By Dianne Tipping-Woods

It’s no secret that many of my leisure hours are spent watching birds. Big birds, little birds, grassland birds, highveld birds, bushveld birds, forest birds… My husband is a birder and it’s really more his hobby than mine. I kind of bird by osmosis, surprising myself with previously unsuspected knowledge when I recognise a call or make the right ID based on a certain feather pattern or beak colour. Not too many of my friends understand the appeal of this pastime and it’s not something you can really explain, other than that there are worse ways to spend a few hours on a weekend and that birds obligingly occur in some of the country’s most scenic regions. (more…)

Four seemingly un-related facts have had a profound influence on how I spend my Thursday evenings.

1. I’m not a good dancer.
2. I have a friend that I don’t see often enough.
3. I need to get more exercise.
4. My art teacher moved to the Netherlands.

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By Dianne Tipping-Woods

When I left home on the evening of Friday 11 September, I had only a vague idea that in a matter of hours, my worldview would change. My first clue that this wasn’t an ordinary evening came when my friend D intently strapped herself into the back seat of the twin cab. Seeing her serious demeanour, I did the same. She knew our destination; I had simply heard the rumours. (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

Having just gotten married, I’ll probably never be in such a good position to write about weddings as I am now, fresh off the nuptial bus so to speak! Since the wedding seal broke about two years ago, with the first of my school friends getting hitched, there has been a steady stream of nuptial festivities. I have been to full catholic ceremonies, same-sex ceremonies, Hindi ceremonies, Jewish, Afrikaans and African ceremonies… (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

Pretoria has good weather. It’s the middle of winter and I can count on one hand the number of cold grey days that we’ve had so far. “The city is arguably the sunniest Capital in the world, receiving over 3300 hours of sunshine a year (over 9 hours per day on average)” – at least according to wikipedia.com (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

This is not a post about the South African judiciary. No, the bench I’m referring to is an actual bench in Amsterdam. The bench became the focus of my attention recently, by virtue of a group of exceptional South Africans who have been invited to ‘own’ a portion of it. (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

So it started with me looking for a flat on Gumtree. Or was it dancing lessons? I can’t recall but I ended up finding an ad for Art Classes with Cecilia Neethling instead. Now every Thursday evening, you’ll find me at her studio, attempting to engage with my inner artist-e. With an e . And drinking wine. (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

Balsamic marinated cherry tomatoes, rosemary, olive oil, mozzarella and feta. Peppadew pesto, basil pesto, goats milk cheese, walnuts, prosciutto and avocado. Prawns with lemon and garlic butter, fennel seeds and rocket. Garlic, chilli, avocado or artichokes, rocket, grano padano and toasted pine nuts. Mozzarella, anchovy fillets, capers, olives and oregano. Pears, walnuts and gorgonzola. Oh god… (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

It presides over Pretoria with glowering permanence. For many visitors to the city, it is one of the first major landmarks they will see. This is because a) it’s huge and set upon a hill above the city and b) it’s a mandatory stop on all the major tours. Judging by the comments in the guestbook, many people take it as just that – groups from the Netherlands, France, Japan, Scandanavia and the US all comment about the spectacular architecture, the magnificent friezes, and the pride with which this monument is obviously maintained. It is worth a visit, even although on a recent trip there, I wasn’t sure what I would find… (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

Mid December, I left the balmy confines of Pretoria for the icy thrills of New York City – a city of superlatives, the world’s fair, the metropolis that never sleeps. Mid January I returned, infected it would seem by the sleeplessness of the city. Jetlag’s nocturnal wakefulness provided many hours for contemplation. Wondrous as my trip had been – I was happy to be back in Pretoria. Home. 

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By Dianne Tipping-Woods

There is something powerfully symbolic about the sight of a hot air balloon inflating, I think to myself.

Pause. Sip coffee. Catch a fleeting glimpse of something profound lurking at the edge of my consciousness. Sip some more coffee. Wait for another thought. (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

I’m not a mall person – but I do like to shop! Having grown up in a city with wide, tree-lined streets and perfect weather, I have a decided preference shopping al fresco. Give me a fair, a market, or a pavement and some friendly people trying to earn an honest buck over the artificial architectural atrocities with their blandly luminous labyrinths and incomprehensible array of cloned clothing shops and cafes that serve indistinguishable coffees and cakes that have never been fresh. (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

Pretoria in October is characterised by various shades of blue: cobalt, steel, cornflower, and just a shade or two along the spectrum, just off the scale of ‘true blue’, are the tones that morph into mauve, and mulburry. Moody blues, a purple haze, and of course purple rain. (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

Pretoria can be a cheesy place. Pretorians like cheese, and we do cheese well. And for now I don’t mean the local Bokmakiri or some other varietal (that comes later). “Cheese” here can describe anything that would seem like a big bad joke to most people – only we take it seriously. And in turn, we are taken seriously (by ourselves at least). Like French Cheese. (more…)

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

My latest eye-opener literally flew in over Pretoria and landed outside my office window, on the shores of the smelly, shallow pond at Centurion Mall that some local optimist has dubbed a ‘lake’. My urban eyebrows rose as a steady armada of binocular-wielding strollers appeared and began to circle the lake, intently scanning the water. Questioning them they enthusiastically revealed that they had come to witness a second coming. (more…)

By Di Tipping-Woods

Let’s first get crime out of the way. An exciting new blog about the leafy capital of Thabo, boerekos and the ambassador of Mongolia should not be hampered by the usual nagging, downplaying or shooting from the hip. For fearsome figures and sulky stories you can pick up any random newspaper [http://www.thestar.co.za]. But “crime” has become some kind of euphemism in South Africa which, besides the literal meaning, hides a multitude of sins. This can include being poor, being foreign, being afraid and most of all… being different. (more…)