Bloodbath at The Colony, Craighall

No, the sensational headline is not about a riot and looting in the suburbs of Johannesburg.

Even though there were indeed riots and looting, deaths, and vigilante killings in parts of South Africa last month. That is very sad.  It is an indictment of a government that has taken since 1994 to feather its own nest while neglecting its voters.  Who, inexplicably continue to vote for it.

Let's hope they punish it at the coming municipal election.  Which is likely to be postponed...

But you can read about that elsewhere, and make up your own mind.

The "bloodbath" we refer to is the loss of shops at The Colony, after we had been away for some nine months, donating blood elsewhere.

Below, in the "Shops Closed" section, you will see what we mean:  It seemed as if half the shops are now empty.  Remarkably, though two restaurants had been lost to the pandemic, a new (vegan) one has opened.

The Colony is by no means alone in this.  Shops, particularly restaurants, are suffering in the pandemic. Let's support them to the extent that we can.

Today's Mondegreen

"There's pig hour traffic on the highway."

(that must be when people are rude to each other)

New on the Block, Movers and Shakers  Back to top

• Bliss Juicery has moved from The Colony, Craighall and gone online – Fresh juices. Cold pressed juices, superfood smoothies, wellness shots, superfood snacks, juice cleanses. Deliveries via Uber Eats
• 5th Avenue Fashion, Shop 11, Lower Level in Morning Glen Mall – New Ladies' boutique July 2021.
• The Crazy Store, Shop 12, Lower Level in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Specialized items and gifts. Reading glasses, Sunglasses, novels, birthday cards. Party things, bathroom, sewing, picture frames, baby range, candles. Dog and cat toys, gardening, braai, hardware, kitchen. Plasticware, sweets, glassware.
• Del Forno, Shop 03, Lower Level in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Pizza, pasta, grill. Burgers, pregos, ribs, wings, salads, desserts.
• Pick n Pay Clothing, Upper Level in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Clothes and fashion for the whole family: shoes, tops, dresses, trousers, shirts, hats, swimming costumes etc.
• ORG Gadgets, Upper Level in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Electronic gadgets, airguns, boom boxes, cell phones and accessories.
• Locksmith & Auto Transponder Centre, Shop 18, Upper Level in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Car key batteries and repairs, keys cut, remote controls, locks supplied, fitted and opened, cars unlocked. Wednesday 10% pensioner discount.
• Capmor Stationers, Upper Level in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Stationery, books, magazines, newspapers, tapes, CDs and DVDs, photographic.
• Adel's, Shop 47, Upper Level in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Ladies' clothing.
• TT Hair Couture, Shop 48, Upper Level in Morning Glen Mall – Quality wigs and accessories: The shop says it has provided hair and services to its clients since 2014.
• Revive Dry Clean Factory, Shop 55, Upper Level in Morning Glen Mall – Moved from Early Dawn Mall, Rivonia, July 2021.
• Footgear, Shop 06b, Ground in Woodmead SuperValue Centre – Footwear brands for men, women and kids. Latest sneakers, trainers, boots, sandals.
• The Box, Ground in Woodmead SuperValue Centre – Multi-brand store stocking a quality range of lifestyle clothes, fashion accessories, trainers, sneakers and more.
• Lekker Vegan, Lower Level in The Colony, Craighall – Vegan Gourmet Junk Food. Dedicated to making plant-based foods with the best meat alternatives. The best vegan junk food in Africa!.
• Debonairs Pizza, Shop LG12, Lower Level in The Colony, Craighall – Restaurant: Pizza, Juices, Soft drinks, Potato wedges. Delivery.
• Home Go (G6 Lower Level), Building G in Woodmead Commercial Park – Futuristic, creative & beautifully designed furniture & robotic appliances. Living Room, Carpets, Dining Room, Bedroom, Office, Outdoor.

All Right, so What is a "Mondegreen" Anyway?

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

You spotted the mondegreen above but didn't know what the word meant?  Here's the explanation:

A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to clearly hear a lyric, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense. American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term:

In a 1954 essay in Harper's Magazine, Wright described how, as a young girl, she misheard the last line of the first stanza from the seventeenth-century ballad The Bonnie Earl O' Moray. She wrote:

"When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy's Reliques, and one of my favourite poems began, as I remember:

"Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl o' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen."

The correct fourth line is, "And laid him on the green". Wright explained the need for a new term:

"The point about what I shall hereafter call mondegreens, since no one else has thought up a word for them, is that they are better than the original."

She said she was devastated when she discovered that there was never a "Lady Mondegreen"!  To make up for it she immortalised her in a term that is now included in many dictionaries.  And Wikipedia, of course.

