Category: this is south africa

Iron Maiden (& plane) in Cape Town

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And while we’re on about Cape Town flights, flight 666 landed here last night.
666. And people complained about Lady Gaga bringing Satanism to SA.

That was the flight number for Iron Maiden’s tour 747-428, flown in from Perth by their lead singer, Bruce Dickinson. I bet that the Tall Accountant can hardly contain himself.

im

The plane, an ex-Air France unit named ‘Ed Force One’ and commissioned from Air Atlanta Icelandic, is an upgrade from the 757 that the band used on their previous tour.

Fullscreen capture 2016-05-16 110603 AM.bmp

TF being the registration demonym for Iceland in the same way that ZS is for South Africa.
I’ve no idea. I don’t make the rules.

The plane adds an extra dimension to the fans’ experience and is a draw in its own right, both at the airports on the tour and on the merchandise site.

And right on cue…

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I was moaning yesterday. Sorry.
I was tired.
And justifiably irritated and disappointed.

Having said that I wouldn’t be using BA’s services for my Cape Town related air travel again (at least until they source some new aircraft to use on the LHR route) (and remembering that they have suggested that there will be 777-300s on the new LGW route from the end of the year), I received this missive from Emirates in my inbox this morning:

Dear Mr 6000,

When you’re planning your next adventure, choose a travel time that suits you. Our third daily flight from Cape Town to Dubai starts on 4 July 2016, so you’ll have more flexibility when it comes to exploring the world.

Good timing, Malcolm.
And it’s a bit of a gamechanger. That previous lack of flexibility was the reason that we didn’t use Emirates for our flights this time around, meaning that we missed out on:

  • Decent food
  • Wider seats
  • Bigger (working) touchscreens
  • Inflight wifi
  • Inflight live news and sport
  • 2,400 extra inflight entertainment options
  • Choosing seats when booking your flight
  • 30kg baggage vs 23kg
  • Flights to Manchester (handy for Sheffield)

(and that’s before my frequent flyer benefits)
But we gained:

  • 2 hour delays due to broken equipment
  • Cabins last updated in 2000
  • 7 pieces of broken trim visible from my seat in a quick check
  • Leaking air con system dripping on family sitting next to me
  • My armrest held together by duct tape

But now, with EK778 and 779 (to go with EK 770 and 771 and EK 772 and 773), things are easier still.

From 4th July, you’ll be able to do CPT-DXB like this (all times correct at local airports):

EK773 departing 1325 (arrives DXB 0110)
EK771 departing 1805 (arrives DXB 0530)
EK779 departing 2005 (arrives DXB 0735)

and come back:

EK772 departing 0350 (arrives CPT 1125)
EK770 departing 0850 (arrives CPT 1630)
EK778 departing 1050 (arrives CPT 1830)

And, in the bigger picture: more seats = greater flexibility, greater competition and that means prices should be kept in check as well.

It’s a win, win, win situation.

Burn The Witch

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Trumpton and Camberwick Green vibes for Radiohead’s latest, dark offering.

I watched this several times, loving the sinister events apparently passed off as normal by the town official.

Some stark messages for the modern society there, with lines like:

Loose talk around tables
Abandon all reason
Avoid all eye contact
Do not react
Shoot the messenger

Blimey. It’s serious stuff.

Tenuous a-ha link: This chilling video and messages in the song frightened The Living Daylights out of me?

Eyes

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One of my favourite things about going down to Cape Agulhas – aside from the friendly people, the beautiful beaches, the peace, the solitude, the braais and the stunning views – is the wildlife.
This visit, it started before we even got there, with Mrs 6000’s sighting of a Spotted Eagle Owl (Bubo africanus) on a balcony of a house in Struisbaai.
Obviously, we pulled over and shot it to death (camera style).
Then, later on the weekend, we were visited by a Pine Emperor Moth (Imbrasia cytherea). “Meh – moth schmoth” I hear you saying, but this was better than an average moth – it had a 15cm wingspan. That are a lot of moth.
(Their larvae are pretty cool, too.)

Anyway, a bit of croppage later, I came up with these strikingly similar images:

eyes2   eyes2
OK, so they’re not that strikingly similar. And one of them isn’t eyes at all, but still, orangey yellow and black circles.

Just for the record, the Great Grey Owl is the world’s biggest owl and the Hercules Moth is the world’s largest moth. Both of them are almost twice the size of the ones we saw this weekend.

But size isn’t everything.

More weekend photos here.

Dew

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Another tired Sunday evening (albeit a fake one), another morning on the beach, another fish and chip lunch and another long journey back to Cape Town.

It all adds up to another quota photo.

image

This was the dew on the Restios in the back garden this morning. I crouched in wet sand amongst wet plants to get this picture.

I’m really not sure why I do this kind of thing.