My Fascination with Gumboots Explained

You may have noticed I have an unusually close bond with my gumboots. I mean, while ridiculously cute and very practical, they are ultimately just a pair of functional rubber shoes. But these rubber booties and I share a history; we have travelled together, worked together and played together. Though they did get me strip searched once in Dubai, they also saved my life.

It all began one cold, grey day in London. I was in Notting Hill looking around hopefully for a sign of Hugh Grant when a bright patch of colour caught my eye in a nearby shop window. The angels sang and a ray of light illuminated a pair of perfectly spotty gumboots hanging from a wire in the window (okay well maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but I swear it felt like this). My long suffering travel mate gave a shout of joy, I had found my boots and she no longer had to haplessly follow me as I trawled the shops of London looking for the perfect wellington; little did she know, her suffering had just begun. We were on a backpacking trip and since gumboots are rather larger than the average shoe they did not fit in my backpack. This meant every time we travelled to a new port of call I was forced to wear my boots. London to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Marburg to Regensburg to Munich to Geneva to Sanen to Zurich to Dubai and then finally home. In Short I looked ridiculous.

In Dubai they were obviously so confused by the bright spots and my happy Elmo shirt combined with a bright pink snow jacket , they instantly assumed I must be on drugs and proceeded to strip search me. Not a fun experience.

But my boots redeemed themselves in due course. My happy wellingtons accompanied me on a student Wetland filed trip where was working as a demonstrator. Upon arrival I donned the boots to scout our field sites for the students to work on. Crunching along through the thick flood debris on the river bank I suddenly noticed my last step was distinctly uncrunchy, in fact it was rather soft and squishy. I looked down and saw I was standing on a puffadder. The puffadder was understandably unhappy with the situation and had latched onto the side of my left boot in an attempt to eat me (well okay... maybe just to bite me).

AHHHHHHHH!!!!! I Screamed and jumped about one metre upwards and two metres forwards shaking the snake free as I did. The poor girl behind me got such a fright she launched herself backwards and managed to entangle herself in an Acacia thorn tree. Thanks to my beloved gumboots I was fine, not a scratch on me, and while my boots may not be entirely waterproof anymore, fang marks will do that, they survived too. My friend who encountered the thorn tree was not so lucky and ended up in hospital getting pieces of thorn surgically removed from her hand.

My gumboots have come to festivals, we have jumped gleefully in puddles together, they have saved me from gross, sewage and even been to the beach with me. So you see you really should never leave home without a pair (especially if they are as cute as mine).

*** Pick 'n Pay Clothing currently has a great selection of funky gumboots for ladies!

And so the wheel turns...

They say you live and you learn. I certainly have learnt some hard lessons this year... Last week I decided, after much thought, angst and guilt, to leave the cadet school. I don't in any way regret my decision to join the programme and I certainly learnt a lot but I realised, with more and more certainty, everyday that passed, that it was not the place for me. I did not have the passion for news-writing or the industry that my fellow cadets had.

In short the reason I spent four years studying science and ecology is because that's what I like best, only I had to leave my field to realise just how much I loved it in the first place. After honours I needed a break. My whole student life I had just assumed I would do my honours, then my masters, then my doctorate. Once I arrived at the point of masters I realised that I did not want to study anymore. I then analysed my passions deciding my love for photography and writing could be combined with my love for science. A friend warned me that turning my hobbies into a career is not always the smart move because you can lose your passion. In retrospect, he may have had a point. I am glad I gave it a shot and I still will be writing and blogging but for now I'm going to try get a job in the environmental field and write for fun again.

This does not mean the end of my blog, since it was about my journey into journalism, but rather a change in direction. I am going to use it as a platform to discuss issues of environment and science giving credible information and useful links. I hope you will remain with me as my journey takes in a new direction.

My name in lights

I finally got my name in lights... or at least on a lit computer screen.

My first published article Shaking Hands with Death discusses Terry Practhett, his battle with early onset altzeimers and his stance on assisted death.

Yay me!!!

I'm probably going to get into trouble for this...

I write today through a fuzzy flu infested head, wrapped in a duvet and clutching a cup of med-lemon. My fellow cadets are on their way to a book launch on the subject of democracy by now... I will therefore try and be intellectual from afar. I am probably going to get into trouble for this, but since my fellow cadet Neo keeps telling us 'nobody should apologise for having an opinion', here goes.

You see I have finally found a blog that I can't live without. It is called Thought Leader . The website is actually a series of blogs by a number of insightful, funny or influential South Africans. The reason I can't live without it is that I enjoy seeing many of the issues we try to hash out in the cadet school discussed here with far more eloquence and maturity than we muster in our excitable, naive forum.

This last few weeks have been somewhat difficult for me. I entered the workplace, the world of journalism, naive and fresh out of university and my generally white, conservative, middle class world. Its been a shock. My current experiences have opened my eyes to the anti-white guilt ridden racism expressed by so many older white South Africans, often ex-struggle supporters. In addition, the latent anger expressed by some of the black youth outstrips anything I have experienced to date. Some of this I have seen inside the school and some comes from a closer scrutiny of current affairs and the media.

