Succulent issue

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Not much time today, so here’s something someone else has written (and filmed).

Just another way in which a lack of will or effort to carefully use a unique natural resource to benefit the impoverished local communities has allowed organised crime to take hold, even in the smallest dorpies in the Karoo.

A biodiversity hotspot in a remote part of South Africa has become the hub of an illegal trade in protected plant species, with organised crime groups capitalising on overseas demand.

“They’ve not just stolen our land or our plants, they’ve stolen our heritage as well,” a livestock farmer angrily tells the BBC, as she expresses dismay at the social and ecological crisis that the poaching has caused.

It’s a sobering read.

Tough stuff

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Incoming from one of my wife’s horseriding friends earlier, this:

And yes, I get it. I’ve often lamented the diving in football. Not least here. I hate it, and I hate the reputation that it’s giving the best sport in the world.

That said, the football part of this image is a mash-up of a couple of photos from Italy’s 1-1 draw against Romania in Switzerland at Euro 2008. And the players on the left were lying on the turf at the end of the match, with Romania having given it all, but having missed a huge opportunity to beat Italy, due to a penalty save in the last 10 minutes.

And that orange shirt top right belongs to cheaty ref, Tom Henning Øvrebø.

Anyway, like I said, sadly, I understand the reputation.

But then, ironically, there was a bit of rain this afternoon and evening, and while my daughter’s horseriding was cancelled, my football went ahead. Because actually, we footballers are clearly made of tougher stuff than the local pony club.

So there.

SuperHound

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Some fun at the Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concert last night, where Mango Groove were playing. Sadly(?), I was too busy picnicking and enjoying the music to take photos or video, but suffice to say, they were very good.

And today has been another busy one, taking Dad around the peninsula, then back to the first piano lesson of the year: school starts again soon.

We’ve got another few days of doing tourist stuff, so please accept a QP taken of the beagle in our 24 hours in Agulhas.

With the breeze coming straight off the sea, ear flappery was rife, and I was able to get this pic of Colin enjoying the view out towards Uruguay.

Once my Photoshop skills are properly honed, I might add a cape so that she can look like a true superhero.

I might not.

What happened?

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OK. Let me quickly fill you in a few details.

We abandoned Agulhas on Friday afternoon. There was no power, no internet, and little hope of either being restored anytime soon. We were lucky enough to have somewhere to go (home), the roads were open, and so we took the chance.

There was a lot of fire damage on the road back up to Bredasdorp, and the situation was too risky to pull over and take photos like we had done on the way down. But here’s an image from the car window of the same place that we got the second shot in this post.

So we’ve been home since about 7:30 pm on Friday evening, and the electricity was only restored to Agulhas at 6pm this evening: an outage of about 74 hours. That makes even loadshedding look like a minor inconvenience.

The fire is now contained:

Which is obviously great news for those who have had no power for three days, and for those whose property was threatened by the actual flames, rather than the lack of utilities.

As for us: a disappointing end to a few days away, but we’ll be back – hopefully for a less eventful visit – sometime soon.

Just in case

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No power. No internet.

As I write this, at least.

I’ll pop this here just in case.

And then add to it if I can.

UPDATE

Hello everyone.

Just to let you know that we’re back in Cape Town: lucky enough to have somewhere else to go, given that the power is still off down South, and will be for probably another 24 hours.

That will be about 72 hours in all, and fridges, freezers, geysers etc just don’t work with no electricity.

Our neighbours’ damn pool pump? Sadly yes, because they have solar. So that was a nice, constant annoyance.

But I digress, often.

The repairs have been started, the fire is still burning, the residents are surprisingly understanding about the whole thing.

And I have 500 photos to go through.

But right now: braai time.