Category: in the news

Getting there

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I’ve been editing photos taken in testing conditions for far too long this evening, and I’ve run out of patience and screentime. On the laptop, at least: I’m heading towards a Premier League game just now.

It’s been a noisy, busy day here Chez 6000. We’re at that point with the builders where – despite everything going smoothly and stuff – we’re ready for them to leave, and they’re ready to leave. Their next job awaits, and we want our house back. They have been – and continue to be – really great, but it’s just time.

But hey, we’ve actually got a toilet that works (no seat yet, mind) and a promise of up to three basins (and maybe another loo) tomorrow. It’s Towel Rail Tuesday as well. And I think that everyone is looking forward to Shower Glass Friday and my particular favourite: Move Back Into Your Bedroom Saturday.

Can’t wait.

Right. Footy.

Sherlock Holmes has entered the chat

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The London-based, Victorian detective is famed as being one of the greatest sleuths of all time, but I think that he might finally have met his match, just 138 years after he first appeared in A Study in Scarlet.

Sure, Holmes may have worked out that The Hound Of The Baskervilles was just a dog painted with phosphorous. He might have deduced that Jefferson Hope killed Drebber and Stangerson, but he would surely have been flummoxed by some of the modern mysteries that plague us today.

Thankfully, I have found someone on Reddit. Someone who shall remain nameless: let’s call them No-Entrance4253 (because that’s their name on Reddit), who has not only asked a question, but then formed their own possible hypothesis as to what might be going on.

Look at that. Just look at it. Wow.

The human mind does not get any more brilliantly analytical than this.

Holmes might have had his:

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

but No-Entrance4253 left the impossible right out of this. No-Entrance4253 then completely disregarded the improbable and went straight for the jugular of truth. There’s no water in my house in Newlands. There is a burst water main in Newlands. Could these two things be connected? YES, THEY COULD.

You can’t be sure, though. You can’t just dive in and assume that correlation is causation. So just add the word “maybe” into that second statement. Play it safe.

The only way to really convince the audience, which is collectively fawning over your mental abilities, is to post on the Cape Town subreddit and see what people say. Sherlock Holmes never had this sort of luxury: he had to put a Classified Advertisement in The Times of London, looking for some sort of validation. It took days to get a response, maybe even weeks.

No-Entrance4253 immediately got several responses, amazingly absolutely none of them taking the piss (I was sitting on my hands).

Incredible.

Tune into 6000 miles… again tomorrow, as we watch local Reddit user LilywhiteFormat271 take on one of the biggest mathematical questions that humanity has ever faced, and come up with a shocking answer of… 4.

Just Yorkshire things

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Here’s the headline that piqued my interest:

Of course he does.

And here’s the quote which drew me in:

Mr Trevelyan said: “Those who know me well know I was eventually going to build a giant curlew.”

Of course they did.

It’s all good, though. Mr Trevelyan – an ex-puppetmaker, obviously – is raising awareness of the loss of habitat, land-use changes and climate pressures on the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) – by walking 53 miles (that’s 85.29km) dressed as a curlew.

He crafted the 10ft-long (3m) costume of a Eurasian Curlew – Europe’s largest wading bird – out of polystyrene and bamboo.

It’s an admirable endeavour. Although not without its dangers:

It’s got a 4ft-long curved bill…

[the costume, not the actual bird]

[Jesus. Can you imagine?]

…which I’m quite worried about snagging in trees on the way, or tripping over and it snapping, but I’ve got a splint and I’ve got strong tape in case that happens.

But that’s not even the most dangerous bit.

It’s very lightweight luckily, but I am a bit worried about getting up on the tops because it’s quite windy today.

Actual Curlews can fly. 3m long bamboo and polystyrene costumes of Curlews aren’t meant to.

Still, if you’re going to die in a horrific freak gust of wind/giant Curlew costume-related accident, it’s a beautiful part of the world for it to happen. Just look at those views (only mildly spoiled by the ubiquitous massive beak).

You can follow Mr Trevelyan’s journey on his IG, and you can donate to his (and the Curlews’) cause here.

Plane turns round. Twice.

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Much excitement last night as one of the BA flights from Cape Town to London Eefrow reported smoke in the cockpit and turned back to the Mother City. Here’s what that looked like on the big map of Southern Africa.

Halfway up Namibia is clearly enough for anyone.

But when my wife told me about this story, I was vaguely concerned that either she or the site had got it wrong. Because I had heard this story before. And it wasn’t a BA plane from Cape Town to Heathrow. It was a BA plane from Heathrow to Cape Town.

But neither of us was wrong. Because it was both of them. Look:

That’s a BA flight from LHR to Cape Town. A few days ago.
And clearly Algeria is far enough for anyone.

But hang on just a second: THAT’S THE SAME PLANE!!!!

That diversion was due to a “full electrical shutdown”. And that’s concerning, because that might have affected the entertainment system. No wonder they went back. It’s only influencers that pretend to rawdog their flights.

No-one on that first story (which was actually the second diversion), seems to have picked up on that second story (which was the first diversion). But I would say that two diversions for one plane on a single round trip is a bit dodgy.

And honestly – without being dramatic – I’d be thinking twice about getting on board G-XWBG when it leaves Cape Town (for however long).

This all sounds a bit dodgy to me.

Someone’s going to be in trouble…

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… And it looks like it might be the Two Oceans Marathon.

Obviously, this race hasn’t been the same since I ran it several (or more) years ago. And you’d not catch me out there these days – it’s horribly oversubscribed and therefore not at all pleasant.

But exactly how oversubscribed?

The permit granted by the City for the event allowed for 17,000 runners. Which is frankly horrific.

But what’s worse is that – by the organisers’ own data – there were apparently 17,677 official finishers.

And there’s a widely accepted 15% dropout rate from start to finish.

Something doesn’t quite add up.

The implications, ramifications, repercussions and upshot of this apparent disregard for the 2025 licence conditions could mean that no licence will be granted for the races next year.

Full story on The Running Mann website. Incredible allegations of corporate greed and of shocking organisation.

Go and read it.