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?
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!!!!!!!!*
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.
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.
This wasn’t planned, but quite by chance, it’s almost a year to the day since I waxed lyrical about the Checkers Xtra Savings Plus card in my post: Xtra Savings Plus.
It wasn’t an ad than, and it still isn’t an ad now.
I give Checkers R99 a month, they give me several benefits including free delivery on my Sixty60 shopping, extra personalised deals around the shop, and 10% off one shop a month. That discount can be up to R200, and it always is R200, because I carefully hold fire on the big (expensive) items that we need, and lump them all together in that one shop so I make sure that I get all the benefit of that R200.
I’m not daft, hey? Despite what they say.
Today, I did even better than usual:
That was on a shop totaling about R3,300 before discounts. That’s more than 30% off, and while it’s still a lot of money to spend (because life is f*****g expensive!), it’s also R986.66 better than it could have been.
I’m still telling you to sign up. It’s such a good deal: spend a bit to save a lot.
Absolutely:
Best mundane grocery shopping thing I’ve ever done.
How’s the whole 6Music thing going, then?
Yes. The 6Music overseas listening thing, which started here, and continued all the way through to this much more recent post, which has been doing HUGE business for the blog. Zeitgeist.
Yes, you can still listen to 6Music outside the UK, but it’s a really crap experience. It’s via a page on a browser, there are frequent breaks and crashes, but there are no bells, no whistles, no rewinding, no listen back later options. It’s seriously basic. When it works.
But it does work. Mostly.
However, I’ve found that using a VPN is still the better way to listen. It’s a pain on my phone because it drains the battery quickly, it makes all my other browsing slower, and all my ads are…
NOTHING BEATS A JET2 HOLIDAY!!!
…on repeat.
But it does work SO much better than the straight link.
“Wow. He must be very special,” I hear imagine them whispering, and yeah…
And they are going from strength to strength, with several (or more) new locations being added all the time: Canal Walk (which has a Checkers), V&A Waterfront, Gardens Shopping Centre etc etc etc. It’s just a great system, and you can get some free parking by signing up on my link:
TRE162273
…when you get the app on Apple here, or Google here.
Still down for a good time
Ostensibly, there’s one more month of winter left down here. We’ve had quite a lot of rain already this time around, and after 10 crisp, cool, sunny days, yesterday was a whole 28oC. And then the next cold front hit us. So how are we staying warm at night?
We’ve had that duvet for 13 months now and, well, it’s that “No Ragrets” image all over again. I cannot fault evolution when it comes to the down of the Hungarian Goose, or fault the goose-plucking (careful now) farmers plucking their geese. It is so deliciously light and warm, but without the rubbish bits of the goose, like the honking and the poo.
This one was another success story.
We can dance if we want to
Let’s tie it all (well, some of it) together. I heard this song on 6Music while I was at the shops this morning, not buying a duvet. It’s fun, it’s mad, it’s… The Safety Dance.
Right. Let’s light the fire and prep for this incoming nastiness.
