Notting Hill Carnival

Monday was a bank holiday, making the weekend a good old 'langnaweek'. The long weekend was also the time of the famous/notorious annual Notting Hill Carnival. Since the 60's the Caribbean people of London have been taking to the streets of Notting Hill on these two days with parades, floats and costumes to celebrate and display their culture. They are now joined by the rest of the city and the world to create the biggest street party in Europe and the second biggest in the world apart from Rio. We went there on the Sunday, the milder of the two days, but it was still crazy, with masses of people dancing in the streets to Reggae and Calypso music pumping through hugh sound systems, drinking rum from coconuts and eating jerk chicken sold by hundreds of stalls while the police nervously watch on. It's the most people I've ever seen in one place and yet the media reported that only 250 000 showed up on the Sunday, while the main event was attended by around 600 000 trampling each other on the Monday! I hate to hear that I missed out on a great party by going home too soon, but in this case it doesn't bother me that much...

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Orange trees and Aradhna

Here in the UK there's a mobile (cellphone) network called Orange with an interesting advertising campaign. It's the i-am-everyone campaign and it's basically about how you are who you are because of everyone else and the relationships you have with them (and of course how Orange keeps you connected with everyone). The people in the TV ads literally say: 'I am everyone', which is a weird thing to hear if you don't understand the context! You can check it out on www.i-am-everyone.co.uk if you're interested. I have a similar philosophy: It might be true that any one leaf is not the tree in its totality, yet every leaf is as much the tree as every other part of the tree (all the parts have the same DNA if you want to get technical about it) and in that sense every leaf IS the Tree and stems from the same source as every other part of the tree. 'What is all this talk of Orange ads, leafs and trees really about?' you might be wondering. Last Sunday we went to see Aradhna, a group of 'western' (American, Canadian and British if I'm correct) musicians who grew up or spent a lot of time in eastern countries (India, Pakistan, Nepal). They play devotional Christian music in Hindi using sitar, guitar, tabla and violin and this particular afternoon they were doing it in a baptist church in south west London. It was a harmonious blend of east and west in a musical, cultural and religious sense and it got me thinking of the diversity of the world and the conflict it creates. Surely, somewhere beneath all our artificial differences there must be eternal truths we can all agree on? Where does the common ground lie? Is it possible that we are all looking for the same thing without realising it because we are looking in different places and call it different names? And in the sacred atmosphere created by the interaction between the musicians and the congregation my mind and spirit began to ponder these questions. The realisations I came to are the kind of thoughts you discuss with good friends around a bottle of wine or a campfire and are difficult to express in a blog, but if you have the same questions, you may want to find a tree to sit under for a while, try to find the wisdom in an Orange advert and definately visit www.aradhnamusic.com.

(My apologies to Aradhna for using their music in my slide show without their permission)

The Thames

It's 02h10 in the morning and I just woke up to get a glass of water and now I can't go back to sleep again. It might be because I had one too many beers at our braai last night, but I think its more a case of my body not realising that night-time is sleep-time. I suppose this is a normal result of working four night shifts per week... So in stead of rolling around in my bed, I am going through the 'archives' on my phone and found a few nice river videos. I suppose compared to other mighty rivers of the world the Thames (pronounced 'Tems' or sometimes 'Tames' depending on where you're from) isn't all that special, but to me, coming from a dry part of a dry country, its a truely magnificent sight. Excuse me for sounding cliche, but that really is the best way to describe it, and thats just because of its size, not even mentioning the historical and technological aspects. So to give you a glimpse of the little stream I live next to, here's a few fun facts about the River Thames to go with the videos:

In most parts of the city, there's a high wall on the river bank on both sides separating water from city. I say most parts because I can only speak of what I have seen, but I suspect its like this in the whole city.

The River actually has tides. Twice a day the water level rises and falls like the sea with a difference of as much as 7 metres between high tide and low tide. At high tide the water sometimes splashes over the wall, reminding you of the force of the river and at low tide you can actually go down to the 'beach' at certain spots with stairs or ladders on the wall.

The River divides the city into a north side and south side, each with its own unique character. To me north has a more Gauteng business-like feel to it while south has a more relaxed Capetonian vibe, but maybe thats just me. Of course there's also a difference between the more cultured west side and the 'cheaper' east. We live in the south-east, work out the combination for yourself.

The River plays a big role in transport, not as much as it used to, but its still used by cargo ships, the occasional cruise liner as well as the navy. A lot of people also commute to and from work on a public transport system of fast clippers.

The water level can be controlled with the Thames Barrier to prevent floods.

The Romans (and others) used the river to transport their armies into London when they invaded the city.

On a more recreational note, you also see a lot of party boats going up and down the river as well as sight seeing tour boats, private yachts and smaller boats. There's even a floating pub or two. The River was also the site of the Red Bull Air Race two weekends ago, not far from where we live.

When I sleep with my window open I can hear the waves breaking against the river wall and it almost sounds like the sea...

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