Author: 6000

Just a quickie, Southern Suburbs people.

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I had cause to phone for an ambulance for one of the residents in our neighbourhood yesterday. It was a serious situation. Literally life and death stuff.

The first number I tried was Netcare911. They are arguably the best known private ambulance company in SA, and theirs is the number that you have etched onto the front of your brain at times like these.

I don’t want to go too deeply into this, but while they repeatedly promised that they were sending a vehicle – nothing ever turned up. And calling them back became something of a farce as they asked repeatedly for the medical aid details (company, number, dependents etc etc) of the patient, when the patient was very, very much not in a condition to tell them.

Then as we called again, (because there was still no sign of an ambulance), using the reference number they had given us, they thought that we were in Gqeberha. That’s a city about 1000km east of here (there’s actually very little 1000km west of here).

That’s when we gave up on them and called ER24 on 084 124. Fifteen minutes later, the medical team arrived, stabilised the patient and headed off to hospital.

We’ve chatted about this to a few people since and there have been a lot of remarks that Cape Town, and Southern Suburbs especially, are now rather poorly covered by Netcare. So, what I’m saying here is to put the number 084 124 into your phone now, in case you ever need medical help in a hurry.

Not an ad. Just a heads up that just because you know the company name, it doesn’t mean that they’re going to turn up and do the job. And while sometimes that can be annoying, sometimes it could literally be fatal.

Much like the Wilderness Search And Rescue number, this is one to put into your phone NOW.

And – of course – hope that you never have to use it.

The “Secret Location” ad

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I was on some social medium the other day, when I got served this, by local AirBnb clone LekkeSlaap.
I’ve no problem with getting adverts from LekkeSlaap – we’ve used them a few times and their service is good and the places are great.

This ad didn’t really work for me though.

Because if you are going to tempt and tease us with a “Secret Location”, then it doesn’t really help to put the full address at the bottom of the screen. Suddenly, it’s not really “Secret”.

So, my “guess where” is Hantamland, Calvinia, Northern Cape.
Because it says that at the bottom of the screen.

Am I right? I am?

Wow. Who knew?

It does look pretty cool though… [and includes the obligatory wood-fired hot tub]

And if the aim of any advert is to draw attention to your product, then hey: it’s worked.

A fire in Hout Bay – but why?

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A fire, indeed. And I should know, because I was there, watching the horseriding and watching the helicopters picking up water from the dam up the road and dumping it all over the fire in question.

There seem to have been more fires than usual in this fire season, but I’m not sure if that’s actually the case or if because some people are suggesting that might the case, we’re all now more aware and the numbers are being blown out of all proportion. The News Phenomenon, as it’s apparently known.

It has been very dry, but dryness alone isn’t enough to start a fire. So what is the actual cause of all these blazes? I wasn’t sure, so I turned to a social media comments section for incisive opinion and accurate information. As you do.

And here’s what I found:

The helicopter was passing by in paarl than the chopper turn around ,the helicopter was like high in the sky than i whats it the hole time

Quite reasonably, I almost gave up at this point, but my readers need answers, and so I persevered.

And here’s what I found:

As far as responsibility for this Hout Bay fire goes, the jury was split. Very split.
There were many suggestions:
Arson.
Arsen.
Schoolkids.
Self-inflicted.
Various political parties: MK, DA, EFF, ANC all got honourable mentions.
Donald Trump.
Terrorism.
“The Fire Lily industry.” – Fire lilies in this case are flowers that bloom after veldfires (and only after veldfires). But there is no Fire Lily industry. Yet. Still, I love the thought that has gone into this one.

There were a few calls for the death penalty to be introduced for arson. Which seems a bit harsh.
And there were lots of people praying for a swift resolution to the fires, but no-one actually blaming god for them happening in the first place.

But this a social media comments section, so anything goes.

Because then there were the loonies:
“Manufactured fires used as a weapon to poison the population.”
Zionists.
Electric cars.

And then there was the Queen Loony, Lorna Cayton, who gave us these gems:
Nexrad HAARP
DEWS!
But then during the COVID years, Lorna Cayton told us that wearing a mask was a Pagan ritual, and the use of forehead thermometers was a means of shooting an infra-red beam into your pineal gland.

So maybe it wasn’t Nexrad HAARP or the DEWS! after all.

Who knew?

Some people appear lucky to have avoided this particular incident. “Doglady Minky” said:

So so sad for all the lives affected, animals and humans?

i almost moved into a beautiful thatched house in that area and my biggest concern was the safety of my animals ?

And it’s not like we’re out of the fire season yet: as one commenter remarked:

More.fires..shame.man..now homes being damaged very badly.

Will this 2026 Fire Season running all the way into April this Year X 4 ? ? ? ?

XXXXX ?? ?? ?? ?? ??

11 : 11 Love 11 : 11

Which I think asks the important question we’re all introspectively asking: Will this 2026 Fire Season running all the way into April this Year X 4 ? ? ? ?

I guess that we can only wait and see.

Oh no. We’re all going to die. /s

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We’ve been here before.

This time last year, in fact, when the Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight.

Well, now it’s set at 85 seconds to midnight. 4 seconds closer to oblivion. Oh no.

And look, I get it. The world is in an absolutely terrible state. And I’d definitely argue that it’s worse than it was this time last year. But 4 seconds worse?

Yawn.

Yep. I said it last year, and I’m saying it again now:

Look, I get that in a day with 86,400 seconds, being just 89 from complete destruction isn’t a great place to be. But then also, looking at things another way, we started just 420 seconds away from annihilation back in 1947, and we’ve only ever been 17 minutes away at our very safest.

See, they’ve gone in all too dramatic, and now they have no wiggle room at all.

OK, so they moved four seconds this year, and not one. But even at that rate, we’ve got decades before we all go up in a big puff of smoke and radiation.

Once again, I am calling for a reset of the Doomsday Clock. Think of it like decimalisation hitting the UK in 1971, or the introduction of the Euro in 1999 (and 2002). Because at the moment, the Doomsday Clock is pointless. The constant attempts to drag the time down as low as possible for dramatic purposes means that it not longer has any value.

They messed up when they started. They should have given us an hour or two to work with, but they didn’t. And so we need to start again at quarter to midnight (or even earlier) and we need to get the Prima Donnas off the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Committee so that we can have meaningful annual updates which might actually bang some heads together and make some difference.

No-one cares about ninety or eighty-nine or eighty-five seconds. Give them some decent numbers that we can then drastically reduce when Trump tries to take Greenland.

Assuming that we’re all still around next year to review it again, of course.

Long Tuesday

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It’s been a scorcher of a day, and it’s far from over.

Two meetings – one at school and one in the neighbourhood – will keep us out until after 9, and honestly, I could really do with being in bed already. The heat is manageable in the short-term, but draining overall.

It seems likely (and sensible) that I head to bed early this evening, what with the 18 (eighteen) simultaneous Champions League ties to look forward(?) to tomorrow evening. It’ll surely be a late one.

Currently, I’m in a car park (not that one), waiting for Art Class to finish, and going through some photos looking for one to put on my office wall. Something big and colourful. I’ve found a lot of big, and a lot of colourful, but the circles apparently only just overlap. And you can’t have something second-rate on a wall you see each and every day. It needs to be good and it needs to mean something. I’m struggling with the brief.

And so maybe I’ll wander over to the far side of the field and watch a bit of cricket.

The last bit of relaxation before a hectic evening.