I despair, feeling that I’m neither wanted nor appreciated in this new South Africa. Silenced in punishment for the sins of my forefathers. Somebody even told me I am not an African. A comment that left me hurt even though I know it is a common sentiment.

But then I read pieces on the Thought Leader like that of Sandile Memela and of Khaya Dlanga and I see a differnt perpective. These are still the opinions of ordinary, albiet well informed, South Africans and I think maybe I do have a place in this society, that maybe I do have something to contribute to my country, afterall.

I was told South Africa belongs to all those who live in it. Even me.

Click your heels twice... there is no place like home!

I was bouncing like a small girl awaiting the arrival of her new Barbie. God I love Joburg. In fact I love Joburg so much that when I watch eNews and see ponte (A drug filled disgusting heap of a skyscraper) in the background of their studio, I get homesick.
It seems like a strange statement at first. Joburg is, after all, a large, sprawling smog filled city almost completely devoid of any natural beauty. What most people, who have not lived in the city for any measurable amount of time, miss is that while it is not naturally beautiful and yes we have mine dumps where others have mountains, its sure got a whole lot of style. There is a vibe in Joburg an intangible feeling you get from the minute you arrive. It’s a buzz, a frenetic energy that sweeps you up and carries you along.
Most Joburgers can’t wait to leave Joburg and think longingly of moving to Cape Town or really anywhere else along the coast (blame it on being beech deprived). The strange thing is that once said Joburgers find themselves permanent residents as opposed to holiday makers in these ‘greener pastures’ the illusion often fades. Many a Joburger returns saying that there is after all no place like home and that despite the grunge, Joburg is still the best place to live.
So you understand why today I find myself bouncing uncontrollably as I wait for my flight into the city of gold. Living in CT may be cool but the novelty soon wears off and you kinda long for the potholes (else why drive a 4x4?), a place where bergies don’t sleep under your car (yes, its true I have my own security bergie in CT), the green glow of Sandton City on the skyline and yes even the infamous ponte.

Alternative Economy or Idealogical Rubbish?

Conspiracy theorists like Michael Moore and movies like Zeitgiest Adendum criticised the banking system saying it is essentially a tool used to rob people and governments of their hard earned money. Tim Jenkins,the apartheid era escape artist has proposed an alternative economy which essentially means to do away with money and banks Jenkins came to sell his new economy to us at the cadet school but I was unsold.

Why I wont use the Community Exchange System

The community exchange system (CES) was initially sold to us as an alternative to the current money based economy. Tim Jenkins one of the exchanges initiators explained that the current economy has no value but is rather based purely on debt. His alternative economy uses talents to trade for goods and services in a worldwide web-based network. His model may have potential applications in very poor unskilled communities but I fail to see how it will be implemented a large scale, so long as there is the current money-based economy in place. I was unsold by his naive stance that his system is a cure for all that ails the world, including global warming. I too believe that there needs to be a solution to the oil dependency of our time but my interest lies in finding environmentally sound alternatives rather than redesigning the economy. I think to assume, as he does, that when oil runs out that the world will collapse, is to sell short the ingenuity and adaptability of humanity. So far as I can see, his system relies on honesty and the tenant that all people are good and can be trusted. Frankly that’s not my experience of this world cynical, as that is. I will not be using Jenkin’s CES as frankly I think its all a bit too ideological for my scientific brain.

See the CES website: http://community-exchange.org/

Passionate Newsmaking

This week we lost a Cadet. No he didn't pass on but his sudden departure left us all stunned. Family commitments apparently tore him from the programme but I was amazed that, in spite of sitting at his side for many hours on a daily basis, he had not said a word about leaving until he was already gone. This cadets leaving affected me even more than it might have normally because I, myself, encountered a speed wobble this week. In spite of knowing just how lucky I am to be here I also have a different view to most of the cadets. I don't have a journalism background and my interests lie primarily in science writing and photography. I had really hoped that we would be covering more of these topics and be given a little more room to explore our own particular passion. I have been bored with the hard news angle which seems to be the focus of most of our assignments and writing tasks. After much talking to people and mulling it over I realise its just part of the process of learning... I just wish I could carry as much passion into these areas as I do into my photography.

There are some perks to being a cadet journalist though. For a start we have access to twitter and facebook (sssshhh!) which apparently is like gold here at the paper... The thing is, apart from it being a great way to pass time, these sites are valuable resources. I for instance found out about the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Chile this weekend as it happened while sipping drinks with my feet dangling in the water at a popular Blouberg restaurant. I therefore don't understand why the news house would have these sites blocked, yes, yes, bandwith blah blah blah... but if it facilitates coverage of news, surely you are just holding your own publication back by blocking these sites? Weird...