Your best lockdown moment

[andyinluton]

Being told I can't enter Sainsbury's to go shopping with my wife.

Watched some great DVDs whilst waiting in the car. Today's feature was Zulu. The trouble was Mrs B returned just as the the third attack was about to commence.

" Zulus Sir, fousands of em".

Rourkes Drift, is just down the road from the family farm in SA, the atmosphere is quite eerie. The film is one of my favourites. Sit in the farmhouse & keep looking out of the windows expecting to see the hoards coming over the hill.
Theres an AK47 by the door these days, help wouldn't arrive for hours & hours. Its a 4 hour drive to the edge of the farm & nearest made road.

 

[sapto]

Time with my family. That's it, that's all.
One of our first trips last year around April 20 and in our garden.

 

[Borris]

Rourkes Drift, is just down the road from the family farm in SA, the atmosphere is quite eerie. The film is one of my favourites. Sit in the farmhouse & keep looking out of the windows expecting to see the hoards coming over the hill.
Theres an AK47 by the door these days, help wouldn't arrive for hours & hours. Its a 4 hour drive to the edge of the farm & nearest made road.

Crikey, are they still attacking?

Seriously, having to have guns in the house these days is quite a sobering thought. Do you still go back to visit?

I've always wanted to visit Rourkes Drift. Maybe some day I get around to it. So far the nearest I've managed is visiting John Merriot Chard's grave at St John the Baptist Churchyard at Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset.

I saw a good documentary once that detailed how the film was made and the problems they encountered. I remember the presenter mentioning that because of apartheid they weren't allowed to pay the Zulu actors in cash and if memory serves, they paid them in cattle. If I recall correctly, it was filmed on a small budget and yet I would put Zulu somewhere near the top of my list of best films ever made.

​

 

[andyinluton]

Crikey, are they still attacking?

Seriously, having to have guns in the house these days is quite a sobering thought. Do you still go back to visit?

I've always wanted to visit Rourkes Drift. Maybe some day I get around to it. So far the nearest I've managed is visiting John Merriot Chard's grave at St John the Baptist Churchyard at Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset.

I saw a good documentary once that detailed how the film was made and the problems they encountered. I remember the presenter mentioning that because of apartheid they weren't allowed to pay the Zulu actors in cash and if memory serves, they paid them in cattle. If I recall correctly, it was filmed on a small budget and yet I would put Zulu somewhere near the top of my list of best films ever made.

​

Its like the Wild West out there in the remote parts. Wifes GFather was murdered on the farm & wasn't found for 3 months. There have been hundreds of white farmers murdered, you hear about what goes on in Zimbabwe but the numbers in SA are far worse. There are currently land reforms with compulsory purchase to give the land back to the tribes. Not sure quite what will happen as GGGMother was a Zulu princess & the Zulu , Swazi and Xhosi were all fighting over the land in the 1800s so who do you give it back to?
The farm is huge but self sufficient - there's no money in it, with descendants of the same families living there as when it all started.

GGGFather was a Lawyer at lincolns Inn who sold his house in Hyde Park & went off to Natal looking for adventure. His grave is on the farm. I have sitting on my desk GGrandfathers Boer war, WW1 and Zulu uprising medals. I do like a bit of genealogy.

 

[Borris]

Its like the Wild West out there in the remote parts. Wifes GFather was murdered on the farm & wasn't found for 3 months. There have been hundreds of white farmers murdered, you hear about what goes on in Zimbabwe but the numbers in SA are far worse. There are currently land reforms with compulsory purchase to give the land back to the tribes. Not sure quite what will happen as GGGMother was a Zulu princess & the Zulu , Swazi and Xhosi were all fighting over the land in the 1800s so who do you give it back to?
The farm is huge but self sufficient - there's no money in it, with descendants of the same families living there as when it all started.

GGGFather was a Lawyer at lincolns Inn who sold his house in Hyde Park & went off to Natal looking for adventure. His grave is on the farm. I have sitting on my desk GGrandfathers Boer war, WW1 and Zulu uprising medals. I do like a bit of genealogy.

