The online home of Guy Laister, containing news of past, current and future activities as well as photo’s of trips far and wide. I was born in South Africa with the benefit of Her Majesty’s passport, and I am currently living in Surrey with my wife. I am a civil/environmental engineer and a founding director of an engineering consultancy in London.
appears to be a hot topic in SA at the moment, but got another report through this morning of the skills shortage crisis. Maybe we should just write a letter to Mbeki or one of his cronies and let him know how simple the solustion is? Read the rest of this entry »
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further to the post below regarding the civil engineering profession in South Africa, Deanne Everitt forwarded this email this morning about a dedicated online blog for the issue:
Comments will be compiled for submission to the SAICE magazine as an article.
So for those of you who would like to make your point (other than slaggging off civils - see comments below) then log onto Civil Engineering Blog
Of particular interest is the Salary survey where young engineers have been pretty honest about salaries currently being earned in SA. Willow, herein lies the answer to how soon I will be moving back………….
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I have been discussing the plight of the South African engineer with Rog and Willow recently (strange Willow being in fiannce kicked things off, its cos you care, I know!), and thought I post this interesting article Rog found. ECSA (Engineering Council of South Africa) have been warning for some time now about future skills shortages in the South African engineering industry. With the recent increase in activity in the South African market (especially civil engineering), especially relating to the ‘Gautrain’, and 2010 football world cup, the industries worst fears may be reaslied. If they aren’t already, that is. Business week posted this on the 25th October 2005. Interesting that they don’t mention emigration at all. Read the rest of this entry »
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I seem to have been doing some rumaging lately, as you do, but this time through the electronic archives. It appears as though I still haven’t uploaded photo’s from some of our epic adventures across the globe, and most notibly trips such as the
Oktoberfest in Munich (October 2003),
and
skiing in Switzerland
Enjoy!
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There was an air of excitement on the short train journey from Clapham Junction towards Selhurst as Liverpool fans felt the evening could provide a positive turning point on the season and Crystal Palace fans could feel a major scalp being taken. The Eagles entertained Liverpool last evening at Selhurst Park, southeast London, in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup. Although reasonably easy to access, Selhurst Park is a real ‘hole’ of a ground, especially for away fans. Myself, Adrian and his brother Andrew were treated, along with approximately 3,000 Liverpool supporters, to the usual hostile reception, ushered through a single gate to the sh1ttest, oldest seats I have seen anywhere, restricted view and all for the bargain deal of 30 quid. So what, we thought, gotta be worth playing 30 quid to watch the Reds thrash the hell out of Palace and lift the roof off in song. Not so. Read the rest of this entry »
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On the basis of recent results, Liverpool’s season appears to be taking a turn for the better. Mainly thanks to Djibril Cisse who is finally scoring goals with regularity (2 in a row…….). We have been creating chances against all opposition all season but thus far have been lacking the cutting edge. Hopefully with Cisse building confidence and Morientes back from injury, the season with kick off hard. Having said that, Morientes did miss at least 2 sitters that a school boy could have slotted home against Blackburn on Saturday. The game was won however, and 3 vital points bagged. Same scoreline again last night, this time in Europe, with Liverpool grabbing another good result away from Anfield in Belguim. Anderlecht succumbed to a superlative Cisse thunderbolt in the first half, and althought Liverpool should have killed off the game with several more, Anderlecht did have oppurtunities to take something away from the game. 
Liverpool and Chelsea are looking good to qualify from the group after Chelsea annhilated Real Betis at a soggy Stamford Bridge Last night.
On the topic, Liverpool come down to play Fulham at the Cottage (which I can see from my house just about) this weekend, so we are going to try and snaffle some tickets for that. Failing that, I am going to see the lads play in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night. Super excited as Liverpool travel down to play Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the 3rd round. Hopefully the game is as exciting as last years 3rd round fixture we watched at White Hart Lane, although winning 5-0 wouldn’t be a bad nights entertainment either!! Hopefully all in attendance will be in good voice to spur on, what will most likley be, a reserve side. Come on the Reds!
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For all those interested in tickets for the wrold cup rugby 2007, to be hosted in France and the home nations, have a look at the official website for the tournament. Tickets are not yet on sale, but are due for release in the near future. You can sign up on the website to be allerted when tickets are released.
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I have been tasked with informing you all of the unfortunate news that Ross Williams’ (aka Toby the Willow) spiralling debts have finally gone out of control. Read the rest of this entry »
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A special warm welcome to all of you who have arrived at the office dreading yet another long day punching numbers and taking orders from some idiot who for some reason thinks that he is your boss, but are freshly invigourated by the sight of yet another piece of literary artwork from Pedro. Yes, I hinted a few days ago of my bizzare encounter with Piggs wearing a Equador football shirt, and now all has been revealed. For those of you not so lucky to be on Piggs’ mailing list, I have recited an extract for your perusal here (unfortuantely due to stringent copyright rules I cannot display the entire email, if you would like to receive further correspondance from Piggs, let me know and I will put you in touch):
Unfortunately I have searched long and hard to find an humiliating photo of Piggs to post with this for his visitors’ enjoyment, but alas, no luck. If there is anyone out there who is willing to contribute, please feel free to leave a comment and we can make arrrangements.
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Rumaging through some old stuff the other I stumbled across a pack of photo’s that obviously slipped into my bag as an essential to survival in the UK. It didn’t take long to realise why, as the photo’s brought a small tear to the eye….. The pack of photo’s includes a ‘best of’ collection of the incredible years in which the world famous one-and-one-halves dominated the cricket stage, planet wide. So, to all those who may have moved on to greater things, those who may have settled down, those who may have met someone special since batting at 5 for the invincibles, all will be revealed to the world in the near future. The magic was captured on film and I am yet to find the negatives, but the wonderful high resolution colour scanner at the office may be called into play.
There are some absolute beauts from V4, and including classic items such as the deathmask and the orange cod kit. Its worth logging back in over the next few days to witness the lauch of the collection, especially if you were ever known by one of the following alias’s…….. canon, fridge, silver fox, maca, jono, roony, smash, woger, wichie the wobber and wapist, or hout…… somehow, and I don’t know how, but stalwarts such as captain pugwash, harold bom and toby the willow have escaped this batch. With that in mind, anyone who may still have photographic evidence of the one-and-one-halves please get in touch.
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