The Original Umdloti Blog Roll

This is your page - our website's visitor's blog roll - where you can submit brickbats and bouquets about Umdloti Beach on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa.

Both locals and vistors to Umdloti may contribute to this page:-
What do you think of Umdloti?
How was your visit?
Comments on our website, the weather, whatever????
You can also visit Fred Hatman, Umdloti's tweeterrific blogger!

Send e-mail to comments@umdloti.org and we will record your “moans and groans” and “laughter and praise”
on this page. Constructive criticism only please - no bad language, racial and sexist slurs or hate speech
will be published.

Hayden Searles says: Hi Rob, You guys and all of the members on duty did a fantastic job. I spent over five hours at the Sunningdale polling station and can personally attest to the hard work that the members did. Two of the reservists on duty that day are not currently employed full time and had no money for food for the day and they did not complain once. They were excited to be doing there bit for their country and the general community, which is what being reservist is all about. Great job and a big thanks to you all! Regards, Haden Searles. Chairperson - Dbn North & Umhlanga CPF (Sectors 1-7)

Rob Thorn writes: Hello Julie & Bob, Thanks for the election results. As a matter of interest, I'd like to share with you the fact that I was part of the SAPS contingent on duty at Umdloti polling station for the duration of the voting and subsequent counting process. Wednesday 22nd April, 2009, was a day that I will never forget! I set my alarm for 04: 00 and duly reported for 06: 00 hours election day muster parade at the Durban North Police Station. Members (including about twenty reservists) were posted to the seven polling stations in the region. I volunteered for Umdloti, where we duly arrived at 06: 45, and was on duty until 03: 30 hours on Thursday morning. Got to bed, over twenty-four hours later, about 04: 30 hours! Together with IEC officials and other party agents, I was also fortunate enough to witness the vote tally, which commenced after closure of the station at 21: 00 and continued until just after 02: 00 hours on Thursday. Thank you and God bless you both for all the good work you do for the Umdloti community. Rob Thorn

Refering to street name changes, Boris Lapin of Umdloti Beach feels that the general public encompassing the wonderful citizens of Durban and the surrounding areas should have more respect for out city father Dr Mike Sutcliffe, particularly the media which has pulled the man to shreds. I firmly believe in granting him this respect which I feel is long overdue. The city and all its citizens should refer to this man by his PROPER name .... A Hole!

Des Rens says Newsel Rd should become Rens Road seeing that we've lived in 3 different houses in Newsel Rd in the past 38 yrs!!! But probably end up being Shadrack Ngcobo Rd (our gardener for the past 30 years) cos he's also been up and down Newsel Road that long.........LOL Des

Richard Siedle wrote: Clr John Steenhuisen has confirmed that there are NO name changes proposed for Umdloti. He will take matters up with GIS map section to make the necessary corrections.

Melanie - Thanks for this and it does look like there is a bit of confusion at Ethekweni Metro!
SELECTION BEACH is or was South Beach, Umdloti and the reef off South Beach is called SELECTION REEF. Also "The Waterfront" on South Beach Road, Umdloti was once an hotel called the SELECTION BEACH HOTEL. I have copied Richard Siedle of the Umdloti Rate-Payers Assoc. with your response. Bob

Many thanx to Umdloti resident Melanie Arabsky Ledger for taking the trouble to research the Umdloti street renaming furore a little deeper. Melanie advises:
According to the Ethekwini website Matthews Meyiwa Road is the new name for 1st Avenue and Stamford Hill Road in a place called Selection Beach. However elsewhere on the site 1st Avenue and Stamford Hill Road are more correctly listed as being in Greyville!!!!!!!! Perhaps, in time it is planned for every 1st Avenue in the municipality to "Matthews Meyiwa Road"? According to the same webpage Jabu Ngcobo Drive is the new name for the M27 in TONGAAT/VERULAM. This road eventuualy becomes Main Road in Umdloti so assume this is correct.
Anyway, I just wanted to do a bit of research to see where this has come from... the whole process was nonsensical. And could possibly be mildly amusing - after all, precedent has now been set - when another government comes in and they decide they want to 'honor' a new lot of people (and possibly to dishonour previous 'honorees' if they have an axe to grind) then just watch new names get plastered all over again!

Nicky wrote: Goodness!! What have they changed to? I have just ordered a whole lot of new stationary. Thankyou for your information.

Kirsten Horne says: Oh for crying out loud!
Who are Jabu Ngcobu and Mathews Mayiwa? And what have they done for Umdloti to deserve having a street named after them? Although I am aware that there are far more important and pressing issues to deal with, street name changes are annoying and expensive. Seems like having a road named after you is the new status symbol (Now you can own a big BMW AND drive it down your own road!).

