WELL, it’s a fun weekend and everyone should be happy that spring has arrived with its promise of longer and warmer days as we head toward summer. On Saturday there is so much happening that residents and visitors will have a hard but pleasant time choosing between lots of exciting events. But, even before the weekend, on Thursday there is an informative breakfast session with Dawie Roodt and his Efficient Wealth team that starts at 10am at the Overberg conference venue in Alexandria. Also on Thursday evening, why not dust off your brain and enter the Lions Fellowship Quiz at the Port Alfred High School Clubhouse. But, if quizzes are not your thing, how about the Happy Hours Circus (a play) spectacular at the PAHS school hall. On Friday Hoppy’s Paddle Inn presents Freight Train at the Friday Night Wine Night from 6pm to 9pm. Saturday begins with the Christian Men’s Association breakfast at Tash’s Craft Bar with speaker Tendai Chitsike from the Every Nations Church in Grahamstown. Then there’s the spring celebration at The Red Apple Emporium, where there will be plenty to do for the kids while parents enjoy a leisurely breakfast. There are also two shows at the Don Powis Hall at Settlers Park on behalf of the South African Air Force Association – a matinee that begins at 3pm and the evening show at 7pm. Both shows are hosted by MC Rob Knowles. And, if that weren’t enough, what about attending the Masquerade Ball at the Royal St Andrews Hotel, that includes a three-course buffet dinner, welcome drink and the delightful sounds of local opera singer Lesego Mkhwanazi? Marelize Marx will be appearing at The Little Theatre on the Wharf with a show from 7pm to 9pm. And, if you are an Elvis fan, get to Langholm Country Estate and Game Lodge for All Shook Up – a tribute to the King, with Scott Harvey as early Elvis and Mark Everton as Elvis in the Vegas years. After the show you can party with DJ Dusk. And, on Sunday, sit back and relax at the Fish River Resort and its famous buffet breakfast to celebrate the arrival of spring.
THE big news this week is the removal of Athol Trollip as Nelson Mandela Bay metro’s executive mayor. How fickle are these so-called coalition politics when the ANC and other parties have been trying so hard to unseat Trollip that the people of the area now have as mayor (depending on the outcome of legal action), Mongameli Bobani of the UDM, a party that received just 2% of the vote. I have learnt that Mongameli actually means “president” in isiXhosa. Is that prophetic? It is surely time that the political parties got their heads together to serve the people who elected them into power, and ignore party politics altogether. The people who live in abject poverty around the Bay area don’t care who is in power, as long as they are helped. But politicians by and large, with their fat salaries, company or subsidised vehicles and housing, cell phone allowances, pensions and medical aid schemes seem no longer in touch with their electorate and focus their energy on gaining power. People need housing, clean water, security, health care, food and education, but for many, these are still dreams and not a reality. After 24 years of democracy one has to wonder if the vote was actually worth the blood spilled in the toppling of apartheid. Politicians from all areas, including Ndlambe, must learn that our people need real assistance, not just words, as we approach the 2019 elections. You cannot pull the wool over the eyes of the electorate any longer and now, after five presidents, we are sufficiently experienced to tell electioneering from real progress, so the politicians must get their acts together and work for the people they are supposed to represent.
CONGRATULATIONS and every good wish for the coming year to everyone who is having a birthday this week, especially Elna Barnard, Bronwyn Fick, Charlene Oosthuizen, Errol Jacobs, Celine Hilpert, Dennis Coghlan, Ros Oliver, Lynne Costa, Magda Rieger, Malcolm Evans, Charles Frederichs, Charles Randall, David Bradfield, Adrian Moss, Stasha van Rooyen, Judy Paterson, Syd Dugmore, Kathy Riddin, Dimitri Papa, Mirinda Venter, Jason Odendaal, Erica Burnette, John Ford, Gideon Thiersen, Fanie Fouche, Daniel Botha, Sallie Jane Edwards, Cameron Kretschmann, Justin Wilmot, Deidre Muller, Robyn Hobbs, Frans Nel, Lauren McCreath, Kirsty Clayton, Una Tarr, Carol Ford, Dawn Hains, Charles de Bruin, Donne Kolesky, Sanume Esterhuyse. Congratulations to Luke Charter on your milestone 40th birthday on August 30. May you have many healthy happy years to come.
BUSINESSES enjoying an anniversary at this time of the year are the following, and we congratulate them and wish them many more successful times in the future – Sunshine Coast Hospice, Kenton Primary School. Between US President Donald Trump’s tweets and his deal with Mexico, and the visit by British Prime Minister Theresa May, the rand has seen a dramatic down-surge and a slight recover this past week. By the way, it is predicted that the price of petrol and diesel might well see increases early next week of around 26c per litre due to the higher cost of Brent Crude. With last year’s figures in brackets to compare against, the rand was trading at R14.37 to the dollar (R13.04), R?18.52 to the Pound (R16.84) and R16.77 to the Euro (R15.58). Gold was trading at $1,204.20 ($1,309.65), platinum was trading at $809.10 ($992.90) and Brent Crude Oil at $76.06 per barrel ($ 51.96).
SPECIAL thoughts and prayers are with all those folk who are not well, who are having or have already had tests, operations and treatments. “Sterkte” to Roy Potter, Andrew de Vries, Emilene Bruwer, Jenny Groenewald, Mark Price, Rowena Collin and Chris de Wet Steyn.
OUR heartiest congratulations to all couples who are celebrating another wedding anniversary in the week ahead, especially Jim and Maureen Truscott, Trevor and Winsome Collett, William and Sue Horn, Paul and Maureen Ramsay, Rudi and Ava Beukes, Dalton and Tracy Phillips, Hendrik and Pietie le Roux.
LET’S hope the Bokke have learned a lesson after last weekend’s tragic performance and that an upsurge of activity and performance are on the way when they play Down Under next weekend.
THOUGHT for the week: “Health is a large word. It embraces not the body only, but the mind and spirit as well”.
BEST regards as always,
The Team.
