Category: this is south africa

Cape Town Stories 2017

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I shared this video earlier on Twitter, but I’ve decided that I want to pop it on here too.

I’m not a huge Casey Neistat follower, although he does have a bloody nice drone [Ed: soon!!!], but I think that one has to admire what he has achieved in this weird, new media space that has recently appeared.

For a guy who really shouldn’t be at all down to earth, he’s remarkably… well… down to earth. His wife is South African, and thus they come over to Cape Town for summer each year. Herewith, his Cape Town Stories 2017 video, featuring some great shots of the city and a chilled few days over Christmas.

I really can’t see this sort of exposure doing our tourist industry any harm whatsoever… Nice.

Documenting the fires

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(…and lots of other stuff too.)

I first noticed Sullivan Photography when Justin Sullivan (for it is he) took some images of some gratuitous violence on the UCT campus during the recent ‘Fees Must Fall’ protests. But as a documentary photographer, he’s been concentrating on the wildfires that plague the Cape region at this time of year, and he’s come up with some more gems from Somerset West overnight.

These were snaffled from Facebook, so the image quality won’t be all that, but the composition, the drama and the devastation is all too clear to see.

The latest reports from the Somerset West fire this morning suggest that it is still far from under control, and with high temperatures and strong winds forecast for the rest of the day, the firefighters have got their work cut out for them. Again.

UPDATE: Here [facebook link] are some more of Justin’s photos from this morning.

The return

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After a superb New Year on Struisbaai Beach, where the Afrikaners drink enough brandy to drown out the terrifying, owl-scaring fireworks, we’re back in Cape Town for our last day off work, which – continuing the firework talk – I’m expecting may be something like a damp squib.

Still, it’s still holiday and I’ve always been a huge fan of squibs (or in fact any cephalopods).

Tonight needs to be a gentle one, an early one, but we’re still going to fit in a bit of Amazon Prime viewing (part of my Xmas present from the long-suffering Mrs 6000). Their $2.99 (R42) introductory deal seems excellent value and has drawn us in hook, line and sinker.

Some photo uploadage tomorrow and we’ll be right back on track for 6000 miles… (The 2017 version).

See you there.

Rolling Stone

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Lying in the cool of the cottage, the sun beating down outside, the turquoise blue of the ocean out of the window, and this playing on my 1995 JVC hi-fi:

The perfect soundtrack. This morning’s spring tide gave us some remarkable rockpooling opportunities, but with a few days more here before we can back to the hullabaloo of city life, there’s no reason to rush to get anything much done. And so, the lazing and the music continue.

Diet

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I, like so many others in Cape Town, seem to have chosen to try the gastroenteritis diet after Xmas this year. The local Black Market in Loperamide is off the scale right now.

It’s going well: I’m losing about a kilo a day and therefore, by (late) March, I should cease to exist. Do the maths. I don’t care. Given the way I’m currently feeling, (late) March can’t come soon enough.

Most irritating of all is the fact that the family has had to delay our trip back down to Agulhas: that particular ‘happy place’ having temporarily been replaced by ‘anywhere near adequate ablution facilities’.

The recovery is very much on, though, and I’m hopeful that we can make that move tomorrow.