Category: in the news

Succulent issue

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Not much time today, so here’s something someone else has written (and filmed).

Just another way in which a lack of will or effort to carefully use a unique natural resource to benefit the impoverished local communities has allowed organised crime to take hold, even in the smallest dorpies in the Karoo.

A biodiversity hotspot in a remote part of South Africa has become the hub of an illegal trade in protected plant species, with organised crime groups capitalising on overseas demand.

“They’ve not just stolen our land or our plants, they’ve stolen our heritage as well,” a livestock farmer angrily tells the BBC, as she expresses dismay at the social and ecological crisis that the poaching has caused.

It’s a sobering read.

What happened?

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OK. Let me quickly fill you in a few details.

We abandoned Agulhas on Friday afternoon. There was no power, no internet, and little hope of either being restored anytime soon. We were lucky enough to have somewhere to go (home), the roads were open, and so we took the chance.

There was a lot of fire damage on the road back up to Bredasdorp, and the situation was too risky to pull over and take photos like we had done on the way down. But here’s an image from the car window of the same place that we got the second shot in this post.

So we’ve been home since about 7:30 pm on Friday evening, and the electricity was only restored to Agulhas at 6pm this evening: an outage of about 74 hours. That makes even loadshedding look like a minor inconvenience.

The fire is now contained:

Which is obviously great news for those who have had no power for three days, and for those whose property was threatened by the actual flames, rather than the lack of utilities.

As for us: a disappointing end to a few days away, but we’ll be back – hopefully for a less eventful visit – sometime soon.

The Best of 2024

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A mixed year, dominated on the home front by all that stuff happening next door.

United were utterly terrible for the first half of the year, really good in the second.

There was a blue man on a bridge in Paris.

Something turned 175.

I did a playlist.

Some cows docked in Cape Town.

The Boy Wonder passed a test.

The DA “burned” a “flag”.

Some feline suspects escaped.

There was some poorly concealed Uranium on the Isle of Man.

It was all going off at the ploughing in Ireland.

We learned why it was so dangerous to cross the road in Georgia.

We won the Derby.

There was Raygun.

Yeah. There are few hundred more posts to read if you want to, as well.

Shall we try to do it all again – but better – next year??

M3 burning bus drama: The Reddit reaction

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No wonder the traffic was so bad as I raced past it on a pretty quick (for me) 5.5km run this morning. Because apparently, just on the town side of where I was, was this:

And when this sort of thing happens, its bound to make people wonder what’s going on.

So yes: all very well to ask this sort of question: it’s an unusual incident, and a reasonable thing to be curious about. But if you’re going to ask on Reddit, then you’re going to get those helpful Reddit answers.

Like this:

This is (probably) completely accurate information. OK, it’s unlikely to assist with relieving any of the curiosity of the initial inquirer, but you can’t fault the willingness to engage.

And it’s more helpful than this sort of thing:

Ja Nee. Rubbernecking only makes things worse, hey? Don’t do it.

At the present time, there is no indication as to why the bus caught alight.
But the traffic is still awful.

We’ve seen this before

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I tried my hardest to watch the Big Match between Liverpool and Real Madrid last night. Sadly, given the Bigger Match between Sheffield United and Oxford United the previous evening, and the Reasonably Sized Match between Newcastle United and West Ham United on Monday evening, in conjunction with the Frankly Ridiculous 2 hour time difference between the UK and SA, I fell somewhat short.

Finding time for adequate sleep is always hard in a European football week.

I did officially make it to 70 minutes when Mo Salah missed his spot kick, but I fear that there may have been a few moments when I may have drifted off, as there are several (or more) bits that I don’t remember. Like these ones, for example:

Kylian Mbappé didn’t have a good night last night. Apart from being kicked all over the field by Liverpool, his team lost and he also missed a penalty.

But it was on spotting the images above that I suddenly had a recollection of seeing all of these moves earlier in the year…

Ah yes. It seems that B-girl Raygun and B-Boy Mbappé are one and the same.

Although her Olympic performance might have been improved with Virgil van Dijk’s boot up her arse.

Maybe an idea for next time?