought to take relatively ok'ish photos from the moving car! I should have probably made sure that my windows were clean too :)
Just as well there were no cops in sight ;)

They're in no particular order.

JHB CBD on the horison and Northcliff Hill


The FNB building in Fairlands... the reason for the increase in traffic. The building has finally finished (I posted about it before), and there are a few thousand more people on the roads in the area as a result.


Graffiti'd stop sign


Valley of pylons


View in the side mirror


Old Water Tower


Swinging in the park. Notice the lack of green!


Leaf sweeper. This poor guys sweeps the leaves from this car park every morning... what a thankless job!


Street in Sandton CBD


Informal garden. This garden is grown by one of the street sellers that I posted about before.


Street seller doing business early this morning


High walls... a common sight around JHB!


And finally, the empty parkade where I park my car.

So, as you can see, it's not riveting stuff, but LOL, that'll all I got for you today folks :)
I'll do my trip home next week. I don't go on the same roads on the way home, so the photos will be vastly different.

Skywatch Friday #4

I took this on the way home yesterday evening while I was stuck in the traffic. I loved the glow of dusk in the completely clear sky. 5 minutes later it was completely pitch black.

Note the absense of light eminating from the street lamps! It was during a blackout.

Other Skywatch Friday participants here

OK peeps, I'm going away for a few days. I leave you with my archives... have fun. Hope you'll keep checking up on me to see all my holiday snaps when I get back ;)

Traffic during Loadshedding

I was HIGHLY frustrated tonight in the traffic because I was completely gridlocked in a loadshedding related traffic jam... so true to form, I whipped out my trusty camera and took some shots of the mess!
I only ended up getting home at 7pm... note... this is NOT good considering I still have to pack for our holiday!!

For those not in South Africa, there is an energy crisis here at the moment

because Eskom and the government did not make provision for the growth in the economy, so for the next umpteen years until they finish building new power stations, we are being subjected to 4 hours of blackouts per area every second day! What a way to build an economy!! Most small businesses have to shut down during these times because they cannot afford generators.

Newspaper seller

This is the first time I'm taking part in Grateful Friday. I've seen it on a few blogs that I read, and after reading this blog this morning, I decided to join in.

Every time I go past one of the street newspaper sellers, I thank my lucky stars that I had the education that I did, and that I can do what I do.
These guys stand out in the traffic in all kinds of weather selling papers to earn a meagre wage. They live a very harsh life.

I see this particular man everyday on my way home from work (I took this photo on Wednesday evening). He not only sells papers himself; he also sometimes gives newspapers to street kids to help him sell a bit more, and I assume they take a cut of the sales as well.
We have all kinds of street hawkers in this country, that sell all types of goods in the traffic - the man behind the paper seller in the traffic is selling bouncy balls. A lot of these guys are very highly educated immigrants from other African countries who cannot find work here.

A study of street hawkers

I'm running out of things to take photos of during the week, especially because of the hours I'm working. So, here's a bit of a change for today.
All around Jo'burg and other SA cities, these street side hawkers have become quite a common sight. They sell mostly single fruits, packets of chips and sweets, single cigarettes etc. Most of them are found close to taxi ranks, or outside shopping centres, and they sell to the people waiting for taxis and passersby.

Here are 3 of the hawkers that I drive past most days.

This lady sits on Republic Road in Randburg next to a petrol station. Every day she has about 2 or 3 friends sitting chatting with her.

This guy, also on Republic Road, is the only hawker I've seen that operates from a gazebo. He's very lucky to have a roof over his head. He's got quite a fancy setup with all sorts of things in his "shop".

This man is my favourite hawker. He's got quite a few things going for him. He fixes shoes, and has always got a pile of shoes next to his "table". He has a phone. He sells a few odds and ends. And can you see the flowers behind him? He also tends a garden on the side of the road. One day I have to stop here and take some closer shots, but I know I'm going to have to carry cash on me to pay him for the photos.

Lastly, excuse the quality of the photos. I took them while I was driving (through the windscreen), which is no mean feat in the traffic!