Johannesburg, day 1...and there were sausages...

Ok, I'm not officially on The Sausage Trail but when the day started with a 'light' breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs and Boerewors, awesome, my impression of the hotel changed instantly.

Rory ha d texted me early, and I was grateful for that as I had no idea where I was and wanted to get away from the hotel. (Shown below).

We drove to Rory's brother's house. On the way I noted how new all of the offices and show-rooms were on the main motorways. Johannesburg has money coming in, new roads with an even newer and controversial automatic toll system, many big multinational names but still signs of extreme poverty and a large disenfranchised population. Rory and I chatted with Tristan regarding my business goals and the  immediate aims over the next few days. Then we left to meet with their cousin, Stuart and, more importantly the Brai. After chatting with Stu, an IT consultant who helped build the police Tetra network in the UK, and Don, an architect who owns a hotel in Bali, we tucked in to Boerewors., orstrich sausages, lamb chops, massive steaks, excellent potato salad and normal green salad, just a lea fro me. (Stu, left and Tristan, right)

After a few beers and a chat about South African politics and domestic terrorism in the UK we repaired to Tristan's house to talk more business and drink coffee. Before we knew it it was dark and time for me to go. Rory suggested we visit Montecasino, a plush casino complex not far from my hotel.

After an excellent meal of calamari and fillet steak, for only £17 (with two beers) I found a biltong shop, how awesome is that?

On the way back to the car I noticed this...

Thankfully the casino is a 'no gun zone' with a secure 'gun safe' available for those who have the need to leave their weapons prior to gambling. Lot's of guns, lot's of general violence but no gun violence on the scale of the US. Not to worry it was time for a beer and bed.

Night all.

G'port to Jo'burg

20 Hours after I set off I finally have an opportunity to get some words down as I sit on my bed in the rather meagre hotel room in Johannesburg.

It's been some time since I last blogged , probably around the time I last travelled. No sausages this time, although that may not actually be the case after all Boerwors (sp?) cannot be ruled out.

After an early start, how many times have I started with that? After an early start, so early that when I arrived at Heathrow terminal 4 it was still shut, indeed I was the first one through security check for the day which meant two things; first that I had no queue to contend with and second that I had two bloody hours to kill before my flight. Arse.

I'm not going to bore you all with another account of how much long haul travel irritates the beans out of me but I feel that I must post an observation to any Americans who may ever read this; an increase in volume does not mean an increase in humour, loud does not equal funny...nuff said.

No bar at the hotel but a vending machine conveniently located at the end of the ground floor corridor has what I need after a long day.

Cheers.