For some, it’s an affordable holiday option, while for others it helps to keep in control when you have dietary requirements to keep to. Either way, many South Africans enjoy self catering holidays all year round.

The key to any successful holiday is to be organised. Below is a checklist that will make planning for your next self catering holiday a bit easier.

In 2007, Kaiser Chiefs (The UK band, not the soccer team from Soweto) released their hit single Ruby. The song includes the lyrics “due to lack of interest, tomorrow is cancelled.” These lyrics hit home and ring true when it comes to some Shuls (synagogues) in our community.

When life happens, we expect our Shul to be there for us and come to the party. Whether it be at your wedding, your son’s bris, when you have a simcha or a bereavement in your family. We expect our Rabbonim to be nothing less than consummate professionals when they are called upon. But where were we when our Shul needed us? When only 9 men showed up for a minyan, when a shul event only had a handful of the devoted members in attendance? Surely if we expect our Rabbionim to be there for us, we also need to be there for them?

A Shul, like any business, can only survive if they have loyal customers. Customers that regularly use (and pay for) the products and services that the business has to offer.

With the Covid-19 pandemic in the sunset, Shuls will be returning to regular Yom Tov services for the first time in 2 years, albeit with different attendance numbers compared to past years.

Covid attendance apathy will play a role in the attendance figures at some Shuls, with some members being so out of the routine of attending Shul that the need/want to attend on Yom Tov flickers like a flame of a 23-hour old yahrzeit candle.

Many Shuls, from downtown Johannesburg, to rural towns in the Free State, have been repurposed and stand as a relic of a bygone era. Don’t let the same happen to your Shul. Dust off your siddur, grab your tallis bag and get involved in your Shul community. Let’s make sure that our Shuls don’t get cancelled due to a lack of interest.

Shana Tova!

Remember postcards? Those 210mm x 148mm pieces of glossy paper with an idyllic image on the one side and a text box on the other side?

When sending a postcard to someone, you were essentially saying “Hi Mom, look what I just did” or “Hi Gran, look where I am”. The recipient would show someone else the postcard they’d received and by the time Aunty Karen saw your postcard it had basically gone viral. So one can deduce that postcards were one of the first (and therefore oldest) forms of social media.

Everyday, billions of people are posting images (sometimes idyllic ones) on social media with accompanying text of them telling their followers what they are doing, what they have just done or where they are right now.

If only it was as exciting to see a social media post as it was to receive a postcard in the postbox. The good news is that 1 October is World Postcard Day, so take this opportunity to indulge in this bygone form of snail mail and tell someone you love what you are doing or where you are with a postcard and instead of via a social media post.

Rugby, soccer and cricket have their respective World Cups, cycling has the Tour De France and golf has the Ryder Cup. Each sport has their own marquee/flagship event that not only ignites world-wide interest and viewership but brings out the best in those who participate, transforming sports stars into superhuman gladiators.

The 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits is by now in full swing, so let’s consider what would happen if there were to be a matchup between the good/nice guys and the bad boys — a heaven versus hell-esque Ryder/Presidents Cup showdown. Who would you put in your team?

The Good Guys

Ernie Els

Who doesn’t love the Big Easy?

Seve Ballesteros

The passion, the charisma, the legend.

Jim Furyk

Known by many as Gentleman Jim — for good reason.

David Duval

His 2001 Open Championship winner’s speech endeared him to many golf fans around the world and will go down as one of the greatest acceptance speeches of all time.

Jack Niclaus

The arguably greatest golfer to have played the game and might also have been the nicest guy to do as well.

Gary Player

Mr. Fitness, globe trotting ambassador and icon of the game who is loved by millions after the world.

Brian Davis

Calling a 2-stroke penalty on himself at the 2010 RBC Heritage which cost him the title might be the greatest act of sportsmanship the game has ever seen.

Tom Watson

The heartbreak of just falling short to win the 2009 Open Championship at age 59 still burns but there is nothing heartbreaking about the way he played the game throughout his career.

Phil Mickelson

After becoming the oldest major champion by winning the 2021 PGA Championship, the crowd favourite southpaw will be dishing out thumbs ups and smiles for many more years to come.

Darren Clark

His 2006 Ryder Cup performance after losing his wife the month before still brings tears to many people’s eyes. .

Payne Stuart

It is fitting that there is an annual award named after him for the golfer who best exemplifies the steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship that he showed.

Lee Travino

Golf’s funny man who was equally as talented as he was funny.

The Bad Boys

John Daly

His autobiography titled “My Life Playing In and Out of the Rough” sums it up well.

Tiger Woods

His world fell apart after a car crash in November 2009 which revealed a side of Tiger that not many people knew existed.

Dustin Johnson

A failed drug test due to cocaine in 2014 was his third failed test since 2009.

Rory Sabitini

The nation-swapping anti-slowplay advocate has had his fair shares of spats and fallouts over his many years on tour.

Brooks Koepka

His feud with Bryson DeChambeau and comments regarding non-major tournaments hasn’t helped his reputation.

Bryson DeChambeau

His feud with Brooks Koepka and non-conformity approach to the game of golf has made him one of the most polarizing players on tour.

Sergio Garcia

The tantrums, the broken clubs and a spat with Tiger Woods that has lasted over a decade leaves you wondering “who is the real Sergio Garcia?”

Patrick Reed

Cheating allegations, multiple spats with different players and naive comments has made Patrick Reed one of the least popular players on tour.

Hennie Otto

Throwing his whole set of clubs into a river at the 2001 South African Masters was the precursor to similar incidents to follow in the future.

Robert Garrigus

A 12 week ban in 2019 for a drug violation has set his career backwards.

Matt Every

A three-month suspension on the PGA Tour for failing a drug test is not what you want to be remembered for.

Jean van de Velde

Taking a driver on the 18th hole with a 3 stroke lead at the 1999 Open Championship might be the most “bad-boy” thing any golfer has ever done. We all know how that worked out…