Cape Town Guesthouse, Parker Cottage
Silence of the Cynics
July 2nd, 2010 by Phil & Liz

Living in a third world country, we’re always amazed how much the foreign media (because unfortunately it’s nearly always foreigners writing about Africa these days) love to find all the reasons why things will fail in Africa. And for once, they simply can’t find anything negative to say about the continent (except perhaps for [...]


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Late breakfast record shattered!
June 14th, 2010 by Phil & Liz

Those of you in the know will be aware that we have no cut off time at Parker for breakfast (unlike some lesser guesthouses :-)). The late breakfast record was up until today held by Angela St. Jules and Mikael Rasmussen who clocked in at 11h38 (quite regularly, in fact!). To their great [...]


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Yes, it’s here
June 13th, 2010 by Phil & Liz

And hasn’t the country woken up to it in a big way? Just three days before the kick off, Cape Town was sort of dozing away like there was nothing about to happen and then, suddenly, the World Cup lands. Liz and I got to see South Africa score that crucial goal against [...]


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How to avoid bad weather in Cape Town
May 19th, 2010 by Phil & Liz

It’s really such a pity for our guests when bad weather (wind, rain, cloud) stops them getting to Table Mountain or Robben Island. Liz and I have discovered a great solution: leave Cape Town for the time that it rains and then, then it’s sunny again, come back! We were just in the [...]


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Ash blowing around Parker Cottage
April 22nd, 2010 by Phil & Liz

In a bizarre twist of fate, the volcanic ash cloud in Iceland has actually made things less than simple even as far away as South Africa. Some of our guests have been stuck here for over nine days (and counting) whereas some just seem to have hopped on a plane thee minute the airspaces [...]


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Donovan gets wise
March 29th, 2010 by Phil & Liz

It’s not everyday that the ethos of your company gets adopted by its clients but the other day, exactly that happened. Donovan, our illustrious caretaker (in a very real sense - he actually takes care of our buildings and grounds like his own) let slip to one of our guests that his burning ambition [...]


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How not to spend New Year’s Eve
January 3rd, 2010 by Phil & Liz

In a fit of bizarre enthusiasm I booked Liz and I onto a sailing yacht for New Year’s Eve. Not perhaps the best idea but I had visions of bobbling about watching the fireworks as a cooling light breeze ruffled the sails above our champagne-filled heads. It was not to be: the breeze [...]


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Parker Cottage Staff Outing
December 31st, 2009 by Phil & Liz

A proper staff outing, complete with wine and laughs….


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Not another awful staff Christmas function…
December 25th, 2009 by Phil & Liz

Now I (Phil) used to work for Intel (don’t say ‘who?’) in an interesting town called Swindon the UK. When I say that the staff Christmas function was terrible and this was one of the world’s largest companies, I would be understating it greatly! Here at Parker, we take staff Christmas functions very [...]


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Would you believe it?
December 12th, 2009 by Phil & Liz

Now perhaps this isn’t the most exciting or sexy topic on this blog but why is it that you can’t get decent wooden toilet seats in Cape Town? We had the great embarrassment of buying what we thought were seats from managed forests in South Africa, seemed strong and sturdy and then promptly snapped [...]


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