Transwerke: Artists Bring a Crumbling Building to Life

07 November 2018

In Hillbrow, at the corner of Joubert and Sam Hancock Streets, is a striking Art Deco building with a strange, ominous-sounding name: Transwerke.

Transwerke, and the many buildings like it in Joburg, are a perfect illustration of this city’s strange, fascinating, maddening contradictions.

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The 2Summers #Gauteng52 Book: Frequently Asked Questions

02 November 2018

UPDATE (December 2019): The first and second editions of The 2Summers #Gauteng52 Challenge are sold out. Thanks to all of you for your support!

After many years of threatening to do so, I’m finally publishing a book. The 2Summers #Gauteng52 Challenge is being printed as we speak and will be for sale in mid-to-late November.

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The Melville Cat: I Am a Cat Food Spokesperson

31 October 2018

Good day, friends. Here is some important news from the Melville Cat:

  1. Trixie, the Midget Fluff Ball Menace, is still in my home. She keeps growing larger.
Smokey yawning with Trixie
I’m tired of her and yet she continues to be present.
Smokey and Trixie
Hmph.
  1. I have been hired as a spokesperson – a spokescat, if you will – for the local cat food company, Montego. Montego has recently made some changes to its range of cat foods and they have hired moi to tell you about it.

As I dictate this post to Heather, she insists I tell you the Midget Fluff Ball Menace has also been hired as a Montego spokeskitten. I can’t explain why. She is a child, barely three months old, and has virtually no experience as a social media influencer.

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October Restaurant of the Month: Die Kneipe in Kensington

26 October 2018

Thursday is Schnitzel Day at Die Kneipe.

Die Kneipe, which means “the pub” in German, is – you guessed it – a German pub in Kensington. (I think I’ve said this before but I don’t blog enough about Kensington. It’s the Melville of Joburg East.) My friend Tecla suggested we meet there for lunch yesterday because Die Kniepe has the best schnitzels.

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Tips for Visiting Joburg's Little Addis

22 October 2018

I recently visited “Little Addis”, the Ethiopian neighborhood in downtown Joburg. Little Addis is a block of old office buildings on Rahima Moosa Street (formerly Jeppe Street) between Troye and Delvers Streets, where there are a ton of Ethiopian shops and restaurants.

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This Is the East: Rock Raceway in Brakpan

17 October 2018

*Second in an occasional blog series called This Is the East,*featuring hidden spots on Johannesburg’s East Rand.

Have you ever gone to a place where you feel like an alien, even though you’re surrounded by fellow human beings? This is how Ang and I felt at the Rock Raceway.

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