Category: positive thoughts

Another reason to buy in Zone 1

Posted on

City Centre living. It isn’t for everyone. And if Cape Town is anything to go by (and it is), it’s damn expensive too.

But other than the convenience of your office being right on the doorstep, what else is there to justify the massive price tag?

I’m sorry, did you say “immediate obliteration in the event of a nuclear strike”? – that sounds perfect!

Not that there’s likely to be a nuclear war, of course. The two guys controlling about 90% of the world’s nuclear missiles seem decent, sensible and reasonable, and not at all deranged.

Yeah. Maybe it’s worth that extra million quid to get that little place in Westminster. Far better than the prolonged agony of the daily commute (and then the protracted dying, should the worst actually happen) of the outlying areas.

How does this relate to Cape Town? It doesn’t really. Missiles can’t reach this far, and if they could, we still have a big mountain to hide behind, and the South Easter will take all the radiation away within a couple of minutes.

.

Graphic from here.

View from the weekend

Posted on

We went away and then we did very, very little.

Save, of course, from enjoying the views, the hot tub, the pool and the pizza oven.

On Saturday morning, I went out on a bit of run that then turned into a bit of a hike, and ended up climbing up onto the koppie 250m above our accommodation, leaving me with this view down the Breede Valley:

Not bad at all. New phone camera doing the business.
And I only nearly died a couple of times.

Right now, it’s back to reality: picking up kids from school and making dodgy salads for dinner.

But… it was a fun weekend.

Back again

Posted on

I did mention that this was going to happen, but I also said that I would have some reservations unless certain criteria were met:

And look, if it is correct, then this is clearly great news, but… so much of the original MTW was good because of the regulars and especially Hugh Dennis and Dara O’Briain. Without them, you might as well just make a different show. 

Well, things are suddenly looking up:

Yep. The “new” MTW presenter is: Dara O’Briain…

And, what’s more:

Joining Dara in the studio throughout the new series is a stellar line-up of top comedy talent, including Rhys James, Sara Pascoe, Angela Barnes, Ed Byrne, Ahir Shah, Milton Jones, Katherine Ryan, Hugh Dennis, Sarah Keyworth, Lou Sanders, Glenn Moore, Ellie Taylor and Russell Howard – with more names still to be announced.

This sounds almost too good to be true. In fact, it seems that the only big change they have made (aside from it not being on BBC2 anymore) is that the show will be 60 minutes long.

Will that work? 30 minutes always left me wanting more, but maybe that was a good thing.

I think that the proof of the pudding will be in watching the first few shows. And given that they are just a couple of weeks away, I’m pretty excited.

Winning horse

Posted on

The Real Prince won the big race today at Kenilworth.

I was close enough to him to get sprayed while they were hosing him down.

No big issue, given just how hot it was out there today.

I’m not an expert on horses, but this guy seemed pretty happy.

And why not, given that he had just earned a cool R1,781,256 for his jog around the track.

Nice work.

Flycatchers in Jonkershoek

Posted on

That was a nice day out.

A drive to Stellenbosch, and then out into the Jonkershoek Valley, where we stopped off at the Oude Nektar Gardens and had a wander in the peace and quiet, taking in the fresh air and the amazing trees, flowers, lawns and birds. Which included plenty (or more) Black Saw-Wings (Psalidoprocne pristoptera) overhead, and at least a couple of flycatchers nearer the ground:

That’s the Fiscal Flycatcher (Sigelus silens) on the left, and the African Dusky Flycatcher (Muscicapa adusta) on the right. The size is a bit off, because the Dusky Flycatcher is small, but the Fiscal Flycatcher is Far Away.

But they are always nice to see, anyway. Whatever size and wherever they were.

Then next door to Stark-Condé for some wine tasting and lunch.
Both were really good, but certainly not cheap:

When did R60 per wine for a tasting become a thing? Could we not organise some sort of locals rate, please?

That said, we did particularly enjoy their Cabernet Sauvignon and their – wait for it – Oude Nektar Red Blend. We tried the 2022 vintage of the latter, and you could definitely taste the potential. It really just needed a few more years.

And (of course), they’ll do that cellaring for you, but (of course) you’ll pay a pretty penny. The 2015 vintage comes in at a cool R1950 a bottle. I can imagine that it would be rather amazing, but that’s a lot for a bottle of wine, when you’re (mostly) just a happy quaffer.

And so we enjoyed some really good Eastern Cape fillet with the 2022 version of their CabSav, had a leisurely walk around the beautiful lake:

…and headed home happy.