Paul Ten-Bokum writes: I was under the impression that name changes were meant to remove street names that were relics from apartheid, offensive to general South Africans. How are the First, Second, etc Avenues offensive? This is a waste of time and money and I for one will support any motions to stop this from happening, including spraypaint sponsorship. Why don’t they spend their energy replacing the broken railings in our car park that have not been fixed since the storms 2 years ago?

Umdloti Street Name Changes

To rename streets without consulting those who live in them is arogant and dictatorial - typical of the ruling party. However, we have an avenue named after a human rights activist (Margaret Bacon), so the precedent has been set. Margaret Bacon was white and foreign so lets have a black local hero too - MATHEWS MEYIWA was a respected ANC stalwart who spent his life fighting apartheid and time on Robben Island with Madiba, so we should welcome his memory to Umdloti. Don't know much about JABU NGCOBO - can anyone help on him?

To Ken Caldwell maggie@pwr.co.za who wrote: If we have to change names, I would like to suggest names that won't offend any political group/race, and have descriptive names as a coastal "tourist" destination and in keeping with our location. Suggestions: 

Main Rd. - Barracuda Rd.

North Beach Rd. - Tidal Pool Drive

South Beach Rd. - Rockcod Way or Seashore Drive

Bellamont Rd. -   Seaviews Road

First Ave. - Angelfish Ave.

Sixth Ave. - Reef Shark Ave.

North Beach – Dolphin or Whale Beach

South Beach  - Turtle or Reef Beach.

Well said Ken, lets change Main Road and the numbered Avenues (1^st to 6^th) into some of your suggestions.

Brickbats

Bouquets

From: geo.tech@mweb.co.za To: Julie Hallows Sent: Thursday, March 20, 1:34pm Hi there Bob and Julie You are doing a great job. Have a wonderfull easter! cheers Alfie (Umdloti Hardware)

Last year began with the Zuma & Selebi shows and then “loadshedding”. It's still Zuma and an arrogant, dictatorial ruling party etc. etc, etc. - but we have been through a great deal in this country and we as South Africans are a resilient bunch!........ What we can focus on is ourselves and those closest to us! Everything begins with self! I read a quote the other day which said, "The problem isn't the problem. It's how you think about the problem that’s the problem." Warren van Zyl author and local chiropractic to Springboks, Proteas and Sharks.

The traffic control over the silly season. Every year UBRA tell us it is organised and the same nonsense goes on. The cops stop the traffic near the stables at not one but two points to check for our discs. Then the traffic goes through to the roundabout or circle where they are stopped again and refused entry if there are no discs displayed. As we all know this leads to serious arguments and backs the traffic up so no-one can get anywhere. What a waste of time. How did they get through the first two checks?

This really needs to be addressed as the same thing has happened for the last three years. The cops are not doing the job properly because if vehicles were turned away at the first checkpoint this would not happen. It was a nightmare as I am sure many will agree.

The additional parking in the sugar cane was a great idea but why did no-one put on a vehicle to ferry people to the beach with all the cool bags etc. R5 per person could have made some nice money if one could get through the backed up traffic of course!

Jax, P O Box 645, Umdloti,4350

Wow, we were in Umdloti during October, and remarked that there was still so much work to be done on the roads and beaches, and was sure that it would not be finished by December, but what a pleasant surprise, roads completed beach looking fantastic, with only one slight problem, the access to the beach, but I am sure that this will be sorted out.

Glenn Tippett.

How great to see that Umdloti has a blog...I am an American who lived in Umdloti for 4 years and when I Googled it (in a nostaligic mood), I was thrilled to see the blog.  Bouquets for its creators.  I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the US, and Umdloti is still the best, most beautiful place in which I've ever had the opportunity to live.  Oh to smell the salt air and see the vervets running amok...and have a cold Castle at the Bush Tavern! Stefanie Hochstadter

For ADT. Thanks for coming to the CPF party with SAPS and for going that extra mile to help reduce poaching and illegal fishing in our village.

To Hennie Wilkens, sculptor of the dolphin. He created the sculpture especially for Umdloti and has now repaired and repainted it free of charge. Many thanks.

A Big Bouquet for the Friendly Grocer! We once described him as the “grumpy grocer” and now, what a change… friendly, smiley, helpful…. A real asset in our village – well done guys! Bob

My trip to the good ole U.S.A. was enjoyable and inspiring for many reasons - none more so than it was great to come back home to a land where we enjoy an incredible lifestyle. My brothers, friends who have been in the States now for 20-25 years cannot compare the lifestyle - Southern California has nothing on the East Coast of SA.  Warren van Zyl author and local chiropractic to Springbok and Sharks rugby players. 7th July 2007 (and he has just returned from a California summer back to our winter!!!).

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