My Joburg

Wikipedia Facts

• Johannesburg has more than 1o million trees and is the biggest man made forest in the world
• There are more than 10 million people living in the greater Johannesburg area
• The greater Johannesburg area consists of Ekhuruleni (East Rand), The West Rand, Lenasia, Soweto
• Is one of the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the world
• O.R. Tambo International is the largest and busiest airport in Africa
• Johannesburg`s land area is 1, 645 square kilometres (635 square miles)
• The average high for summer is 25 Celsius (77 Fahrenheit)
• The average high for winter is 17 Celsius (63 Fahrenheit)
• The highest recorded temperature is 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit)
• The lowest recorded temperature is -8 Celsius (19 Fahrenheit)
• Is 2000 metres above sea level
• Produces 16% of the GDP of South Africa
• The container terminal in City Deep is the largest "dry port" in the world
• Johannesburg`s Sister Cities are Taipei (Republic of China), Birmingham (United Kingdom), New York City (USA), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Xi`an (China)

My Johannesburg

• Has the most amazing thunder storms
• Has the most awesome friends in the world
• Houses the best family-in-law in the world
• Has some of my favourite golf courses
• Has the best climate in the world
• Has some of my favourite memories
• Has an energy all it`s own
• Has been our home for 7 of our 9 years together
• Has the worst taxi drivers in the world
• Is the place where we got married
• Is the place where we raised our canine kids and God willing will one day raise our own kids
• Is where I started my career and where I`ll get it back on track
• Is where I plan on staying

Heeeeere`s Johnny!!!

And a good day to y'all! After a really Loooooooooooooong week, I can finally take my place in the blogging world again.

We are officially back in the Big Smoke and it`s great to be back. Although I love Somerset West and the Western Cape, you cannot replace family and lifelong friends. That is what we have here in Joburg. Awesome family and awesome friends.

And what can I say about the move? It was horrible and I`m glad it`s over. They dropped off our stuff yesterday, so now it`s just a matter of unpacking EVERYTHING, which is a massive job on it`s own. But at least we can do that in our own time.

The worst part of the whole move was the drive back. It took us 16 hours. 14 of those 16 hours was taken up by Elvis, hyperventilating. It was absolute hell. I nearly lost it a few times. As you know, bulldogs can overheat and die very easily. So I was literally waiting for Elvis to die in the back of the car. Nothing helped. We gave him medicine to calm him down, that didn`t work. We gave him food, that didn`t work, we gave him water, he didn`t drink. This went on for approximately 1, 300 km. He only fell asleep 2 hours outside Joburg. I also had the aircon on full blast, so the car was icy cold and I had no warm clothes with me. All in all, the worst trip of my life.

But, we are here now and all is forgiven and forgotten. Elvis is back to his normal self and him and Phoebe have just carried on where they left off. Hayley and I are slowly getting settled in our new place and I`m positive that it`s gonna be a good home for us.

Tonight we are off to the In-Laws for supper and wine and tomorrow we are going to Dale and Kerri`s for supper and wine. Happy days.

Ps. Thank you so much to all of you for your comments and kind words after my previous post. You guys are awesome friends and a massive part of our lives. We luv ya!

My boy Elvis

Elvis is a very special dog. He eats whatever you put in his mouth, literally ANYTHING as long as it`s food and can be chewed, sucked, slurped or just plain swallowed. The only exception is lettuce. Give him lettuce and he promptly spits it out. It`s the funniest thing.

Elvis also only runs for 3 things. Firstly, food obviously, secondly to come inside and turdly, uhhhh I mean thirdly, he runs away from his own business. Lets just say he runs away whenever he finished a number 2. Hayley and I would be watching tv and then we would hear Elvis come racing around the corner. We would look at each other knowingly, nod and say, "poo". Elvis just made a poo.

Elvis can also sulk with the best of them. If he is unhappy, he would go sit somewhere, far removed and sulk. I usually go to him and sit and chat to him. Eventually he will lift his paw and put it on my hand or leg and that indicates that my boy feels better. So dramatic...

The other Elvisism is he hates wet grass. He refuses to walk on wet grass which is a massive problem if you consider that we live in Cape Town where the winters are long, cold and WET. It`ll rain for weeks on end.

So in the mornings Hayley feeds Elvis and Phoebe and let`s them out. They have an awesome doghouse, which is kitted out with about 8 blankets and very comfortable. This is where they spend a lot of time if we`re at work or away. When I`m at home, I let them inside at about 0900 in the morning.

The problem however is getting Elvis to leave his doghouse. Even though he lives to be inside the house, he HATES the wet grass and it takes me forever to get him inside. I have to walk up to the doghouse, wake him up and call him inside. I sometimes have to repeat this step a few times, depending on the weather and his mood. Then he sits around, checks the weather, looks at the grass (to ensure it`s not wet), rolls around a bit and then RACES to get inside. It looks like he is running on air, with paws lifted as high as his short little legs would allow.

I decided to take a pic of Elvis one morning while I was calling him inside. This is Reconnaissance Elvis, making sure the terrain is suitable for a quick and dry getaway.

He is such a special boy and his Dad loves him VERY much!