I’m lucky enough not to have to brave the traffic very often. I used to brave it all the time – although paradoxically, somewhat timidly – but that was a few years ago. Today, I had to pull on my big boy pants and go into town.
Twice.
The first journey in and out wasn’t too bad, although the CBD itself was an absolute disaster. Avoiding the Friday morning rush hour by making the appointment for the visa interview at 11 was a stroke of genius. And getting out by 11:30 before the Cape Town Friday exodus began at midday was also good. Duty done and actually, with very little issue. Boom.
But then the request for additional documents to be submitted in the afternoon shattered all our good work. UnBoom.
And when we returned to the CBD later in the day it was hell to get in, hell to be in and even more hell to get out. Ugh.
I like my car: it’s lovely to drive and it’s a nice place to be. But less so when surrounded by lots and lots of other cars. I can’t believe I used to sit amongst all that stuff for 2 or 3 hours each day. What a waste of time, energy, money and resources.
At least we’re done for a while now, though another visit to another visa centre will follow in a few weeks. Needs must, so I’m already mentally preparing myself for that.
Completed on December 15th 1848 – at a cost of £15,871 – sure.
But first lit on this day in 1849. And that’s what counts for lighthouse birthdays.
The light, a 4-wick Argand burner, was lit on March 1st 1849. It was filled with rendered fat obtained from indigenous fat-tailed sheep, and produced a stationary white light of 4,500 candlepower.
The current light is ever so slightly more powerful than that, at 7,500,000 candlepower, flashes every 5 seconds and has a range of 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 miles). Interestingly, it doesn’t rely on Eskom for illumination, but on occasion, it has stopped turning because of power outages.
Firstly, go and play Puzzgrid. It’s like the wall on Only Connect, but online.
And if you want a 4-star difficulty challenge to begin with, try this one that I made earlier. I’m planning on making a few more (because mainly they’re stored in my head at the moment, and quite honestly, I need the space.)
Well, my rule of thumb is going to be a bit broken if this happens…
Wait… Watt*?!? But that would mean 32 hours… and there are only 24…
Wow. Who would have thought that the straw that finally broke the network’s back was simply running out of enough hours to shed in a day?
.
Then: Was Eyjafjallajökull the final volcano?
Year 9 iGCSE Geography dictates that one must do a class presentation on a volcanic event. And additionally, that one must build a model of said volcano to demonstrate your knowledge thereof. I helped transport a model of Eyjafjallajökull (remember him?) into the school today, and was asked by the principal, who we saw along the way, if this was the final volcano project for our family.
I hadn’t really thought about it. But just maybe it was.
Volcano models are a rite of passage throughout your school years. You can learn more, and more, and more about them, depending on how far you want to go. You can do loads of geography, sociology, history, English, art and science about them. And yes, you can build models, from the super simple, through the vinegar and bicarb stage, and onto geographically and morphologically accurate representations, including glaciers, treelines, and – somewhat inexplicably in this case – a café.
And we’ve done them all. Twice over.
In total, our kids have over 24 years at that school. And yes, this might well have been our family’s final volcano project. That’s actually rather sad.
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Also: Qatar Airways unilaterally cancelled several of our flights this morning without any explanation. And then emailed me and asked me to “Acknowledge the changes” or “Request a refund”. I think I’m going to have to click both buttons there, aren’t I? I don’t think it’s quite enough for me to choose between the two, given how much COLD HARD CASH has gone into buying the tickets, and the CONTINUING NEED to be in certain places at certain times – with accommodation and car hire and connecting flights already booked. Because of many reasons (but mainly because of emigrating nearly 20 years ago), I have done a lot of international flying. This is the first time that I have used Qatar Airways. And this really is the first problem I’ve ever had.
Sadly, we’re kind of tied in with them now, so we need to rearrange another lot of flights with them, and hope that these ones actually exist when we try to fly on them.
.
And finally – in the style of Trevor MacDonald – this:
I mean, if even he is saying it, then it must be true, right? Full marks for whoever cropped this meme (it wasn’t me) so that we were spared a sight of the offensive (and sinful) footwear.
One night without sleep is unpleasant, but I can handle it. Two consecutive nights without sleep finishes me. And I can confidently state this, because this morning, after two consecutive nights of no sleep, I am finished.
Ironically, we watched a documentary last night on insomnia, so now I am finished and I know the scientific reasoning why.
I could have gone to bed early last night, and it probably would have been a good idea, but United were beating Wrexham in the FA Cup and so I had to stay up. And even having allowed a sufficient amount of time to allow the adrenaline to exit my system (or so I thought), I couldn’t get to sleep, and when I finally did, I couldn’t stay asleep.
Today will be rubbish, but at least there will be several (or more) hours of good sleep tonight.
Now, the fact that they’ve gone down the “Don’t Panic” route, when all the real mayo lovers are absolutely – and justifiably – panicking, does tend to suggest that their upcoming product is intended to replace Hellmann’s. And that’s no mean feat, because while there are many mayos [mayoes?] out there, South Africa wouldn’t be panicking if they were all as good as Hellmann’s. So in order to “replace” Hellman’s, this needs to taste like Hellman’s. Clearly, it’s not quite ready yet, but when it is… well, the proof of the pudding… as they say.
But why wait for a local company to make some replacement mayo? Why not do it yourself with this recipe from local Digital Food Influencer (?!?), Sam Linsell?
One can never copy a product that is mass-produced like Hellmann’s exactly but what one can make is something that is more real and even better than Hellmann’s.
“Even better than Hellmann’s”…?
Wow. That’s big talk. Let’s read on.
It actually seems fairly simple, albeit with occasional lines like:
When you have established that you have the right stick blender…
I’m beginning to think that maybe I’m not the target audience here. I mean, how many stick blenders does the average person have?
And there are several important “do do this” and “but don’t do this” bits. But I reckon it’s worth a try.
Problem is, we don’t have a kitchen at the moment (and only one stick blender), so this would be a terrible time for me to attempt to follow this recipe, but when I have the time (and the means), I’m going to give it a go.
