2011-10-23 Potch Bulldogs B/Fast Run

As the photo on the left will attest...It was, once again, a sunny and worm day when everyone gathered together to support Potch Bulldogs with their breakfast run at "van der Stel's" Pub in van der Hoff Road.

While waiting in the queue...Had I mentioned by this time that it was a HOT and SUNNY day?...to get in, I couldn't help noticing that Jannie was very "helpfully" standing around UNDER the gazebo and only greeting people when they got to the door of the establishment!

(Only Joking, Jannie!!!) Actually what I was going to say was...WHile standing in the queue, I had the opportunity of meeting and greeting quite a number of my friends from the PBC.

Many of the same guys and girls that I have been greeting all along during the previous jols I've written about, but friends, nonetheless.

I think it was also the day some people were competing in some sport where they throw around an oblong, funny shaped, ball and they have 30 grown men chasing after the ball while a much smaller man with a whistle tries to boss them about.

Some people mentioned something like the Rugby World Cup Finals, or something?

All I know is that after the game, there was no end to "Uncle Brooks", because apparently some country, with a silver fern as their sporting emblem, won the game in the end.

Outside, though, there was also much festivity going on. People were gathered together in smaller groups, with each group having its own discussions and disagreements going...Fortunately, the disagreements were all of a friendly nature.

On the way to the venue, however, there was one young man who had a slightly less friendly disagreement with a white line and the tar.

I was watching the progress of the group in front of me, when suddely I saw this young man just take a dive right there in front of me!

Apparently he caught a bit of a "skrik" (scare for the not so Afrikaans) and grabbed the front brake just as he was passing over one of those big white arrows painted in the middle of the lane.

What impressed me, again, was the response form everyone around the youngster. Emergency procedures automatically kicked in with some people getting to the youngster, others getting to his bike and some of the others handling the traffic.

The people around the youngster all kicked into gear and we ended up working together like a well oiled Emergency Response Team...Well done guys and ladies of the PBC!

AND...Even "better done" to the youngster who was checked over by Dad and friends and who decided to get back onto the bike to carry on to the venue!

10/10 for "vasbyt" and guts!

There were also some more friendly faces at the jol than one can safely capture on film, so I'll end off this post with just a couple of the faces from the day.

Well done to Potch Bulldogs and here's looking forward to the run in 2012~~~

2011-10-16 Inka Jol

Great, warm and friendly. 'Nuff said!

Well, ok...those three words could have described the jol, but there are at least a couple of additional things I need to say about the jol, so here goes...

OK...So we've already established that the day was HOT!

It was so hot that I was surprised that some of the eggs actually broke during the egg tossing competition!  I thought they were going to be cooked by the second throw already, because that's how I felt by that time.

You see? I was standing in the sun most of the day taking photos of people having fun! I know. I know. It's my own stupidity for not seeking the shadows. However, I can tell you that, in spite of the fact that it sounds like I'm complaining, I was actually having a whale of a time!

There were a whole lot of games on the day. These included some of the more "usual" games, such as tyre throw and tug-of-war, but there was also an egg throwing competition, as I mentioned a little bit earlier, which provided some interesting moments!

Among those interesting moments were three very lucky "Catch The Moment"-type photographs, of which I include two below.

The one on the left is one of two instances where I was lucky enough to catch someone at that moment when the egg broke in their hands as they caught it.

The one on the right is also one of those "one-in-a-million" photos, but I think what actually made this shot for me is the fact that he actually caught the egg in the end...and it didn't break!

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Those that have been following my posts on this blog for a while may remember that I mentioned something in one of the previous posts about how it was fun to take pics of people?

Well, I remember saying something like that, ok?

I realised again at this specific jol how nice it is to photograph people without them knowing that they are being photographed, because they remain "natural".

One of these pics I took, was of "Pommie", who was riding for the Shambles at that time.


When we had the memorial service for "Pommie" on Saturday, 25 February, I noticed how few photos there were of the man at jols and rallies.

Most of the photos were of his Police days, which is fair enough, but I thought I just had to put a photo of the man in here to make it clear that he was actually a biker as well!

