Author: 6000

Suddenly: August

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It’s nearly the end of July, and that means that it’ll soon be August. After that… [double checks] yes, September.

So what? This happens every year, right?

Well, yes it does, but September 1st is unofficially known as Spring Day in South Africa, bringing with it… well… Spring. Not really Spring, but unofficially Spring. Springy enough not to be Winter anymore. Unofficially, at least.

That also happens every year, but given that we’re basically 5 weeks away from it (and therefore 5 weeks away from what is unofficially the end of the rainy season), and our dams are still looking emptier than an ANC promise, we really should be well into full panic mode by now. Especially given that the medium term forecast for the next fortnight (making up, as it does, 40% of that 5 week period) shows no sign of significant rainfall for the Western Cape.

Look, tomorrow is not going to be dry, but with a forecast of just 5.2mm of precipitation over 24 hours, it’s not going to be particularly wet either.

With the Cape Town dams sitting at 27.4% of capacity (as per this morning’s city figures) – and with the last 10% of that infamously “unusable” – things are looking every bit as precarious as ever. Add to that the fact that Cape Town’s residents are using 643,000,000 litres a day (that’s 143,000,000 litres or almost 30% more than we should be) and you (actually “we”) have a recipe for disaster.

There’s enough publicity about this situation on the TV, the internet (not least this damned blog), the radio and everywhere else for everyone in Cape Town to understand the gravity of the situation. But given that we’re apparently still paying no attention and not saving nearly enough of the wet stuff, I’ve now come to the conclusion that a lot of the locals simply don’t care.

I wonder how they’ll feel in 6 months time?

8%

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Approximately 14 hours* after clicking the Update and Restart button on my PC, I am the lucky recipient of this message:

Working on updates 8%
Don’t turn off your PC. This will take a while. 

Oh joy. So much for my plans to edit photos and write a blog post then. Sadly for me, the photos are very much on the PC in question, so there’s no getting at them for at least another week**.
Sadly for you, I have dug out an old laptop (running Windows XP, nogal) so I can write something on 6000.co.za. Happy days.

The headache left me after 11 hours of lovely, cosy, delicious sleep last night and so today was full of activity: science project with the boy, a couple of DIY things around the house, coffee and biscuits (and a quick drone flight) in the local park, and a last-day-of-the-school-holiday visit to the local indoor jungle gym, climbing wall and big slide in a warehouse place. You can’t do that with a blinding headache. Well, not when you first enter, anyway. You don’t really have the choice once you’re in there.

Tomorrow brings an early morning, the school run and (probably) all of the traffic that Cape Town can muster. I’m in no way prepared (mentally or otherwise) for this rude assault upon my freedom (especially the hour and a half after 6am). I can only suggest a quick glass of Marlon and an early night to begin the process.

Working on being ready for the new school term 8%
Don’t think it’s going to happen. This will take a while.

Right. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’m off to work on the first part of my preparations now.

Wish me luck with the next 92% (on both counts).

 

* this is a huge exaggeration.
** this one is even bigger.

Kermorvan

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A lighthouse in Brittany (and number four listed here): Kermorvan

Photo by Duarte Sol Photography.

Not my ideal style of lighthouse. I like the round tower – this is all a little too bulky and reminiscent of a castle keep.

But the photo – wow. The clarity and detail of the solid elements against that deliciously soft, cotton wool, long exposure sea.

Very nice.

No sleep til bedtime

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And then maybe not even then.

The beagle kept me awake for quite a lot of the night last night. Generally, the beagle is a very good sleeper. This probably comes from practising all day, every day – either in its basket or on the couch in the study. The commitment to attain new levels of extreme laziness is to be admired, but then, that’s basically what beagles are made for.

Last night was an exception though.

I’m not 100% sure what the problem was, but a gentle scratching in the kitchen quickly turned to crashing as several (or more) kilos of prime beagle meat repeatedly flung itself at the door in an effort to get me to come downstairs and let it out into the garden to ‘look around for stuff’ and have a pee.

It’s cold when you need to drag the beagle back in from the garden in the early hours of the morning. Colder still when you were cosy in bed before it started complaining.
But, finally it was relocated into its basket in the kitchen, and I was restored to my original position just beneath the duvet.

And then, 20 minutes later, it did it again. A quick glance at Mrs 6000 was all it took to make me realise that I was completely on my own in carefully defenestrating the dog again.

And so I did, and again, after 5 or more minutes of wandering around the garden and sniffing things, I managed to get it back into its basket.

And then, 30 minutes later… Look, you get the picture.

And once it’s happened a few times, you find yourself lying awake in bed, just waiting for the next whine, bark or splintering of the kitchen door. Even when (thankfully) none is forthcoming.

Thus, I am knackered. Look, I don’t really do sleep deprivation very well, but the good news is that from initial investigations, it seems that I can just about function on the couple of hours I got. That’s probably just while things are going well though. If you cross me today, I. Will. Cut. You. 

Oh, and a note on the beagle, because it obviously had an equally disturbed night. Well, while I dragged myself out of the house into the rain and off to the laboratory this morning, it was back to rehearsing its slumbers on the couch.

*forced smile*