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You know your employer is looking after you when you actually have a choice as to whether you’re using the “over” roll or the “under” roll.

A great number of years back, when I was fit, a keen cyclist and trained every weekend, there a existed a small shop in Hout Bay that sold pies of unimaginable diversity. It was called “The Pastryman” and was run by a friendly German guy and sometimes his wife.

What made this particular pie shop different from others was that here one could get puff adder, giraffe, porcupine, elephant and the ever popular crocodile pies. I must point out that we’re not talking about pies that merely resembled the animals they were named after, like a box of zoo biscuits but instead were made from the meat of the unfortunate animals which somehow managed to cross the Pastryman’s path.

Training for the Argus Tour entailed cycling from Montana, near Charlesville on the Cape Flats, all the way along the N2, getting onto the M3 near Mowbray and then all the way into Fish Hoek past St. James, Simon’s Town, Noordhoek, Sun Valley and then finally Hout Bay. Occasionally continuing through to Camps Bay via the old Chapman’s Peak (before you needed a permit to avoid being crushed by a falling boulder). This was fairly tough 100km which covered the majority of the distance the official Argus Tour covered and was by no means a picnic, that is unless it was lunch time.

I usually found myself in Hout Bay around 12:30, just in time for lunch which consisted a Pastryman pepper steak pie and a Coke. That was until I tried the crocodile. Yep, healthy eating indeed. Especially for someone putting in as much effort as I was in the saddle. Mind you, the crocodile wasn’t bad, I go as far as to say “it tasted like chicken”, which it really did but pepper steak remained a favourite.

Hout Bay locals would stop by all time during our little chats to pick up their orders or either porcupine, puff adder or an assortment of venison. Needless to say that he was quite popular and had clippings from his numerous appearances in different publications pinned up around the shop. People literally came from all over Cape Town to see what the legend of the Pastryman was all about. Tourists included his modest pie shop and bakery on their list must see places and would have paid for the opportunity to tell all their friends that they’d eaten elephant while in South Africa, let alone an elephant pie.

Then all of a sudden it all disappeared. Closed. Not to be heard from again.
No more tourists, no more crocodile pies, no more lunch. His wife had mysteriously disappeared and reports alleged that she may have ended up in a pie herself. An unsettling thought. As a result his business tanked and tour groups no longer stopped at his store. The legend had become infamous once more, but for different reasons this time, though they both included exotic pies.

The legend of The Pastryman is one that is mostly forgotten, even now, searching the Internet for information turns up nothing. It’s strange that such a prominent business and an even more well known personality could have disappeared like he never existed, let alone his wife.

Do you know what happened to the Pastryman? Or his wife? Ever stop in Hout Bay in the 90’s to grab a croc pie at The Pastryman? Hit us up in the comments.

How’s your head doing? Good? Then you probably weren’t at our Summer Reunion party on Saturday. Either that, or you left early completely avoiding Damien’s shooter attack and our session of “Fives alive”.

It was good hooking up with Ianalie™, Chris and Est again as well as the rest of my boys. Big up to Warrenski and Candi for hosting again this year.

If you couldn’t be there, or weren’t on the list, enjoy the video mashup above.

Can’t see the video? Right-click, save as here to download. (Appox. 6mb)

It’s official! The Summer Reunion 2007 goes down this Saturday, 10 March at Wa’s place.

This year sees an escape from the crazy parties of the last two years and promises to be more relaxed, definitely an intimate affair.

As usual, Wa’s cut it tight with the sending of the invites, but if you’re in the area and you’re on the list, come round, bring a bottle and some “vleis”. It’ll be great to catchup with you again.

It’s been rather quiet on this front hey? Nope, didn’t think you’d notice.

Things have been crazy busy at work and this new year appears to have brought a few changes with it…

Here’s a quick round-up:
I’ve moved this domain to an international hosting provider since, like everything else, local hosting is too costly especially if everyone from Jo’burg is ending up on your site looking for Bushman’s Fire Sauce.

The job has also relocated. Nope, didn’t change employers. I now just go to a different building in Green Point to see the same people I used to see in the CBD. Though strangely enough, we have a new name, yet we’re still part of the same company. You following? This not only affects my head, but the amount of travelling I need to do since making the choice to use public transport.

I’ve made the effort to up the danger factor on my daily commute by adding a short, but effectively treacherous taxi trip. It’s necessary though if I need to be on time for work since the walk takes about 30 minutes at a leisurely pace. More on this in the following few weeks.

On a sadder note, my father-in-law passed away suddenly early in January which has affected René and myself in a number of ways, but we’re getting on with it and things are looking better than they were just a month ago. Thanks to those who have shown their support, we really do appreciate it.