Rest in Peace Pommie.

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Although I generally like taking photos of people "naturally", there are also occassions where people can, and actually do, pose properly for a pic or two.

Such was the case with René (Pastor and National President of CMA) who was at the jol with his daughter, Kenau.

And to top it all off, I actually got the bunch of Inka Riders to also stand still long enouhg so I could get a pic of the lot of them together just before I left.

Thanks to Bossie and the rest of the Inka Riders for a memorable jol.

2011-10-08 Cimarron Spring Festival

OK...Back to the trip down last year's memory lane.

Cimarron had their Spring Festival in Kameeldrift on a nice balmy...Uhmmm...Strike that! BLEEDING HOT spring day in October.

At the gate, there were more than enough friendly Cimarrons to welcom you, including some of those that I actually know as well! (Hello Nico, Andrea and Firefly, to mention afew.)

There were a nice selection of stalls, like the ladies with their "sweets by the bucket"-stall, the guys with their curry and rice and other "lekker" rally food stalls, the husband and wife team with the mushroom and bacon sosaties and the *)OI SAO& *XZ__ @*827 @&w DS789~!Y#)&E_~

Sorry...I drooled on the keyboard, which caused a bit of a problem, which the Techies at work had to sort out before I could continue typing.

Fortunately, this gave me time to nip down to the local Caltex to quickly get myself something to nibble on while I typed further.

So, where was I? Oh, yes! The stalls at the jol...

There was also a lady with a couple of cameras and printers who was running around and taking pictures of everybody and printing pics with a copy of the jol logo in the one corner for whoever wanted them.

Last, but not least, of the stalls, was the CMA Hatfield Coffee tent, of course. A regular fixture at many events in the Pretoria Area. Always a good spot for a chat and some lekker "rally coffee".

There were a number of people in and out of the gate on the day, but by all accounts there was not a good attendance on the day. Not as expected, in any case.

For those that were there, however, there was enough entertainment in the form of a slow race, a concours competition, water ballon tossing, etc.

Yours truly won the slow race on his "Z-1000", but I'm thinking Kawasaki is going to be contacting me soon to ask me to stop showing everyone that Kawa's are slow! :-)

Interesting people at the rally, as always! Great fun had by everyone and I personally enjoyed myself immensely, since I was able to experiment a little more with the whole photography of interesting people.

A jol like this ALWAYS provides ample opportunities to take photographs of people doing all kinds of interesting things...Like Bossie doing his bit to make fun of the Kiwi's doing the "Haka".

Sometimes, however, you also get nice pictures of people just sitting around enjoying the scenery at the entry gate.
as well as those that are actually just sitting around and enjoying the scenery!

I know this may sound weird to some people, or it may actually create all kinds of flags on the FBI and Interpol's web-watching programs, but I specifically like watching the kids at events like this, because they know how to act "normal" and this provides for interesting photographs sometimes.
The guys at the pub also had some interesting ideas regarding where to contain a bonfire.

The person who came up with this idea probably also tried to work on a Mini at some stage and thought to himself: "The only thing this car is good for, is to make a fireplace out of it!"

Well, that's exactly what they did with this Mini in the end!


At the end of the evening, there was a short memorial ceremony where a moment of silence was observed for fallen brothers and sisters in the Biking Community.

People also had the opportunity to write names on a card and have these attached to balloons that would be released later in the evening.

In the end it was decided to hang the names on the Memorial Wall outside the pub and the balloons were released later that evening.

2012-003

I decided not to attend the Impala Rally this year. Why? I can't really tell you. I just didn't feel like going this year, I guess?

Anyway, this meant that I scored some points with the wife, because, even though there were some other commitments, I spent some time with her over the weekend. We even got around to having a braai for the first time in a whiile! (The fact that it was just after pay-day also helped to ensure that we could have a braai!)

Friday evening I got home with the intention of washing the bike before Saturday's memorial service, because the bike had been rained on and ridden in the rain a couple of times during the week. The Z didn't look all that good, because a LOT of the bike was a funny mud-colour, instead of black and silver!

