Who stole the f***ing sign?!

In light of yesterday's article I actually started wondering whether there were other delightful places with unfortunate names. An obvious first choice to look for is a four letter word and it's easily found as the village of Fucking in Austria!

While the village itself isn't much to look at the English tourists absolutely love the village's sign and it was frequently stolen! That is ... until they embedded it in concrete blocks to keep it from being pilfered!

This is an IDEAL little village to start up a t-shirt shop don't you think? In fact ... it's the only time I can think that lame old t-shirt with "My mom and dad went to X and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" will actually be semi-cool.

Now if the village itself has that rather unfortunate name ... then I wonder what you call the townspeople who live there ... ?

Switch over to CapeTalk

I'm still an avid 5fm fan but during the past few months I've been hooked on radio CapeTalk. It's a medium wave station (567MW to be precise) and I haven't felt as informed about what's happening in Cape Town and the rest of the world as I currently feel just by listening to this station.

If you're not fortunate enough to be living in the Cape or your radio can't pickup medium-wave you can listen online to the show. Warning ... this chomps through your bandwidth at a steady pace!

Their website is pretty, darn good as well in that if you don't listen to the station you can sample some of the popular segments via podcasts. The ability to search for information you heard is also quite a nifty feature which is sorely lacking on most radio station websites.

Of course the radio personalities are all top notch talent! Note that certain parts of the show are actually Radio 702 segments and the radio stations actually crossover and make use of each other's studios.

Still not convinced? Tune in to 567 to give it a try or visit the website.

Sir, are you a lesbian?

How often would you hear that question in your life? Well ... if you were a tourist on the island of Lesbos there's a slight chance you could use that phrase! Inhabitants of the island of Lesbos in Greece are known as ... Lesbians. Interestingly, this is the exact place the term originated from because of a poet named Sapho who came from that island and who wrote poems with strong feelings towards women. Interesting neh?

Well the islanders were none too happy about gay groups using the term lesbian as they felt they had a monopoly on the term. They lost the case after trying to sue ... but they're still able to appeal.

Read about it here on IOL.

For more information on the island of Lesbos you can check Wikipedia.

Tree thieves nabbed!

I was reading IOL and came across a sad story on how low South Africans can actually go:

Johannesburg City Parks on Friday caught a company allegedly stealing a tree from a public pavement in Randburg.

City Parks spokesperson Jenny Moodley said the company, which sold indigenous and exotic trees and also relocated them, had allegedly been hired by someone to remove a tree from a public pavement. The tree was removed on Friday, apparently to be resold.

Another tree was in the process of being removed when a member of the public alerted City Parks. The organisation then went to the scene in Bloubosrand, Randburg and caught the company allegedly removing the tree.

The company would face legal action and be charged with transgressing municipal by-laws. It would also have to replace the tree with another of equal value. – Sapa

Original link: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=nw20080718150424463C389790

Honestly now. How pathetic is that?! Is it reaching a point where we actually have to chain our trees to the ground or put alarm systems on them? What's next? Taking out insurance policies on your garden just in case your petunias get nabbed? Then the utter gall of removing the tree from a public pavement! Did they really think that nobody would notice them ripping a piece of tax payer's property out of the very ground in broad daylight? Shame on you villains! Shame on you!

Club Mykonos has lost it's magic

It's been a while since I've visited this seaside resort of which I have fond memories. My grandparents owned timeshare and we often went there to spend a few days just to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. The closest shop used to be a little cafe at a petrol station a few kilometers away and the only neighbour to the resort was the Strandloper restaurant which was a walk down the beach away.

Well ... after recently visiting this place after 10 years I can sadly say that it no longer holds any appeal for me. The number of neighbours has increased (it's surrounded by hundreds of houses, estates and a LOT of traffic) and has completely lost it's "get away from it all" experience.

On the positive side, they've increased the amount of activities available (prior to this there was swimming in the sea, swimming in the pool, and playing board/cardgames with your family) to include a casino, quad-biking, and an arcade.

They've also given the place a good coat of paint and built more of the Greek looking structures (see church in picture) in the form of shops and more restaurants which helps make the place feel more like a village unto itself.

It's just a pity that all those private residences are slowing creeping in, choking any semblence of seclusion out of this once remote seaside resort.