So I know what a lot of people think about Manhatten, its overpriced, people dress up all fancy, all the people there are wound up and too cool for school and you would basically only go there if it was the last place on earth serving drinks.

Well I went on Friday night, and while I cant see myself going there EVERY Friday it was such fun. I didnt get dressed up (and many people dont), it is a little pricey but if you dont go often then its not so bad, oh and when I went in I got a membership card allowing myself and a female friend free entrance in between 8 and 10:30 every Friday-a pretty sweet deal I think.

Its also a good idea to go with a group of freinds cos I dont think I would have enjoyed it much if Id only been there with one friend. Although there were lots of people on the look out for love (or lust as the case may be), so if you are single and looking its not a bad place to start.

You are also likely to bump in to a couple of people that you havent seen in ages as such a huge
variety of people go there.

I think what I enjoyed the most is the music, lots of old stuff, lots of whats on radio at the moment. Feel good stuff that everyone can dance to.

So Id say a really great night out, but I will supply a check list of things that have to be included in your equation...

1: you cannot be feeling like a chilled night
2: do not go there to enjoy deep and fulfilling conversation
3: do not have any big plans for the next day
4: wear dancing shoes
5: dont take a jacket (it gets hot in there)
6: go with a bunch of friends, the more the merrier:)

But seriously you dont have to be a schwepps jock to enjoy it, its good fun, i promise.

oh and.............no ques in the ladies loo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK before I post about the fabulousness of my Friday night I just have to tell you this.

For anyone who has seen dirty dancing (yes the original-not the havana nights dodgy one off Hallmark) you will appreciate my title, and hopefully know exactly what I am talking about.

You know those occasions when you say something totally pathetic and ridiculous, and immediately you know that you sound like the biggest tit ever, but you also know you cant take it back and you are doomed to be regarded as a world class breast forever. Later it only gets worse when you repeat to yourself what you said and your sheer stupidity sinks in. Well I did that yesterday, I wont go into what I said, but it does feel better to share my foolishness.

And now onto better things like Manhatten:)

Ok i know that this really has nothing to do with whats going on in JHB at the moment, but its something that has been irritating me and I've been getting a lot of mails recently regarding this.
I just have to sit and wonder what the hell these people are thinking when they type up these emails.

The mail I received most recently is headed 'Financial Prayer'. And explains that if you take just 30 seconds, say a prayer and forward the mail onto 8 people you may just be rewarded financially and have all your debt swept away. Now there are a few things that I really dont understand. The first is that if through your own spending you have racked up a huge amount of debt, why would 'The Lord' reward you by giving you a whole stack of money so that you can go back and do the same thing again? And secondly if 'the Lord' did take so much pity on you, would he really insist, that in order to be blessed with financial security, you have to forward a chain mail onto 8 other poor souls? Something just does not add up here.

Another mail I received is ' A Chinese Proverb' supposedly sent to me by Anthony de Croud, a missionary in South Africa. Also it supposedly originated in the Netherlands (why would a Chinese proverb start in the Netherlands?) and it has been around the world 8 times:) It has one of those threats in it (like many chain letters have), this one tells us of Carlos who didn't forward the message to 20 people the day that he received it, and lost his job. Just a suggestion, but I think its more likely that he lost his job cos he buggered around with chain mails when he should have been working.

I have no patience for for rubbish like this. If someone has something that will make me laugh or give me interesting info then by all means, send it on. But no threats of bad sex, no sex, no money or bad luck, Im over those.

A friend of mine arrived from the UK yesterday afternoon and only had one night in Jhb before heading off to Zim, so the four of us decided to go to the Blues Room. Much like Plaka its not too far off (only Village Walk in fact) so not too daring, but its something a smidge different.

I have only ever been there once before and it was quite a few years ago, but I was really impressed. ok you do have to pay 50 bucks entrance, but I assure you its worth it. also a good plan to book a table rather than just rocking up, cos you never know just how popular the bands and comedians on that night will be.

as for the menu... drinks not crazy cheap but they arent too bad, and the food I was really impressed with. good variety of stuff, pastas, burgers, steaks, fish and salads. If you sit in the eating area but choose not to eat you are charged R30, but you can avoid this by just chilling at the tables in the bar area. The whole place is smoking however I didnt find it too stuffy and it certainly wasnt unpleaseant.

