Smalltown Boy

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No. Not the 1984 song with the iconic keyboard riff.
But don’t let that put you off reading some more of this post.

I mentioned the other day that I’m a bit all over the place over the next few weeks. But it’s suddenly come to my attention that I’m doing a bit of a tour of a few (or more) Western Cape small towns over the next month.

Tulbagh – named after Governor Ryk Tulbagh, and famed for its 1969 6.3MW earthquake – is the first. Actually, I’m going to be just outside the town, which might mean that I’m less at risk from any potential seismological activity. I don’t know. I’m not exactly sure how these things work.

But after that shaky start (lol!), we’re off to Swellendam and then Caledon.

Swellendam – named after Governor Hendrik Swellengrebel (crazy name, crazy guy) – is the third oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town and Stellenbosch. If you look at a map, you can tell how the first European settlers were heading north and east (mainly because there really wasn’t anything south and west), and – following a somewhat chequered history – Swellendam became quite an important town for trade in the booming Overberg region during the British colonial ear of the early 1800s. Nowadays it’s really just another town on the N2, and honestly, there’s nicer coffee in Riviersonderend.

Caledon – named after Governor Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon – is just an overnight stop for us in a couple of weeks time. An early morning appointment in the town means that it makes sense to wake up there, and so a nice Lekkeslaap place (no, not this one), on a nearby farm seems just the job. Caledon is also on the N2, and is also bettered for coffee by the place in Riviersonderend (which we’ll definitely call into on the way there).

And then a long weekend in near Villiersdorp. Villiersdorp isn’t on the N2, and isn’t named after a Governor. It is named after a bloke though: Field Cornet Pieter de Villiers, a local farmer who founded the settlement in 1843. A central area for agricultural packhouses, it’s also next door to Theewaterskloof Dam – the largest of the dams supplying water to Cape Town – see here and here.

Thankfully for the 12,438 residents, we’re staying a few kilometres outside the town centre.

Safety first. For all concerned.

Anyway, the first trip kicks off today.
And who knows what other towns we might visit during the upcoming month?

Watch this space for updates and photos.

New music Mon… er… Thursday

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Another 6 Music find, via Chris Hawkins. Girl In The Year Above.

This is their first official single, but they’re on the soundtrack of the new Peaky Blinders film with a cover of Massive Attack’s Teardrop. I was told to expect a lot from that track, and it didn’t really do it for me, beautiful though it is. But this is very nice indeed. Celtic vibes (as you might expect from an Irish/Cornish band), and a wonderfully expressive, emotive, powerful voice up front in Jennifer Ball.

Inevitable comparisons with Florence Welch.

Oh. And they are going to be at Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival in July.

Incidentally, although I’m not a fan of the series (I’m not not a fan either: I’ve just never watched it), the soundtrack to the Peaky Blinders film is pretty impressive: Grian Chatten, Lankum, Nic Cave, Fontaines D.C. and Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers.

This only works for half the world

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Much like “World Tours” which don’t really take in much of the world, you only really begin to understand just how Northern Hemisphere-centric the world’s media is when you come to live down on the bottom half of the planet.

And yes, I get it. With somewhere between 87 and 90% of the world’s population up there, and “much less” of it down here, it does make sense. But we do still exist.

Here’s a message, ostensibly from popular composer Ludovico Einaudi, which I received via email this morning:

OK. There are a few points here. But let’s start with the elephant in the message:
I’m in South Africa. The days are not getting brighter. That’s not how things work in March down here.
Quite the opposite, in fact. The nights are closing in and I woke up (almost) in darkness this morning.
(Although that said, it’s going to be 27oC tomorrow and over the weekend, and my brother is currently covered in snow in Derbyshire. There are levels here.)

However, given that autumn officially started 4 days ago, they’ve managed to somehow be correct on their “Summer gets ever closer” line. I think that was more by luck than by judgement, but that’s just my supposition, and technically, they’re right.

They do finish that sentence off with a question though, and I feel that it deserves a question mark, rather than a full stop. They’re not ok on that one?

Either way though, it’s not a bad way to spend an hour or so this afternoon – whatever the weather, the hours of daylight, and the relative proximity of the warmer seasons – and I’ve been tempted into it.

Give it a go on that link just there [finger points upwards].

Deaf ears

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I mentioned before about how delighted I was at everyone’s refusal to step in and help bail Donald “Orange Arsehole” Trump out of the mess that he’s got himself, his country, and now the entire world into. My thoughts were mainly around Europe in that post, but news has come in that he is now throwing his toys out of the playpen because Japan are allegedly withholding their secret weapon and won’t commit to sending it… er… him to the Middle East.

The thing is, life and politics and the internet are now just so weird, and Trump is so epically stupid, that you could actually imagine this might have been a genuine request and that he is genuinely upset about it being denied. He’s probably still pissed off that King Kong didn’t somehow prevent 9/11.

Which is exactly why we find ourselves in this whole horrific situation (Trump’s stupidity, not the big ape/World Trade Center thing).

Looking ahead

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Today is the last day before things go a little wild. There’s a lot on this week, even more the week after and… well… don’t get me started on the rest of April.

Fortunately, a lot of it is nice stuff. So, busy, but nice.

And yes, there’s work in there too, but there are social events and occasions and and and…

So today, I took a bit of time out for a run, which turned out to be fastest of the year. Fastest of the year – so far, at least. And then it’s been a lot of prep work: cameras, diesel, meeting minutes, Whatsapps and emails.

As there is some time away from Chez 6000 coming up, there will have to be some scheduled blog posts as well, and we all know that they can sometimes be a bit challenging.

Just one more thing to worry about.

But don’t worry. I’ll make it all happen.

Almost certainly.