Got around to having the bike washed, because I have a teenager and I also have the wallet with which to motivate him into such mundane tasks, and we proceeded to have a nice quiet evening watching some movies and stuff.

Saturday morning I decided to "quickly" go to the Post Office, because I needed to pick up a registered parcel. Got to the PO just to find that the door was padlocked and there was a sign saying that they would be closed until Monday due to an armed robbery and ongoing Police Investigation!

The fact that they were robbed is not so funny. However, the fact that the Police Station is less than 500m away is!! The Police Station is literally just across the road from the Shopping Centre where the PO is situated! So much for picking up the parcel!

Headed home, picked up Thereza instead and met up with the rest of the crowd that gathered in Zambezi Drive to attend Dave "Pommie" Sherrat's memorial service.

There was quite a good turn-out, considering that it was on the Impala weekend, as well as the fact that some people had prior commitments to attend to.

Saying that a funeral service was "good" doesn't always sound right, but the service was good.

After the service, there was the traditional biker salute given in the parking lot and Thereza made a comment along the lines of: "If the service doesn't get you, the biker salute sure will!" Hardly a dry eye outside.

I just realised again how blessed we are to be part of such a community as this. Bikers, and in my (not so) humble opinion, Bikers in the Pretoria Bikers Council, RULE!!

I can honestly say there is no better place for me to spend my days than with you bunch of lovable hooligans!

Love you guys and girls!

2012-002

Ok...So I was not really able to find the time to continue posting photographs of the jols for last year, but this is because I useed that time to run down memory lane!

I've started going through my photographs from 2000, when my family and I joined CMA and I have been posting these in albums on my FB profile.

One thing I realised was that I lost quite a lot of photographs between 2001 and 2004, because my computer at home was stolen before I had made backups!

But...Even though someone made off with a LOT of my photographs from those years, I still have a lot of memories from the other years, which makes up for some of the loss.

Some people have been askin gme why I've been going through this memory lane jog of mine and I have to admit that I am not sure. I think it has to do with the fact that my daughter has left home and my son is finishing school the end of this year.

So...maybe I am preparing myself for this whole "empty nest" thing. Whatever it is, I know it's good to go down memory lane every now and then, because it motivates you to live life to the fullest and to build memories as far as you go, because that's all that remains once you are gone one day.

I would like to differ with those that may feel this is a negative way of looking at life, because none of us know what tomorrow will bring, but we will always be able to look forward to tomorrow with great delight if we know that what we did today, and yesterday, and the day before, made a difference!

If you want to go down my memory lane with me, you are welcome to visit my fb albums. Check out Marc Laubscher and if you don't find me on there, click on THIS LINK to go to one of the albums. (From there you should be able to find the others.)

I've found it easier to post photographs on facebook, so I think I'll continue down memory lane until facebook contacts me and tells me to stop posting albums! :-)

Until next time, I'll leave you with an interesting thought that I posted as my status on facebook this morning:
"If we believe that God is watching us, the least we can do is to be entertaining."

2012-001

Good Day to you all...

As I got ready to type this edition, I was reminded of the following question:

"Have you ever stopped.....and forgotten to start again?"

As you may have noticed, I took a little break from my original posting "frenzy" and I seem to have forgotten to start up again! This resulted in a loooooong break from posting on this blog.

So let's start up with "HAPPY NEW YEAR"!!

I know you have already bought some Christmas presents to make sure you beat the end of year rush, but nonetheless... may your year be blessed with enough to ensure that you cannot contain it all and have to give away some of those blessings to others around you!

Ok...Now that we have that out of the way, just a little mention of what is to come in this new year on this blog.

To start off with, I will finish off the posts on all the pics from last year, because I HAVE to finish what I started, not so?

Secondly, I shall make sure that I post more pictures of this coming year's events, because that was originally why I decided to start up with this specific blog.

In between, I'll post some stuff that interests me and, hopefully, you out there as well!

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So...until the next time I get around to posting something, here's a thought for the day:

“No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We’ve been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I’ll let you know when it’s time to tell them.” (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)