Mark Forrester - Independent digital designer and online entrepreneur

Now is this coincidence … that on MNET there is a TV program about a single mother growing weed (funny enough called “Weeds“), selling it to her whack nextdoor neighbours, and in my mother’s back garden a little weed bush growing?

Yesterday, as I was braaing with my boet in my mother’s back garden I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Behind the weber, in the flower bed. Could it be? I had found a small, but very healthy looking marijuana plant.

Is my mother a drug dealer? Hmmm… my brother and me are now both wondering.

I could really go to town on this article and make up some great story how she is selling to her friends in Lakeside. But, I am quite sure she is not, and I am sure I could send her to jail if some police officer were to read this. Oh how I love the power of a blog!

The conversation we had was as follows:

Mark: “Ma why is there a marijuana plant growing in our back garden?”
Mom: “What!! Show me”
We both walk into the back garden.
Mark: “Right thurr” (pointing to the marijuana plant)
Mom: “Is that what it is, I’ve been watering that plant for the last week waiting for it to bloom!”

P.S. The sign next to the “blooming plant” reads “May all my weeds be wild flowers” which we found in another flowerbed about 10m away from this little guy. Coincidence?

Some more photos taken in Camps Bay, over the weekend, by my work colleague, Jorn Das. Some great action shots of the fire-fighting helicopters at work. For those of you that might not know, this is an effective method of dousing fires in South Africa. I did see some quite astonished looking tourists taking photos of the fires and the choppers.

Apparently, these water buckets can carry 2 tonnes of water (I stand to be corrected). Thats a lot of water! And apparently, one of these bucket loads of water was dropped on top of some fire-fighting civilian on the mountain. All i can say is, “Poor little bugger!”. He is alive, but a few slipped discs in his back.

It’s already been talked about on many blogs, and there are defintey better pictures in the newspaper, but this was the view from the top of our building of the fires that burnt on Table Mountain on Thursday. It’s amazing how the fire got so close to family homes, yet the firefighters, and fire fighting choppers managed to contain it, and drive it away from the suburbs. A big up to the disaster mangement team behind fighting this fire.

P.S. Never thought I would say this, but the Telkom buidling almost looks quite scenic with the orange sky behind it!

Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time, to witness something small, but that has a big impact. That happened to me last night at the garage in Claremont.

I had just pulled up to the Quick shop to buy some electricity, I parked next to a big, black 4 X 4 with a posh looking, well dressed lady getting into it. She got into her car with her groceries, quite hastily, as to avoid the bergie (for those non-South Africans a bergie is a beggar) asking for money outside the shop door. Turning a blind eye and avoiding them always seems to be the best option, let’s be honest. As she closed her passenger door, little did she know, her wallet had fallen out of her car and onto the ground. I was about to get out of my car and pick it up, but the bergie beat me to it. The posh lady turned her head away from him as he approached the car window. He picked up the wallet next to the car and knocked on her window. She obviously thought he was going to ask for money so she ignored him. He knocked again. She still didn’t turn to look at him. The bergie took a step back, held the wallet up, and knocked on the window again. Still she avoided him. The bergie just stood there with his hands in the air, not knowing what to do. At that point the husband walked out of the Quick Shop and saw the bergie, standing next to his car, holding his wife’s wallet. He yelled at him, ran up to him, and grabbed the wallet out of his hand, quite aggressively. He got back into his car and showed his wife the wallet and stared at the bergie shouting something inside the car. The wife turned her head and looked out her passenger window to see the bergie and realise what had happened. The bergie was walking back to his plastic bag of belongings next to the shop door, looking quite stunned at what had happened.

The story has a happy ending; the husband did get out of his car and rewarded the bergie for his kind doings.

Even in his desperate situation, he chose not to wait till the car had gone and steal the wallet, he had the common decency to be honest.