That's a real eye opener. I was vaguely aware of the problems you've mentioned but not the scale.

 

[GrannyJen]

Its like the Wild West out there in the remote parts. Wifes GFather was murdered on the farm & wasn't found for 3 months. There have been hundreds of white farmers murdered, you hear about what goes on in Zimbabwe but the numbers in SA are far worse. There are currently land reforms with compulsory purchase to give the land back to the tribes. Not sure quite what will happen as GGGMother was a Zulu princess & the Zulu , Swazi and Xhosi were all fighting over the land in the 1800s so who do you give it back to?
The farm is huge but self sufficient - there's no money in it, with descendants of the same families living there as when it all started.

GGGFather was a Lawyer at lincolns Inn who sold his house in Hyde Park & went off to Natal looking for adventure. His grave is on the farm. I have sitting on my desk GGrandfathers Boer war, WW1 and Zulu uprising medals. I do like a bit of genealogy.

That sounds Horrific.

I was in J'burg in 1995. Everyone told me to stay in Carlton but I wanted to see the city. The hotel I stayed in would not even let me walk out of the door to cross the road without an armed guard.

 

[WelshGas]

Buying and erecting my Garden Summerhouse . Morning coffee spot, come rain or shine.

Complete with heater, WiFi and radio.

 

[gvick]

best moments - going away in Cali after lockdown 1
Lockdown 3 also decided to build a gazebo to act as bbq shelter - general eating/relaxing area and somewhere to put my big joe and Webber bbq’s.

Wood being delivered Monday

 

[flying banana]

No politics, any political slanted thread will be deleted on sight.

The best bit, the silliest bit, the mind exploding with idiocy bit, the bit that broke the stress and tension.

It's all been doom and gloom, now lets smile and be silly.

For me it was finishing my first jigsaw in around 68 years. The last time I did one apparently it was complex for a child of around 8, I quickly knocked it off, and forever was hailed as some form of child prodigy.Oh Sh!tl!! Every frigging birthday and Christmas I was bought Jigsaws, when all I ever wanted was dolls and chocolate

It took you 68 years to do a jigsaw? Did it say 3 to 4 years on the box?

 

[GrannyJen]

It took you 68 years to do a jigsaw? Did it say 3 to 4 years on the box?

I'm not up to that standard yet.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Its like the Wild West out there in the remote parts. Wifes GFather was murdered on the farm & wasn't found for 3 months. There have been hundreds of white farmers murdered, you hear about what goes on in Zimbabwe but the numbers in SA are far worse. There are currently land reforms with compulsory purchase to give the land back to the tribes. Not sure quite what will happen as GGGMother was a Zulu princess & the Zulu , Swazi and Xhosi were all fighting over the land in the 1800s so who do you give it back to?
The farm is huge but self sufficient - there's no money in it, with descendants of the same families living there as when it all started.

GGGFather was a Lawyer at lincolns Inn who sold his house in Hyde Park & went off to Natal looking for adventure. His grave is on the farm. I have sitting on my desk GGrandfathers Boer war, WW1 and Zulu uprising medals. I do like a bit of genealogy.

Terrible!
Datatec the company I last worked for were HQ’d in Jo’burg and any visit there was guarded. Cape Town years ago wasn’t too bad but you still had to be careful if you left the tourist areas. Chubb Armed Security signs on all of the houses along with razor wire on the perimeter walls. Mind you my wife did a charity bike ride (in a group) from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town without incident.

 

[Highlands]

Best moment part 1 - ordering Cali early August after lockdown 1.

Best moment part 2 - taking delivery of Cali early November

 

[66tim99]

Best moment part 1 - ordering Cali early August after lockdown 1.

Best moment part 2 - taking delivery of Cali early November

Incredible speed!

 

[Velma's Dad]

Terrible!
Datatec the company I last worked for were HQ’d in Jo’burg and any visit there was guarded. Cape Town years ago wasn’t too bad but you still had to be careful if you left the tourist areas. Chubb Armed Security signs on all of the houses along with razor wire on the perimeter walls. Mind you my wife did a charity bike ride (in a group) from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town without incident.

