Category: cape agulhas

Nogulhas

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We gave up on going down to Agulhas this weekend. The thought of having to do the detour through Hermanus on the first weekend of the school holidays, together with my not shaking this damn virus (it’s not that virus, by the way, I did check), was just too much. Add to that the upcoming final exams and the thought of sharing a car for a few hours with an upcoming final examinee: it just seemed silly.

There’s also the issue of whether the Struisbaai road is open yet. No, says the municipality. But everyone’s using it. Including one guy in a Chevrolet Spark. And if one of them gets through, then you know it’s ok.

We’ll make a plan when we can make a plan.

So instead, we’re stuck at home, watching another “good, but not good enough” performance from United and not going to horse riding (not me), because it rained again last night and there’s just nowhere left for that water to go. I can’t really say that I was looking forward to going out though, so maybe not such a bad thing.

Another early night then, and let’s see if I can get myself mended.

But they’re trapped

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I’ve got a cold and I’m feeling rubbish. So just a quickie today.

This post, from a local estate agency in Struisbaai, scene of some terrible flooding over the weekend.

Of course I get it. Positivity, and a sales pitch of just what this place can offer.

But hang on…

It’s not like these people could have gone anywhere else if they’d wanted to. The whole town is still cut off from the rest of SA thanks to the only road out of the place being flooded (it’s the one pictured on yesterday’s post).

So by all means flock to the harbour and revel in the sunshine. You can’t check out and you can certainly never leave.

Until maybe tomorrow.

There’s always Juan

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As the biggest floods in living memory hit the Agulhas Plain…

…and farmers try desperately to save their livestock and livelihoods by appealing to the community to come out with small boats and help rescue drowning sheep…

Group member (in the truest sense of the word) Juan Otto shared this:

Basically translated:

“You counted them. Poor planning if you ask me (no-one did), [they] knew what was coming.”

In a world that needs far fewer Juan Ottos, don’t be a Juan Otto.

He might be thinking that it was poor planning. You might think the same. And you were both free to voice that opinion, but he chose to and you didn’t. Well done, you.

The bar here is so low that it’s a tripping hazard in hell, but great news: you’re not a twat.

A quick skim of Juan’s timeline reveals – aside from his cell phone number: oops! – the inevitable plaasmoorde links, a love of Steve Hofmeyr, Toyotas, guns and sea fishing, a deep hatred of Jacob Zuma (fair enough), a 2017 post claiming that the Russian nuclear deal had gone through (it never did), and an unhealthy obsession with sharing news of arrests for abalone poaching.
All with a lovely underlying theme of thinly veiled you-know-what.

Amazing. All the usual boxes ticked. I was shocked.

The fact that the warning was upped from a Level 6 to a Level 9 merely hours before the storm hit can’t have helped the farmers. Not that we should blame the meteorologists. These sorts of low pressure areas are volatile and unpredictable and their effects can be extremely localised.

As for the community, they apparently turned out in their numbers to help the two farms worst affected. I haven’t seen a count yet (which will likely upset Juan), but it seems like at least hundreds of animals were saved.

Well done, Struisbaai.
(Not you, Juan.)

Quick trip

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A quick trip down to Agulhas to check that all is in order after the recent bad weather.
It mostly was, but a few important jobs and repairs got done, and now it really is.

A beautiful day, making me wonder if there actually had been any rain. But yes, the fields were sodden, and then I saw the state of the road south of Bredasdorp. The Agulhas Plain does serve as a giant runoff from the Soetmuisberg, but generally the roads remain clear. Not today, with the knee-deep water on the A319 allowing only the larger vehicles through. Thankfully, I was in one of them, and so it worked out ok.

Once here, managed a quick walk as well, and some photos, none of which were amazing, but that isn’t an issue.

Favourite one was probably this White-Fronted Plover on the beach here. And even then, maybe more for the pebbles than the bird.

Back home now, and ready to grab a quick dinner before loadshedding. Will the first clouds of the cold front hold off long enough to grab a quick shot of the Milky Way while the village lies in darkness (apart from the wanker with the generator in his garage)?

I guess you’ll find out right here tomorrow.