Category: learning curve

Dirty old town?

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I’m parking outside our house at the moment, because there are so many vehicles from local builders all over the road that I will get blocked in unless I assert my authority by grabbing a parking space before they steal them all. Yes, it’s annoying, but it’s better than having to struggle to get out of your own driveway when you’re in a hurry.

And as I got out of the car (outside) this morning, I spotted this shot through a little “window” in the trees.

The “window” is always there, but the smoke and the low lying smog over the Cape Flats made it a bit more noticeable today.

And honestly, if it wasn’t for that branch hanging down in the middle there, this wouldn’t be a bad photo. Sadly, that branch is hanging down in the middle there, so it’s actually a terrible photo, but when you switch on the footy highlights, you expect to get the near misses as well as the goals, don’t you?

This was a bit of a near miss.

I could remove the branch hanging down in the middle there in Photoshop, but it’s literally right in the middle of the image and it would surely be noticeable.

Or I could zoom in and crop it a bit (ok, a lot), butthen it loses the magic of the “window”…

…and it ends up looking like some dystopian Soviet petrochemical town in mid-winter.

Honestly, it’s not that bad a place, and it’s not that bad a day.

I guess that the message here is that you can’t always get the photo that you want, even if you can “see” the photo that you want in your mind’s eye. This seems to happen to me a lot, and I put it down to the limitations of my talent with the camera.

The upside of this is that when the shots do work out, it’s so much more fulfilling knowing that you spotted it, planned it and then executed the plan as well. In the meantime, I need to climb the tree down the road, and lop off that branch, so that it’s not hanging down in the middle there next time I want to get this image.

I might have to go and light a fire somewhere in the middle distance, as well.

Plot twist

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Look at this beautiful plot for sale in Suiderstrand, Cape Agulhas. Doesn’t it look idyllic?

And doesn’t sales agent Richard Pratt (stop it!) make it sound idyllic?

Situated within the Agulhas National Park, this vacant stand in Suiderstrand presents a rare opportunity to construct your coastal retreat. The land is level—ideal for straightforward construction. Lush fynbos to the rear boundary, offering a serene backdrop of indigenous flora and the soothing sound of the ocean. The clear sightlines to both the front and back of the plot make it possible to plan your home that captures sea views with clever orientation.

Approved house plans included.

Suiderstrand is a sanctuary for those drawn to serenity and natural fynbos.

Stunning, doll! Stunning!

What Richard has failed to mention here is that while this plot absolutely backs onto lush fynbos at the moment, that won’t be the case for very long, with 15 houses being built all over that very same lush fynbos in the new – and rather controversial – Moquini Bay housing estate, in the very near future.
And then this plot will back onto first a building site, and then a security estate, and not lush fynbos.

But then, I wouldn’t want to accuse Richard of being slightly disingenuous with his description of this place. After all, how on earth would he know about that new development?

Oh yes, now I remember.

He’s selling the houses there too.

Right.

Here we go again then…

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Before we begin this post, for the record: Yes, we won the quiz.
Some really odd questions in there.
And I didn’t think we’d try to answer one of them with “Patagonian Toothbrush”. Especially in the Food & Drink round. It wasn’t right, for a number of reasons.
But 20 teams, 100 points available, we got 88, 2nd place got 81. All good, all cool.

Much money was raised for good causes.

And there were no South African politics questions.

And so now we move onto tonight’s festivities, and by festivities, I mean the start of a new football season for Sheffield United. It’s something that I always look forward to with a mixture of excited anticipation and a hint of worry and trepidation.

But it’s ok. It’s all part of the fun and games that I’ve been going through for the last n years. And once this first game is done, then I’ll only be stressed and on edge for the next eight or nine months.

So that’s something to look forward to.

There must have been something wrong with my phone, because I never got the call from the United manager Rubén Sellés to go and play centre back in the match today. Weird.

He must think he’s got enough of a defence. I’m less convinced.


Anyway, it looks like I’ll be watching from 6000 miles… away.

COME ON YOU RED AND WHITE WIZZZZZAAAAARDS!!!!!!
THIS IS OUR SEASON!!!!!!!!*

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* terms and conditions apply

Brush up

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I’m going along to a charity quiz this evening, and let’s just say that it’s been a while since I have had to remember anything trivia-esque. That’s why I find myself brushing up on the stuff I really should know, like the speed of light (299,792,458 ms-1), the capital of Togo (Lomé), and how many weeks Bryan Adams’ song Everything I Do (I Do It For You) stayed at number one in the UK singles chart (it was 16) (eish).

Before I head out, I’ll also be asking AI to give me a 250 word summary of the last couple of months in South African politics (a subject I have actively avoided of late), in case there is a Current Affairs round. Of course, AI might make up fanciful stories about recent goings-on, but they surely can’t be any more ridiculous than the actual facts. And if you know you’re going to get a question wrong at a charity quiz, you should at least try to provide some amusement for the quizmaster or mistress.

I don’t know how seriously we’re planning to take things this evening. It’s nice to challenge for the top spot, but if people are just there to have a bit of a laugh, I’ll happily sit back and let the waves of mediocrity and enjoyment gently wash over me.

I have a couple of good posts planned for next week: this is quite unusual – firstly the “good” bit, and secondly the “planned” bit – that’s not my usual style. But I plan to write in the rain this weekend and so there might actually be actual content on the blog next week.

I guess I’m telling you not to forget to pop in at some stage in the next few days.

Have you not heard of squash?

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Spotted on a local Facebook feed this morning:

What? No. That’s simply not right.

You know that I’m not the biggest fan of padel. But that’s neither here nor there in this instance.
Because I’m not really into squash either, but I do know enough about it to know that hitting the wall is very much part of the game there. It’s pretty much the entire way of playing the game.

Ask Google about padel and it says:

Padel is often described as a cross between tennis and squash. It’s played on a court similar to tennis but smaller and enclosed by walls, which are used as part of the game like in squash.

“Squash”, you say?
“Walls”? Hmm.

It’s hardly subtle stuff. The clues really are all there.

What makes this even funnier (for me, but then I’m still recovering from that meeting) is that ironically, Bredasdorp (where this padel tank is) is very much an Afrikaans speaking area (83.1% first language), and the Afrikaans word for squash is Muurbal, which literally translates as “wall ball”.
I actually only worked this out this a few years back when driving past the Bredasdorp Muurbalklub, and they’d cut the trees back.

See?

I’m just waiting for Miskey’s to open their 10-pin bowling business: “the only sport where rolling a ball is actually part of the plan!”. Although I’m sure that the Bredasdorp Rolbalklub (yes, seriously) would have something to say about that.