The last day of the school holiday was marked by a visit to the aquarium. The new exhibit, which we had only ever seen unfinished, is amazing. We spent a long while there, just drinking coffee (slush for the kids) and watching the turtles and pilchards doing their thing.
Photos will follow.
But not tonight. Because a horribly early morning is beckoning tomorrow.
Remember the Caracal (Caracal caracal) that was eating penguins?
Good news from the Urban Caracal Project this morning – they think that they have caught it:
This is Disa – a “healthy adult female” – who will now be radio-collared and relocated some distance away from Boulders Beach.
Yes, it’s a bit dark, but isn’t she beautiful? Look at that shiny coat – that’s the Omega 3 oils from all those penguins she’s been eating. There’s a lesson here for all of us, and it’s only a matter of time until someone (Tim Noakes) launches the LCHP (Low Carbohydrate, High Penguin) Diet cookbook.
After all, extensive studies in caracal populations (n=1) have shown the obvious benefits of this eating plan.
Much as the theme music of the pisspoor Sunday evening offering of Carte Blanche heralds the end of the weekend in Checkers-shopping households all over the country, so tomorrow morning’s alarm clock will be the last “late” weekday wake up call as the kids head back to school on Monday after 4 (four) weeks off.
I say “late” in inverted commas because we’re not talking a nice long lie-in or anything. Just an extra (and ever so welcome) hour under the covers. That’s all over now – at least until a week in late September.
I will have to do the switch over the alarm setting on the phone from School Holiday to School Day as soon as I wake up in the morning, or I will forget. Good bye, Holi.
And back also, I fear, will be the traffic. Journeys to and from work will take three times longer next week than they did this. Also, it’s nearly August, so several or more of those journeys will be in the rain.
There is no upside to all of this, by the way. There doesn’t always have to be a light at the end of the tunnel, although a tunnel might help with the trip to work.
Normal positivity returns tomorrow. After that last early morning hour in bed.
A local supermarket chain is currently running a promotion whereby, for each R150 spent in their store, you get an item from their (and here I quote) “#CheckersLittleShop big brand mini groceries”. These are miniature versions of some of their more popular (some might say iconic) local brands. There’s also an educational arm to it – “Become an entrepreneur – Encouraging tomorrow’s tycoons” .
Nice. Cute.
Not everyone thinks so though. Some people on Facebook are outraged.
Now there’s a surprise.
Blimey. Who knew?
Where to begin? Let’s go through this spectacular rant piece by piece, shall we?
The starvation and the unemployment figures, the drought. All of these things are sadly true. As is the fact that Checkers paid an ad agency or promo agency to come up with this c**p, as the erstwhile commenter comments, erstwhiley.
But then it all goes a bit off the rails. The fact that Checkers paid an ad agency or promo agency to come up with this c**p has very little to do with the elevated levels of our grocery bills. There are bigger things at play there. Inflation, the somewhat disappointing exchange rate, the price of manufacturing goods and transporting them, because of the higher price of oil and therefore petrol; the cost of fertiliser. Starvation and unemployment have little or no effect of the size of your grocery bill. The drought does make things more expensive though. So, only 1 out of 4 guesses on the causes of higher grocery bills. You’re playing catch-up now, furious Facebook commenter.
We move on to the second paragraph, and it actually starts rather well, with another solid fact, describing the mini plastic & polystyrene mock ups of products that Checkers sell in their stores as “Mini plastic & polystyrene mock ups of products you sell in your stores.”
As a description of the mini plastic & polystyrene mock ups of products Checkers sell in their stores, it’s near perfection.
And what happens when the promotion is over? Where does she think these things end up?
In our oceans. In a trash heap where most of it might never biodegrade.
Well, yeah. Or it might get recycled after a couple of years being played with in a kid’s doll house. To be honest, we all know that plastic isn’t great for the oceans or renowned for its biodegradability, but then, we all continue to use it, don’t we? And while I appreciate the need to cut down, these are awfully small things. “Mini”, some might say.
One fewer 2l fabric conditioner bottle will offset a full collection and more.
And, if that “most of it might never biodegrade” line above is the case, then all toys made of plastic (and everything else besides) should be banned. Immediately.
Bye bye, Barbie. Barbie, bye bye.
[Link]
Meh. I’m unconvinced. If only there was one final line to persuade me that the inconsolably annoyed and ranty Facebook woman has a point.
Maybe, a child might actually mistake it for food and try eat it and accidentally choke and die?
Shame on you.
Yeah. “Maybe” that “might” happen. Equally, that might happen with a piece of wood or a rock though.
Yes, these are mock-ups of groceries, but they are also in their mock-up packaging. If a child mistakes a genuine bottle of All Gold Tomato Sauce for food and ingests it, it will also die, because it’s a glass bottle.
Additionally, some of them are mock-up detergents, moisturisers, deodorants and nappies. Your child deserves to die if it eats that and chokes. Darwin’s Law, that’s called. Shame on it, more like.
But then, there is a plus side to all of these pitiful arguments. Because if they’re true…
[But they’re not – Ed.]
Shut up.
Because… if they’re true, and Checkers’ promotion is actually responsible for all of these things: unemployment, malnutrition, the drought (lol… as if the drought is Checkers’ fault, ffs!), the inability of plastic to biodegrade within any reasonable timeframe, oh, and and infant asphyxiation, then surely if or when Checkers choose to end the promotion, surely all these nasties will become a thing of the past.
Could Checkers (possibly inadvertently, but still) could they have come up with a plan to literally end world suffering, simply by causing it all in the first place?
Or should Ms Ranty Facebook lady go and find something more beneficial to do with her time than blaming everything ever on a 6-week promo in a second-rate local supermarket?
Your call.
(Hint: It’s the second one.)
(Number 2)
Early indications into my continuing computer woes seem to be pointing, upsettingly, towards a fatal motherboard error.
This is why you’re getting a short, phone-written post this evening. Firstly, because it’s tough to write reams on a phone keyboard, and secondly, because it’s tough to write through the tears when I think about how pricey a replacement PC is going to be.