So now you know what to call it when, as happens when you get older, you mishear "peak hour traffic" mentioned on the radio.

Thought for the Day:

The epitome of the Yiddish word "chutzpah" used to be the boy who murdered his parents and then asked the court for clemency because he was an orphan.

Now, it's an ex-President who refuses to attend court and then claims he didn't get a fair trial.

Croaked:  Back to top

• Europa Café, Shop 03 in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Food - Coffee Shop.
• Lou Harvey, Shop 32A in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Cooler, beach bag, laptop bag, overnight bag, iPad cover, vanity bag, wallet, kids apron, kids' back pack, bib, pencil case, roll-up nappy changer. Was Upper Level.
• Mommy Wellness Day Spa, Shop 36 in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Treats moms and moms-to-be, and the whole family including your little tot! Full range of specialised spa treatments to choose from.
• Juliette, Shop 17 in Bryanston Shopping Centre – Ladies' Fashion & Accessories. Pretty things, scarves, ladies' clothes, jewellery.
• Zebbies Lighting, Shop 6 in Woodmead SuperValue Centre – Large array of household light fittings.
• Sandwich Junxion in Woodmead SuperValue Centre – "The finest sandwiches made to order: You ring, we bring".
• Hodges Coffee House and Restaurant in The Colony, Craighall – On the right of the passage leading from the main square (upper Jan Smuts Ave parking) next to Mandy's. Interleading with Bookdealers.
• Roco Mamas, The Colony in The Colony, Craighall – Burger Restaurant. Cheeseburger, cheese+bacon burger, mushroom, shoe string fries, design your own, wings, salads, dips. Open Sun-Wed 09:00-22:00, Thu & Sat 09:00-23:00, Fri 09:00-24:00.
• Morningside Fruiters in The Colony, Craighall – Established little fruit and vegetable shop.
• Home Entertainment Installations in The Colony, Craighall – TV & Hi-Fi repairs, DStv installations, CCTV installations, Audio-visual & design.
• SoHome in The Colony, Craighall – Kitchenware and Homeware. In the little passage to the left of Morningside Fruiters.
• Pandora in The Colony, Craighall – Interesting Ladies' clothing, bags, shoes, boots, and accessories. At the entrance to the upper passage from the back parking.
• Living Yoga in The Colony, Craighall – Teaching yoga and yoga teachers. At the intersection of the passages from the upper front and back parking.
• Woodmead On Tap, Shop AF in Woodmead Commercial Park – Supplier of premium quality bathroom, kitchen and plumbware products, exclusive product and designer ranges, cutting edge plumbing supplies and hardware, all at affordable prices.

Interesting Souf Effrican Customs

When you are invited to a braai and offered sosaties, remember that you do not have to eat the stick.

The POPI Act is STILL Your Problem... Start Solving it Tonight!

Small Business and POPIA expert, Peter Carruthers, writes:

I bet you're already handling requests for you to sign indemnities and other legal contracts? Don't sign them!

POPIA - the Protection of Personal Information Act - is still crucial. And it is messy when things go wrong.

• You may not know a company called Qsure. They process banking transactions for 250 insurance firms and brokers. They've revealed the bank account details of millions of the clients of their clients. Click here to read more.

• Qsure exposed the information. Yet every major insurer and broker faces colossal effort, time, and expense to tell their clients their bank details are not private anymore. Who will pay for this?

Since July 1, if you don't report a lost or stolen laptop, you're also breaching the POPI Act. The possible data exposure is bad enough. Saying nothing is negligence, and that's when the fines start to skyrocket.

If you don't yet have a clear grasp of POPIA in your business, please click here to join me online tonight at 8 PM. You'll learn the problems and how to solve them in simple, plain English.

This session is free.

Click here to reserve your seat.

If you register, whether you attend or not, you will get the video, complete notes, handouts, and other goodies afterwards. You'll discover how easy it is to fix this POPIA problem.

Feel free to forward this to anyone you know getting lost in the POPIA noise.

(POPIA stops you from forwarding emails unless you have permission. This is me giving you that permission)

Warm regards, Peter.

If you can't or don't want to attend the webinar tonight and every Wednesday, there is a short online course on what POPIA entails: Click here to take the Free POPI explanation for Small Business Owners.

If you want to get compliant fast, join our online Five Day Fast Compliance series. Invest one hour each day for a week. Then, invest another hour each day in working through the instructions in the context of your firm. By the end of the week, you will be more compliant with this new law than 90% of businesses in South Africa

Overheard Near the Checkout

"How is it  with you in the pandemic?  Are you keeping the wolf from the door?"

"Ha!  Things are so bad, the last time the wolf came to the door, we ate him!"