Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

The Top Gear team of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and The Stig will be performing in Cape Town’s GrandWest Arena from 28 – 31 January, the first visit of this hugely popular BBC motoring programme team to the Mother City.   5FM presenter Sasha Martinengo will also participate in the Top Gear Live show.

Consisting of both an expo and stunts (outside the arena),  and “the best bits of Top Gear and will be attempting them live in the arena.  It’s ambitious, but I am sure it will work out well” Clarkson is quoted in the Cape Argus.  The report says that the world’s fastest cars will be pushed to the limit. “Fans on four continents can expect an edge-of-the-seat experience with flaming rally cars, extreme underground street racers, and cars that change colour.  Other sequences will feature The Stig leading  a troupe of international stunt drivers with a mix of hand gestures, sonic pulses and Morse code, showing audiences the ultimate in precision driving.”   Audience members will be able to interact with the Top Gear personalities.   Sound levels of up to 104db. and 30 000 sq meters of fireballs will be experienced.

The equipment required for the show will be transported in 135 trucks, 3 ships, and a freight plane, and the show entails the use of 94 cars and 150 sets of tyres.

Clarkson and his team have such a vast following that most of the tickets have been sold already.  The wine industry of South Africa has been up in arms about some of Clarkson’s views of South African wines.

Top Gear Live is at the GrandWest Arena, from 28 – 31 January, with shows twice or three times a day. Tickets cost R 250 - R 450, and can be booked at Computicket. www.mphshow.co.za

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The Western Cape province and the BBC have signed a deal, which allows the BBC to set up its broadcasting headquarters on top of the Somerset Hospital close to the new Cape Town stadium, and adjacent to the V & A Waterfront, reports the Cape Times.

A special glass top roof will be constructed on top of the hospital building, allowing the BBC to broadcast the 2010 World Cup from Cape Town with a view of Table Mountain, and of the Cape Town Stadium.  Soccer star Gary Lineker will be the BBC’s host for the soccer event.    The studio will not interfere with the operation of the hospital.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed, the agreement between the two parties prohibiting this information from being supplied.

The official FIFA Media Centre will be in Johannesburg, but Cape Town is a popular location for international broadcasters, says the province’s 2010 World Cup co-ordinator Dr Laurine Platzky.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The Sweet Service Award goes to Sue-Ellen at Goozi Cucina in Hermanus, a store selling La Creuset enamelled cast iron pots.   A recent BBC cookery programme filmed in France was the inspiration for the purchase.   A number of stores in Cape Town and the Boland sell the pots, all at the same price.   The customer called a number of the stores, to check prices and availability.   Of these, Sue-Ellen was the most pro-active, in promising to order the pot in the desired colour and to have it in the store to co-incide with the client’s next visit to Hermanus.   She was a bubbly surprise when the customer collected the pot, with few staff in shops generally appearing to enjoy their jobs.   Sue-Ellen is a chef, and loves what she does, to the benefit of her employer, and her customers.

The Sour Service Award goes to Tamarin Byne, Reservations Agent at the One&Only Cape Town, for her arrogance in dealing with guests prior to their arrival.   She mispronounced a surname, but refused to call the guest by her first name, saying that she had to use the guest surname.   She only sent the paperwork to be completed for the booking three days prior to arrival, instead of at the time that the booking was made 2 months ago.   A three page guest arrival questionnaire had to be completed, and as the guest was making use of the South African special of R 3 950 per room per night, she requested proof of South African residence!    Payment in full was expected to be taken prior to arrival.  The reservation made two months ago with her for dinner at Nobu  for 8 pm, was confirmed by her as 6 pm, and then moved to 8.15 pm when the guest pointed out her error.    Her boss Klaus Ahlers was great at undoing the damage she had done  prior to the guest’s arrival, which had made the guest not want to stay at the hotel any more.   A full review of the stay at One&Only and dinner at Nobu will be featured on the WhaleTales blog shortly.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

More than 50 pilot whales beached on Long Beach in Kommetjie, in Cape Town, on Saturday, reported The Associated Press, and the NSRI volunteers battled to steer the whales weighing over 1 000 kg each back into the rough seas.

The result was that 34 whales had to be shot in the head with a pistol, the most “humane” way for them to be “helped”, as they kept rebeaching themselves, it was said.

Nan Rice, of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, said of the whale killing:  “I feel quite sad, but it is the right thing to do”.   She explained that mass strandings are stressful for whales.  Beaching takes place due to ‘navigational error’, she said, according to The Sunday Independent.  

Other reasons for beaching may be that a whale may be sick or have parasites, which can affect its sense of direction, seeking out land.  This may cause other whales to follow suit, due to the social bonding between whales, reports the Sunday Argus.   Rip currents may also confuse the whales’ sonar.   The navy has denied doing any sonar testing which may have led to the beaching of the whales.

Twenty whales were saved, and successfully returned to sea.  Front-end loaders were used to move the whales back into the sea.

The BBC was at the scene, and filmed the rescue operation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8075250.stm

The first 740 000 tickets for World Cup 2010 go on sale globally at 12h00 tomorrow, reports the BBC.

South Africans are eligible to buy 15 % of the 3 million tickets via the www.fifa.com website, or to go to a branch of First National Bank, where they can fill in an application form.   The prices of tickets have been kept low for South Africans, and range from R 140 for category 4 matches to R 6 300 for the final.

The ticket sales are by application, chosen on a random ballot.  In Germany the World Cup 2006 ticket applications were oversubscribed more than 20-fold.    Each person may only apply for a maximum of four tickets per match, for a maximum of seven matches.

Further ticket sales open on 4 May, 5 December and 9 February 2010.

FIFA’s David Will, chairman of the ticketing committee, said that the impact of the global credit crunch on ticket sales for 2010 is uncertain.