https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po-Ph9-MzFk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJe19SAeDPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_DQ-d7Zzwk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJVMlHfloHA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_7QjbNxdqc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S6YYDbjUu8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efWkf5cQEoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=---f4hHLKgY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6scLtB0C38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjQD--fgCFM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaxI3EVq5xs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQbiNvZqaY
A NOTE ON LINKS
When I first envisioned this page, I liked the idea of having the South African flag right on top, with some links about my country below it. The links were to be intermittently replaced, so that at any given point, they would be both few and new. However, Trump then started with his lies about my country and our government, so I continued adding more links. So many that I had to trim the list in the end; what you see above is merely a portion of the original list.
First came the lie that our government was trying to replace the Dollar with the Rand. When this absurd notion wasn't believed, he then told the world that "a lotta bad things are happening in South Africa". Then, only the Afrikaner is affected by crime. And, that the government is behind it. President Ramaphosa squandered the USAID money. Ramaphosa is for war. And then, after our happy and successful G20 Summit, Trump threw a tantrum at 1am on his Truth Social platform, saying South Africans are all useless and worthless and the world must cut us off. He then threatened to punish all 65 million of us severely – read blow us up – after the government prevented American officials from helping poor Afrikaans people. And, when South African Police Services released crime stats that showed that any South African can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, his sidekicks claimed that these stats had been altered; only the Afrikaner gets affected by crime.
In reality, our government naturally talks in Rand, our currency, when trading with Brics partners, and we, South Africans, in general trade or buy in Dollars; the PayPal method of exchange is an easy example to give. SAPS crime stats are exact, and any South African of any race, including farmers of any race, can be a victim of crime. Stats are readily and yearly available here to help police, businesses, housing complexes etc. to kerb crime. USAID aid, which Trump and that brainless Nazi sell-out Musk cut, used to arrive here in the form of packaged medication – malaria tablets, ARVs, so forth; no money used to change hands. We have superb pharmaceutical companies here (as well as charities and governmental provisions) but not enough. That well-appreciated aid used to fill the gap. Trump chose not to come here for the G20 Summit of his own accord. The "American officials" turned out to be Kenyans who were trying to work here on holiday visas, and were, legally and logically, and I'll add peacefully, deported. A percentage of every race here is poor, and in that regard, Afrikaans people are affected the least. I have met very few Afrikaners in my life who haven't had work, or have received low or inadequate salaries. Ramaphosa has pleaded for peace in the Middle East several times, and, two years ago, even flew to Ukraine, where he walked around in protective gear, along with ten other African presidents, before flying to Russia to ask Putin to stop the war; I watched it all live on TV.
As for all of us being useless… World Cups. Comic Con Africa. Biggest sea aquarium on the continent. Largest malls in the southern hemisphere. Historic schools and universities. Too many examples to give. The best first world aspects, mixed with old-style nostalgia and charm. Trump, as with Venezuela's oil, no doubt has his eyes on our gold, diamonds, and minerals. Not to mention his statement that he wants an American naval base where our chief naval base sits now at Simon's Town. Now, imagine having his mindset, and seeing the Rainbow Nation growing and getting along – for instance, click on the top link above – it has to wreck his little mind. It's become a standard joke here to put "a lotta bad things are happening in South Africa" under YouTube videos – kids from different races playing on the beach, adults from different races singing the anthem together at the rugby, Rainbow Nation working side by side.
In short, me, white English-speaking South African (diverse European-South-African ancestry; "British" South African) and my wife (diverse/mixed descent), and every other white person here – Greek South Africans, Jewish South Africans, Portuguese South Africans, Romanian South Africans, so on, so forth, can all tell you that there is no genocide here. I can go down to the local mall right now and see Afrikaans people working and shopping. Trump's lies about crime, genocide, and oppression are so pathetically stupid that one wonders why international news agencies even bothered to discuss them. He should have just been scorned and laughed at. It's akin to discussing the giant rabbit that hops through Melbourne at midnight. Or the ten-mile high tree that fell in Portugal in broad daylight, without photographs or camera footage.
While I type these words, it's normal, everyday, sunny, happy, productive South Africa.
Here, the Drakensberg Boys' Choir genocides each other at the airport:
https://youtube.com/shorts/-EmR7JdbQdk?si=A34IvT2-ofVddzrZ
Here, the Rainbow Nation genocides each other at the Sevens rugby tournament down in the Cape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ59MhaM1uw
And, here we are genociding each other at the cricket the other night:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0wbwZFzyWw
JANUARY 2026
My wife and I were saddened to see the end of Jstu. We've been watching it for the past three years. That's life, I suppose. Things start, things end. I'm glad that we can still watch Justin on his new channel, and Andrew on his. And on the subject of YouTube, I came across a gem of a channel the other day - MissingAudiobooks (one word). Nice, if minimal, choice if you are a Star Trek or science fiction fan. The New Voyages depicts a retro cover against a more modern image. It is read by Gene Roddenberry and some of the original cast members. Now, if that isn't cool, I don't know what is.
"THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN"
https://books2read.com/u/3GNvva
In my novel The Tricksters, my Author's Note explains some pronunciation, but it was only after my mother referred to the character Dess as Dezz that I had the idea for this addendum.
Dess is pronounced like less, but with a D. Diel City as Deal City, as in deal or no deal. And goiygee berries as goy-gee berries, a very definite g sound for both the first and second g.
I have gone with 'got' throughout the novel for both got and gotten, naturally in line with my Durban lingo, and, universally, gotten is often a matter of preference or region.
Towards the end of the novel, you'll come across the term 'the whole toot'. This is a South African idiom meaning, depending on context, the whole nine yards, all the way, or the whole lot.
Then, just a note on 'part'. If you've read a sample of The Tricksters on Kobo or whichever bookstore you prefer, you'll notice that part 1 has a lowercase p. This is not an error.
In the paperback version, part titles are in cursive, as if the main character has written them. My graphic designer and I took the decision to maintain a lowercase p for each part heading, the idea being that my main character, writing with a quill and colloquially, doesn't mind mistakenly using a lowercase p in a heading.
My designer, albeit with a vastly different font, maintained this aspect of the story throughout the e-book.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, LYNN
I'm busy watching Back to the Future, on Netflix, for the millionth time, so I couldn't resist the following:
AUNT'S 90TH
Posted a few months ago
My Aunty Margaret recently celebrated her 90th Birthday at the North Star Micro Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks. Oom-shlung-guh Rocks. But you can get away with Um-shlung-guh Rocks.
My wife, Lynn; my aunt; me on the end.
Part of a whale skull that washed up on the beach. After the experts checked it out, the hotel was allowed to keep it.
Manager checks on my aunt while she chats to her son David, who very kindly paid for the whole thing.
View from the beach. Autumn, believe it or not. Although, winter has since kicked in. Rain and howling winds.
THE ODYSSEY
The re-telling of The Odyssey by Jaroslav Hulak, the book I reference in my blog post of the same name, and eventually went on to complete. It is a novel-like version of the story, which I'd recommend to anyone. My arty bookmark is courtesy of an historical novel I donated to a hospice shop, while retaining its dust jacket.
