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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