The entertainment...well its started of with a guy called Tim Hendricks, very chiilled one guy, one guitar-that kinda thing, quite like John Mayer. Awesome intro while we had supper. then perfectly timed, just after we finished, on came David Kibuuka a comedian from Uganda. Helluva good laugh and it was a pretty tough crowd so I was super impressed. If you would like to take a closer look at this guy check out www.bunnychowmovie.com. It is the site for his new movie, Bunny Chow, looks really good. Anways the night was ended off with Coldfusion, a band of about 6 I think, doing beaty covers and trying to get people up and dancing.

So all in all a bit of everything and an awesome night. Not the cheapest night, it cost me just under R200 for food, drinks and entrance, but if you are lookng for something different Id say that its definately the way to go. Plus you will be supporting some great South African talent!

Wow this is such a great restaurant. Ok granted it is almost exactly half way between Sandton and Rosebank, so not terribly far out, but I thought I would take things slow, ease into the whole thing. Anyways this is a great Greek restaurant in Illovo (just above Thrupps), and I think priced really well too. Also if you dont feel like spending much just go for a meze platter and you get tons of food at a really decent price. What is so cool about this place is that its on the street, so not stuffy. The atmosphere is great, Greek music and all in blue and white. Staff awesome, and not fancy at all. So on the whole very chilled, great atmosphere, aaaannnnd...you dont have to mortage your house just to eat there:)

Ok so this morning I was chatting to Eurie. She has been seeing a new guy for about three weeks and the only place she has been to with him is Sandton, oh and sorry once they went to Cresta (daring, not so?). I think a lot of people do this, people are just too lazy or maybe dont know any better and so they just keep on going to Sandton and Rosebank. But there is so much more to Jhb and I've decided that I am going to go on a mission to go to some great places that aren't in the middle of huge shopping complexes, and I will spread the word about how much there is to do and see around these parts:) Please do forgive me if the majority of them include food, I've never been afraid of great food:)

Also I think Im a pretty good person to do this (if I do say so myself) cos Im not very wealthy, I try to save a lot so I don't have cash to throw around and Im pretty sure I am looking for the same thing that a lot of people my age are. So Il give it a whirl and see how I go.

So here I am working on the public holiday, for all those tax paying South Africans out there you will be pleased to know that the pressure is on and Gautrain workers are on the job. But as no one else in the country is working there really isn't much I can do, so I thought I'd sieze the moment and post!

Something I have been meaning to write about is EURICHT. She is the woman that sits next to me at reception and one of the reasons I find her interesting is that a lot of things about her are very "new South African". Firstly she is black, but she grew up in Mitchells Plain in the Cape and speaks no 'black SA language', ie Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, but is fluent in Afrikaans. Because of this it is really interesting to see the way other black South Africans respond to her. People coming into the building automatically assume that I will speak Afrikaans and she will be fluent in at least one 'black SA language'. Wow are they wrong, and the response (to her far more commonly than me) is "why?". To which Euricht usually gets pretty agro and asks why she should speak a black African language when the white chick sitting next to her doesn't. A very good question in my opinion.

Another interesting thing is that Eurie has never dated a black guy, only white guys. She just doesn't.

I know these things seem pretty small and insignificant but in the bigger scheme of things its the little things that count and I think that in time people may be defined by the language they speak or maybe it will focus on the area they live in, but if you compare Eurie and myself, its really only her complexion that makes her black or more 'African' than me. And grates me that people belive that because of her skin colour it is she that should be speaking an African language, but in their eyes Im not really African anyway so they aren't phased.

Its all about perceptions and according another persons perceptions we are boxed. I think we will start to see more and more people that are breaking out of this box, not intentionally but just because they haven't been brought up to fit inside a box.

ok, i admit it, i have been totally useless and pathetic since December but I have decided that i am gonna do a turn around and be far better with the whole blogging thing. and in all honesty there is just as much to say about SA (if not more) than there there is about the UK. Why do you suppose that most people do that? What I mean is that the majority of us barely communicate about our daily lives until we go to some faraway destination that is supposedly far more exciting than our home country could POSSIBLY be, due only to the mere fact that it is far away?????

well i was thinking about this i have decided to disagree, and show just how interesting it is to live in South Africa at the moment. So what I am going to try and do is to take just as many photos as I did while I was overseas, and show what it is like to live in Jhb in 2007. Cos I think when you look for them there are more than a gazillion fantastical things to be doing right here!