I worked for an international security services group in the late nineties and used to visit a couple of our businesses in SA as well as other countries across sub-Sarahan Africa. Aside from the particular issue of attacks on farmers, the general threat from violent crime at that point was highest in Gauteng (ie Jo'Burg region) although it was improving from its peak a few years earlier. Armed security was regarded as a must. A lot of businesses and private homes also had electric fences (ie the ones that electrocute an intruder, not just sound an alarm). Burglaries often also involved rape, and this was in the time when AIDS was a death sentence. Armed car jackings were prevalent (smart cars were known wryly as "mobile ATMs") and the advice if stopped at a junction was to leave the engine running, keep your hands where they could be seen, ask permission before reaching down to undo your seatbelt, very calmly and carefully exit the vehicle and be grateful you'd escaped intact.

I know I shoudn't but it makes me smile when people in leafy South Bucks talk about the crime wave when an Amazon parcel has been nicked off a doorstep.

End of thread hijack.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

I worked for an international security services group in the late nineties and used to visit a couple of our businesses in SA as well as other countries across sub-Sarahan Africa. Aside from the particular issue of attacks on farmers, the general threat from violent crime at that point was highest in Gauteng (ie Jo'Burg region) although it was improving from its peak a few years earlier. Armed security was regarded as a must. A lot of businesses and private homes also had electric fences (ie the ones that electrocute an intruder, not just sound an alarm). Burglaries often also involved rape, and this was in the time when AIDS was a death sentence. Armed car jackings were prevalent (smart cars were known wryly as "mobile ATMs") and the advice if stopped at a junction was to leave the engine running, keep your hands where they could be seen, ask permission before reaching down to undo your seatbelt, very calmly and carefully exit the vehicle and be grateful you'd escaped intact.

I know I shoudn't but it makes me smile when people in leafy South Bucks talk about the crime wave when an Amazon parcel has been nicked off a doorstep.

End of thread hijack.

Yes, Gauteng is where Datatec’s HQ is.
The owner, Jens Montanana, has however grown (moved) his business operations right across the globe and last I knew was living in safety on the Wentworth Estate.

 

[David Eccles]

Being able to take grandchildren for first paddle in the sea

 

[Vagophile]

Armed car jackings were prevalent

I read that there was a good market for horizontal flame throwers that attached to each side of a car.

Edit: sorry, I seem to be getting well of topic with everything today, feel free to censure.

 

[GrannyJen]

I read that there was a good market for horizontal flame throwers that attached to each side of a car.

Edit: sorry, I seem to be getting well of topic with everything today, feel free to censure.

No need. This is a topic free zone. I too have fallen foul and been censored so now with the troops

 

[andyinluton]

Armed car jackings were prevalent (smart cars were known wryly as "mobile ATMs") and the advice if stopped at a junction was to leave the engine running, keep your hands where they could be seen, ask permission before reaching down to undo your seatbelt, very calmly and carefully exit the vehicle and be grateful you'd escaped intact.

Persuading my Mrs that it was the gone thing in the uk to actually stop at a red light after dark took some doing.

Even the townhouse he has in Durban in a gated community has steel grilles on all doors & windows & most importantly one half way along the landing upstairs, Thats specifically so you can get a clear shot at any intruder.

 

[Wildcamper]

wonderful ice sculptures on the windows

 

[KGCali]

Frozen snow bubble

 

[westfalia]

This is a topic free zone.

Like a red rag....

 

[Velma's Dad]

...to a chicken.

 

[Vagophile]

Joining this forum.
I have had hours of entertainment just following some of the (less technical) threads, as well as being informed about all things California.
I have a mental picture of the posters; of course, I have no idea if my picture corresponds with the actuality as the only photos that I have seen are Granny Jen and Amarillo.

 

[GrannyJen]

Like a red rag....

Don't go there.

As an ex-mod I have to put up with more of my posts being deleted than anyone

I was nice to you ...