Ugh. I does sometimes feel like this blog is just a means for me to moan. But taking a step back, and looking at the several (or more) years that I’ve been writing on here, I also feel that it’s reasonable for it to reflect my state of mind at any given time. Sometimes, that state of mind is influenced by personal stuff (no, the kitchen still isn’t finished and they’ve also managed to not connect the sink up correctly, so they’ve destroyed some cupboards as well), sometimes by life in general. Probably most often both, with some delicious interplay between the two.
Potential grid collapse in SA As an aside: warnings of both of the above have been circulating for years now, but were often just seen as just media scaremongering. Right now – sadly – they both seem entirely plausible.
Sad news this morning that John Motson – the original football commentator in Britain – has died.
He commentated on almost 2,500 games, including 10 World Cups and 29 FA Cup Finals. But I remember him for the smaller games too. He was just ubiquitous.
Here he is at Wycombe Wanderers in 1990 in the image that made his trademark sheepskin coat… well… a trademark.
He was the voice of football for my generation. A class apart: especially when compared to today’s egotistical pundits and commentators.
I don’t think I’m going to shock anyone when I say that sometimes, non-religious people piggyback on the porcine derriere of religious rituals and festivals. Living in a country where the main religion is Christianity, I can easily document several examples: just look at Christmas (gifts), Easter (eggs) and The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (wait… what?!?).
Anyway, one more of those example would be Lent, whereby Christians observe 40 days of sacrifice to recognise the period which the Gospels record that Jesus spent fasting at the start of his ministry. Amateurs and non-believers usually use it as an opportunity to restart their failed New Year diet before comprehensively refailing it again at Easter (eggs).
This year – ok, especially this year – this meme from the popular Star Trek series seems just very apt:
The sun is shining, and the birds are singing outside. But I can only hear them because there’s no other sound because the power is off again. And one day, it probably won’t come back on. And so, one plans an escape, but honestly, Where Are We Going?
Bed. I think that’s the answer. I’m going to bed. Wake me up in 40 days.
It’s hard not to be a bit down when you wake up to wind, rain, poor service and no electricity. And then the bad news is compounded by the first two things served to you on social media. All a bit much for a Monday morning.
Still, a problem shared is a blog post written, so let’s go for it.
I mentioned the weather yesterday, so this wasn’t unexpected. And yes, it’s great for the garden. But as I write – and with the rain still coming down hard – we’re looking at over 33% of the rain in the last four months having fallen in the last six hours. It’s dark and chilly and wintery.
And there’s no electricity.
“So how are you writing this, then?” I hear you ask.
Well, the answer is that I am peddling hard on my exercise bike, which I have hooked up to the grid at home. And we’re all good, as long as I can keep up the speed. If I slow down, however, then th
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exactly.
Stage 6 loadshedding today, then (and remember as a rule of thumb, number of hours without electricity each day = Stage x 2) because of the breakdown of 8 (eight) generating units across the country, and the tacit promise of possibly more issues ahead because of the rains up north.
A true taste of what’s to come this winter. And it’s not pleasant.
Then, news that two World Tours have actually made it to South Africa. This has been a long-term gripe for a lot of people down here, and rightly so. We’ve mentioned it more than once, as well. So what I’m about to say might seem a little hypocritical, but I’m going to say it anyway.
The quality of the bands that are coming to SA… isn’t great.
I mean, like this:
This band coming over is problematic for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the fact that this will count as a potential strike against our indignation at being left out of numerous other “world” tours. The argument will be: “You say that bands never come to SA, but I saw that the Backstreet Boys included two dates on their recent tour”, like that’s a feather in South Africa’s cap when the band in question haven’t had a hit record in almost 25 years, and clearly just need a bit of extra pocket money for drugs and plastic/orthopaedic surgery.
And secondly, the number of individuals using the line “Backstreet’s Back, alright!” when they hear the news. Don’t do it, please.
We don’t need this. Although, they did give us this amazing TV moment.
Amazing.
But the Backstreet Boys being back, alright! is still better – far, far better – than the other “world” “tour” that’s coming here. Because if you want to talk about grifters out to make a quick buck from a naïve public, well, you really need look no further:
Ah, jesus. What utter trash. The Mattias Rath of this age, peddling snake oil and pseudoscience to a sadly desperate public. And yes, the talk will be free, but don’t expect that there won’t be book sales and voluntary donations and supplements to buy and, and, and… Because if you think that this charlatan is doing this out of the goodness of his own heart (no pun intended), well, then you’re his perfect audience member.
Eish. What a day.
Oh. Wait. I mentioned poor service as well, didn’t I?
Well, the kitchen is still. not. finished. And they haven’t turned up to do anything about that this morning.
This week, and I say this with some degree of (probably misplaced) confidence, can surely only get better.
I mentioned that there were some rather awful conditions on the higher inland part of my journey on Friday. And then how Saturday was an absolute peach of a day. Today is also stunning: light breeze, near cloudless skies, 26oC. But tomorrow… tomorrow looks like fun. Here’s a weather IR view of the country and surrounds taken about an hour ago:
Top right (purple, round) is Tropical Cyclone Freddy. It’s heading towards Madagascar and has sustained wind speeds of 250kph within. That’s the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. Landfall is not going to be pretty.
Then there’s an arc of thunderstorms (orange and red blotches) across the North East of SA. They’re curling down across Botswana and Namibia and might even get down as far as the Western Cape. But they’re likely to be pushed back by that huge cold front (multicoloured swoosh) in the bottom left. That’s going to hit Cape Town tomorrow and promises to bring “high intensity” rain and strong winds to the Western Cape.
It’s not like we don’t need the rain. We just don’t need it all in one go.
My apps are suggesting the wind turning to the NW late this evening and then increasing in strength throughout the morning. The rain seems to arrive just before dawn, with the heaviest stuff mid to late morning, correlating with the wind which could gust to 92kph.
According to sources, it “demands absolute attention”, so while it’s not a Freddy in any way, shape or form, it’s still probably best not to underestimate it.
