Status-Q

Ever wondered why your bags take so long to come through the baggage claim at Heathrow? Well, now we know!

I took this a couple of days ago while waiting for mine. The screen proudly announced that this carousel came with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Well, that’s good to know.

I saw a ‘stealth boat’ today for the first time.

If you’re a Bond villain and need to pinch one of these for your daily commute, this one can be found in San Diego harbour. If you look very carefully.

Cambridge is blossoming. And I can’t stop taking photos…

Apologies for those of you who didn’t sign up to this blog so you could see my holiday snaps! I’ll be back at work soon…

I climbed Table Mountain today. It’s not too strenuous a climb, really, but the temperature (around 90F today) made it more of a challenge. There was almost no shade on the way up; this photo is from one of the few spots which was out of the noonday sun:

I met this chap on the top. He seemed remarkably unconcerned by the proximity of humans.

On the slopes of Table Mountain…

A fountain at Montecasino, which is Johannesburg’s (somewhat mild) answer to Las Vegas. Pretty fountain, though.

Yesterday I visited Soweto. Among the shanty-town-type areas this was one of the more palatial residences:

We visited one of the smaller one-room houses and met this man and his wife:

He said it was a good house because it was very close to the water pipe:

There was one bed, which most of the family shared, and he slept on a straw mat on the floor.

Beside the straw mat on the floor was his mobile phone, with headphones plugged in so he could listen to MP3 files.

I’m in Johannesburg, setting up a couple of Ndiyo trial sites. It’s great to be back in Africa, though this is unlike any part I’ve visited before. A land of amazing contrasts. I was watching the rush hour traffic; the Mercedes S-class convertible with one guy on a cellphone reminded me of L.A, and, just behind it, the little elderly minibus packed to overflowing was much more reminiscent of Kenya.

My first few days here have been somewhat strange too… I’ve been working all day in the gleaming air-conditioned MTN headquarters and returning at night to a budget backpackers’ hostel. I have the tail-end of a nasty ‘flu and so spend my evenings drinking Benolyn and my nights hoping that my cough isn’t waking everyone in the hostel.

Today, however, things took a definite turn for the better. Deciding that the hostel might be good for my soul, but had little else to commend it, I have now moved to the thoroughly delightful but still very affordable Guest House Oaktree. That’s my room on the right:.

It even has a nice ethernet connection. All of a sudden, this month of business travel seems much less of a burden…