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An affectionate look at South Africa from the perspective of a lifelong resident. This podcast is for anyone with an interest in the country, whether they're considering a holiday there, or putting down roots permanently. It gives some appropriate political context, which makes a complicated country easier to understand, and then looks at society, consumer aspects and the cost of living, and the host of attractions that make it one of the most popular tourism and relocation destinations in the modern world.

After a career spanning more than 35 years as a radio host for a huge public broadcaster (no, not the BBC - but an outfit very much like it), I thought I'd start and Internet radio station. Nothing to it, I thought. Well. If you're contemplating a similar act of masochism, then heare (at the very least) are the things you'll have to have a handle on: Will it be a talk- or music-based station?Who will your listeners be?Where will your listeners be?What is their level of education?What are their interests?What are their political and social views?How will you promote your station?Are you aware of the music licensing minefield?Will you have interview guests?Will you have requests?Will you have competitions?Will you be having phone-ins?What equipment will you need?What sort of budget, in terms of both time and money, do you have for your fledgeling station? ...and a whole lot of other stuff. It can be immensely rewarding, and fraught with frustration and disappointment. Are you man (or woman) enough?

Last week's podcast, London for Beginners, seems to have hit a sweet spot somewhere ... thanks to those listeners who emailed in asking if there was going to be a second instalment. I hadn't planned to do it - not just yet, anyway - but here's more for you. It's a theme we can revisit from time to time. If you didn't listen to London for Beginners, it might be a good idea to do that before listening to this one, just to give it some context. It's all about my first trip to London as a boy of 15 in 1965, when it was the world capital of music and everything that mattered to teenagers. Growing up in Cape Town, South Africa, my British parents had always talked of it as 'home', and so it came as something of a shock when I first saw it to discover how exactly like my imaginings it actually was.

Growing up as a very young boy under the sun in Cape Town, South Africa, my parents always used to describe the UK - and London in particular - as 'home'. I wasn't quite sure what this meant, although I knew they both came from there. I came to suppose that this was where I would end up one day, and when I first laid eyes on London as a boy of 15 on a family holiday, it was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with that endlessly fascinating city. Not only that, but I was stunned to see just how almost exactly like my early imaginings it actually was.

In the June of 2015, my wife and I were unexpectedly uprooted from our peaceful lives in Cape Town, South Africa, largely by the incompetence of that country's Home Affairs department in its handling of my (German) wife's residence permit renewal. An awful lot of things had to happen in an equally awful hurry - the long and the short of it being that she swanned off to the glorious Fatherland to start a new job and find somewhere for us to live while I had to stay behind for two months to tie up all the loose ends. Perhaps surprisingly, when I got here as a new resident rather than just a visitor, I found a beautiful country where everything works, and where there are smiles and helpfulness against a backdrop of greenness and order.