Owais Zaidi

We always said that their are three types of people:
a) Road Breakers that always criticize and celebrate any failures. After they finish with something, nothing is left
b) Road Users that travel the typical road - they never question or change anything. They are seldom noticed.
c) Road Makers that create a path where none existed before. They think of new ways to do things and always look for a better way. They are by far in the minority, but they are the people that change the world.
Today, I met another roadbuilder - all the way from Pakistan: Owais Zaidi.

Sippers Year-end

We celebrated a year of wine-tasting with our new wine-club tonight. We had a brief winetasting at Bloemendal (famous for their Sauvignon Blanc) and then had a three course dinner to talk about the past and dream about the future. We started this wineclub with friends last year and it has now started to develop into a group of friends that love wine and enjoy getting together to learn about our shared passion.

TriBeCa

Izak accepted a job in Pretoria and is planning to start working there this January. Me and Annelie spent the day with Izak in Pretoria to look at the place and to help him search for suitable accommodation. We had lunch at this great little restaurant in Brooklyn, called TriBeCa. They served the most amazing pizzas!

Sunset at deWijnlanden

I have lit the fire for tonight's braai and have poured some Chardonnay. Isn't the sunset on the Helderberg Mountain's beautiful?

London Sky

This picture is out of the offices of our business partners in the centre of the financial district. We spent most of the day working on elements of an important project before I flew back to Cape Town. Note the blue sky and the early morning pollution. It was also interesting to me to note the number of cranes busy with construction.

Paris Airport

Just arrived at Charles de Gaul in Paris on BA319. We had to wait for about ten minutes in the aircraft because the operators could not get the airbridge to connect with the plane. In the end we had to leave the plane via a rickety staircase and walk across to the terminal. I don't have a particular problem with this, but wanted to post this to make another point.
South Africans are so critical about their own country. Not to long ago, I had a similar experience at OR Tambo (South Africa) where the airbridge could not connect to the plane and many people made comments about how we would not be able to host the 2010 soccer world cup... well, these things also happens in Paris who just hosted the 2007 rugby world cup quite successfully.

Sunday morning Bike Ride

This morning was a beautiful day, so I was on my bike at 06h00 and had a wonderful trip up one of the hills in the vineyards, before me and Annelie went to church. I biked on my own for 20 km. This is a bicture of me with False bay in the background.

Koos Kombuis

He was one of the great Afrikaans Rock legends of the past century: Koos Kombuis. He wrote lyrics that spoke to any-one that felt passionate about living and changing South Africa. His observations about every-day life was spot-on and if you were serious about what was real he spoke to you through his songs. Today he is immensely popular and it shows.
Me and Annelie attended a live Koos Kombuis concert in Simonstown tonight and it was a big disappointment for both of us: because of two reasons: The audience was really unpleasant - almost as if they did not have any respect for this icon of South African music, and then (even more disappointing): Koos is trying to please the audience with songs that doesn't seem to come from his heart. The messages are those that the masses want to hear. It was clear that money got the better of him.

My new cellar

I always wanted my own wine cellar. This was one of the design considerations for the new house. Today I managed to get a wine barrel downstairs (I had to unscrew the door so that it could fit). I stood back and I was really thankful for this room underneath the house. The challenge now is to fill the empty space with wine...

Morning on my way to the office

This photo was taken early this morning out of the window of my car on the R300. I am not usually up this early, but this morning I joined a number of Fundamo staff at the office to go for a Bike ride in preparation for the Argus bicycle race. Cape Town is sooo cool.

View from my new office

Today was the first day at our new offices. I gave a presentation at the Card and Payment summit in the morning and then drove to the new offices. This is the view from my office - so different to the old offices.