Category: learning curve

More research needed

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Here’s an interesting article about the recent (last 10 years) chaotic weather that has hit Cape Town.

Its writing was precipitated (no pun intended) (or was it?!?) ostensibly by the storms that hit in April, after the storms that hit in September, after the drought that hit a few years back.

And since it was published, we’ve had more extreme weather. 200mm of rain falling onto Cape Agulhas last week, rendering that road – and many more – undrivable again.

Look, this is the Cape of Storms, as referenced in the article. But climate change should be making Cape Town drier, but these extreme events aren’t related to the cold fronts that bring the winter rain to our region. These are the cut-off lows (see 6000 miles… passim) which can occur at any time of year – and they appear to have been occurring quite a lot recently.

They’re nothing new. The Laingsberg Flood of January 1981 was due to a cut-off low.

But are there more cut-off lows than previously, or are we just more aware of them? Are these handful of floods just an unfortunate series of severe weather events, or is this what we must be planning for in the future?

Sadly, n just doesn’t equal enough to give us a definitive answer.

As it says, we now need some more information, but given the toll of these floods: whether it being people cut off, having property damaged, livestock drowning or whatever, we need it soon, please.

Arse

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Finally got a definitive diagnosis on this muscular issue in my… er… behind.

And I will now be following the advice and directions of the physio on how to make it better.

And that’s a good thing, because if you look on the internet, the suggestions surrounding this sort of injury are a little… mmm… “contradictory”:
“Exercise“, but also “Don’t exercise.”
Make up your minds!
“Don’t climb stairs.“
But I’ve left it too late to build an escalator up the back of the house.
“Don’t build an escalator up the back of your house.“
See?
“Avoid spending time standing, sitting, or lying.”
Well, damn. It looks like hovering is my only option, and I’ve never been very good at that.

Not on earth, anyway. All that pesky gravity, dragging you down.

Weirdly, I haven’t been able to pin down how I did this (i.e. it’s just age), or what aggravates it. A deep tissue massage from the physio yesterday seemed like a good idea at the time – and was probably exactly what was required – but it’s left things a bit unpleasant today. Still, you don’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, and I definitely want an omelette in my butt.

A metaphorical omelette.

One good thing is that – when the discomfort isn’t too bad – sitting on a static bike and doing 10km up a hill seems to make a big (positive) difference. So I do have a drug-free way of making it better. And I did manage a quick cycle this morning. And it did make it a bit better.

Onwards and upwards. Quite literally, actually, because I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t been sitting for too long, so it’s time to do some standing.

See you tomorrow.

Last ditch

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If the whole “Tax cuts for pensioners” and “Bring back National Service” policies suggested by outgoing UK PM Rishi Sunak were (rightly) ridiculed as being pre-election desperation tactics, then what on earth are we to make of this?

At least Sunak’s promises were a month and bit away, even if they were clearly the last ditch attempts of a dying government to try and win a few more votes. This one above was announced literally 3½ hours before election day.

Next level stuff.

That’s the 4th major bill Ramaphosa has signed into law in the last 2 weeks. And while I’m not saying that those bills are necessarily good or bad (OK, I’m saying that the NHI bill is an absolute disaster, but still), it’s pretty sickening that after 30 years in power – 6 of them with him in the Big Chair – we’re suddenly seeing actual work being done, simply because the ANC is about to lose their overall majority, and – linked, but also not the same – they ANC is desperate for votes.

If these things were so right (not the NHI bill) and will be so beneficial for the country (again… not so much the NHI one), then why weren’t they signed into law weeks, months or even years ago?

It almost makes you think that the ruling party is simply desperate for voters to see them actually doing some actual work.

Weird.

No more explosion

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Spotted in the camping and outdoor aisle of a local supermarket: butane gas canisters.

I’m not sure if this is a thing you can buy in supermarkets overseas, I know that there are a lot of places with a lot more rules and regulations than South Africa. But just along the shelf from this extremely flammable gas, I could also buy a BIG KNIFE. I know that’s not allowed in the UK. I guess knives are less of a thing here: thinking of using a knife as an offensive weapon is SA would really be like bringing a knife along to a gunfight.

Literally.

But the butane gas canisters:

Now, I have a bit of an issue with the big orange and white bit. Because stating

NO MORE EXPLOSION

in big letters and bright colours on your product does seem to suggest that a) it’s your main selling point, and b) that there have previously been explosion. And indeed, the somewhat basic diagram just below that does indeed indicate that Other brand (this is funny because ‘brand’ is Afrikaans for ‘fire’) does explosion.

But apparently you’re safe with BUSH BABY butane.
Their C4H10 is obviously just less likely to explosion than that Other brand.

And that’s good news.

I’m not into camping or the outdoors stuff much. I’d rather find a local cafe to do a bacon sandwich than risk explosion while cooking my own. (And if I was going to cook my own, I’d braai it anyway.) But is explosioning gas canisters (of any brand) really a thing? Surely we would have heard about this? There would be injuries and deaths, and tales from that campsite in the Cedarberg that everyone goes to, of those injuries and deaths.

Or is everyone already using Bush Baby butane? And precisely for that reason.

Please enlighten me. But not with a naked flame.

UPDATE: Many thanks to Andrew Fraser who found a CRV on the Bush Baby Butane. If anything is going to mean No More Explosion, that’s probably it.

Southern Suburbs Store Music Watch

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Popped into a few shops on a whirlwind tour of a local mall this morning.
Here’s what I was serenaded with while I was there.
(Just in case you want to make a playlist of limp, middle-of-the-road, inoffensive, nothing songs.)
(Please don’t.)

Clicks
Something Got Me Started – Simply Red
[advert for adult nappies]
Letters – Watershed

PicknPay
The Living Years – Mike & The Mechanics
No Regrets – Robbie Williams
End Of The Road – Boyz II Men
[all merchandisers to the manager’s desk, please]
Speed Of Sound – Coldplay

Woolies
She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5
The Shape Of You – Ed Sheeran
Mama – Spice Girls

An absolute maximum of 1/9 for me there (ok, 2/10 if you include the nappy ad), and only that because Neils Hannon and Tennant sang backing vocals for Robbie Williams.
I presume that each song is aimed specifically at the likely demographic visiting any given store (this doesn’t make me feel great about myself). And obviously they’ll be vetted for content and tempo.
I mean, I would love if they popped a bit of Slipknot on occasionally, but obviously it’s not going to end well for the tannies in the bakery queue when the whole bread aisle turns into a trolley-filled mosh pit.

Still: headphones next time.