Taken during Cat’s shoot in Newtown

One of my colleagues took us on a little tour of a few blocks around the office building we’re working from.  We walked around quite a bit of the financial district in Johannesburg, and it was fascinating walking with Jason because he knows quite a bit about the history of the buildings.

This is the first time that I’ve really noticed how much gorgeous Art Deco architecture actually exists in the CBD.  And I just love the way that some of the old beauties exist next to glass towers.

One of the first place we went was to the Guildhall Pub. It’s the oldest pub in Johannesburg and opened in 1888. Such character in there!


This is the building, the National Bank Building, that we’re working in for the next few days. It’s one of the oldest buildings in Johannesburg and was opened around 1902-ish. I really really wish I had a wider angle lens to take a better photo of it. The greenish dome is on top of the corner of the building, and is copper (hence the green). I took that photo from the balcony at the top. What fascinated me was in the inside of parts of the building… we went around the bottom floor of the one part, and it’s more than impressive with the art deco mixed with older styles and all the marble and gilt etc… it’s such a pity they didn’t let me take any photos of it.
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The best part of the walk was when we stopped outside the Rand Club to admire the stunning building, and as we were commenting on the columns and the detail at the top, we were stopped by a guy watching us and he asked us what we were doing. We told him, and we had a discussion about the architecture of the building. He told us that the building there now was built in 1904 (it’s the third building that has been on that site), and it’s all art deco in styling. That surprised me, because I thought it was a mixture with the art deco styles columns, yet for some reason I thought the top of the building was pre-art deco (but then again I’m no architect). He also told us that it was designed by the same architect that designed the National Bank Building which we are working in!! How cool!

Just before he got in his car, I asked him how he knew… turns out he’s the Chairman of the Rand Club!! LOL!

I would love to have seen the inside of the building, but we were completely inappropriately dressed for the place

It was an awesome experience being a tourist in my own city.  Loved it!! Made me realise what a special place it is, and it made me hope that this revitalisation of the CBD just goes from strength to strength… because those old beauties deserve to be restored to their former glory.

I just love the contrasts in this city… old Johannesburg has got so much soul… with this beautiful district and the mining district and the more funky Newtown… compared to the almost heartless Sandton.

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

Father Christmas brought Connor a bicycle for Christmas. It’s not just any old bike, this time Father Christmas got wise, and bought a JD Bug! It’s a pedalless bicycle and teaches balance… the kids I’ve seen with these bikes go straight to 2 wheel bikes and never get fairy wheels.
And I can see why! It’s taken Connor a few days and he’s already starting to freewheel using it!

We went to Parys on Sunday, and the kids got to ride their bikes on the quiet suburb streets and test out Connor’s new bike and their new helmets

I took these photos on the way to the D Hani creche last week.  We had to go down a few km’s of dirt road passing recycling centres, scrap yards and an old mine dump to get there and we passed 2 guys burning a tyre on the side of the road so we stopped.

My two colleagues soon got the gist of the types of photos I wanted to take, so they were quite keen to ask these guys if I could take a photo of them.  We thought they were burning the tyre to keep warm at the time, because it was freezing that day.

But, that wasn’t the case, they were burning the tyre to get the steel rim on the inside of it so they could sell it for scrap!  The fact that they were getting warm in the process was a bonus.

It’s such a big pity it started raining after we left the school, or else I would have loved to have walked around the area taking more photos.  I’ll have to make another trip there.

PS.  I got an email from the lady that does fund raising for school today to tell me that Nthabiseng sold the clothes that we donated last week, and raised R600 which is being used to replace the broken windows! How cool !

There have been a few of these signs floating around Johannesburg lately, and they’re now causing people to talk!

I got an email from the organisers of the campaign a few days ago explaining all about the campaign and asking if I wanted to get involved, because they’d noticed the photos of Joburgers on my site.  Of course I said YES!   I love living in this city. And I love the people here too!

This quote comes from the Facebook group that has been set up called “You Make Joburg Great” and it sums up everything about the campaign.

“Joburg definitely deals with its fair share of flack. “Why would you want to live in Joburg?” Yes it might not have a mountain. It might not have a beach. It might not have a 1000 year old museum or cathedral. But it does have something better than any other city in South Africa…

The people.

The most awesome people in South Africa and quite possibly the world.

The people in Joburg rock. Properly rock. They drive the economy. They work hard and play even harder. They are generally friendly, vibrant and cosmopolitan. They are F&*%ING awesome!

And those people are YOU.

YOU MAKE JOBURG GREAT.”

The campaign is basically all about growing the goodwill in the city, and they’re hoping that people use these banners all over the place and spread the word. Well, the talking is certainly happening.

During this week, the numbers of people on the corner of Sandton Drive and William Nicol with sign grew daily, and the vibe was just incredible when I stopped to take photos today.  There was music blaring from a truck, people were dancing, drivers of cars were hooting and the people carrying the signs were screaming and shouting.  It was hugely festive!

I took the first photo from the car as we were going past, but I told Lance he had to stop so I could get more shots.

These 2 were dancing around to the music, and I overheard the one lady say that she could start the day like this every day!

I was in SUCH a good mood by the time I got back to the car

And people in the office were talking the whole day about what they’d seen that morning in the traffic, so it’s clearly making an impression.  Apparently they’ll be at different intersections next week, but you can organise the signs for anything you need it for too!

I also see that there’s a photographic competition running to take photos with these signs with very cool prizes… the details are HERE