Today was a good day. Blue skies, sunshine, swimming pools and a bit of Stellenbosch.
There were strawberries, there was brandy (good brandy), and there was wine (my favourite wine, nogal). Later, if the stars are to be believed, there may even be very nice Asian food. And in between, there was even time to get some photos up onto Flickr.
It would seem that the summer holidays are well and truly underway. And I’m quite happy about that.
I’ve been promising to write a bit more on here for several days now and now I am actually going to do it. The lab work is finished, the office may be closed for the summer break, but my feet have hardly touched the floor and my bum is wholly unaware of what a seat looks like. If this is what holiday time is like, bring me more TB! Not had a moment. I swear.
Everything seems to have been in my way. Even between the last sentence and this, I had to change the batteries on the wireless keyboard. I mean, how often does anyone ever need to do that?
(Handy hint: it’s whn it strt typng lk his)
It’s a sign that someone upstairs doesn’t want me to write. (The wife, I mean, not God or anything.) Probably because I should be getting on with jobs, like sorting out the boy’s new bike, walking the beagle or trying unsuccessfully to fix the pool pump.
There have been moments of relaxation, of course. I took in my first (and probably last) film of 2015 – the Peanuts movie, this morning. We used the rather posh Prestige cinema at the local shopping mall for the ridiculously early 0845 screening. Unnecessarily electric reclining chairs, waitress service to your seat, a posh menu and a distinct lack of plebs – all for an extra R35 a time? Count me in for the one film I go and see next year as well.
The Peanuts movie was nice, if a little disjointed (but hey, look at this blog post). The kids enjoyed it. The storyline was a bit thin, but it had its moments. Still, as a guide, don’t go and see it unless you used to be a bit of a Snoopy fan when you were younger (I was), you have kids (I do) or you like hiding in the dark and wearing daft glasses early on a Saturday morning (I’m not saying).
Other news: I downloaded the BBC Radio 6 Music Classic Concert episode which featured Depeche Mode’s 1983 Hammersmith Odeon performance. Oh, it’s ever so good. If you’re quick, you too can listen and/or download until 10th January 2016, by clicking here.
I also owe Flickr loads of photos. But if you think blogging takes time that I don’t have, then you’ll perhaps understand why I haven’t manged to get that done either.
Soon. But after the footy. So actually not that soon.
Oh, and finally, I got some comments about my attendance at the annual Carols by Candlelight Glowstick concert at Kirstenbosch. You know, the “I thought you were an atheist” kind of comments. Well, yes, I am, but I didn’t see any terms or conditions about not being allowed to go along when the tickets were booked. I read my kids Roald Dahl and Harry Potter books. It doesn’t mean I have to believe in massive stoned fruit, large amiable tautologists or Platform 9¾. The thing is a charity event, the sense of community (something we’re sadly lacking in SA) is near tangible, and hey, it’s Kirstenbosch – there is no better place to go and drink wine, picnic and know that you are doing some good.
That’s one of the places I need to update my photos from. But right now, Guus Hiddinkidonk’s Chelsea are about to take on Sunderland. Live and in HD.
And I have reserved a place on the couch.
Please excuse me.
Again, not much time today. I’m exhausted. A quick quota photo will do the job.
That’s (obviously) Cape Agulhas lighthouse, Instagrammed against threatening, but eventually harmlessly impotent skies last weekend.
You can get more 6000.co.za Instagram here. And you can get more 6000.co.za blogging right here, tomorrow.
Although there’s still a bit of laboratory work to be done, things have slowed down considerably. As an example, one of my more taxing engagements today involved watching the kids play in the pool.
Another was walking the beagle on the local school field, thus:
It’s actually quite difficult to find this sort of thing in any way stressful.
Later this evening, a “Carols By Candlelight” event, which is actually a “Carols By Glowstick” event, thanks to the Nanny State overreacting to those people that never got hurt in that fire that never happened during Hark The Herald Angels Singe (pun intended), a couple of years back.
There’s a twitter account running from Cape Town called @SM_CapeTown. It seems to exist solely to promote local SMEs and the like. I’m not a fan of that sort of account – it adds little or no value to my social media experience – but, I assume that as far as these organisations are concerned, having their name and/or posts broadcast to the 4,284 followers of @SM_CapeTown makes good business sense.
So, fair enough.
Except, if I were one of those clients, paying for the service, I’d like a bit more attention paid to the manner in which stuff was being shared. Several (or more) times each day, the account appears to auto-RT a random tweet from one of the accounts it follows, along with the message:
Great tweet, looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
Nothing more sincere than being a number picked by a computer and then congratulated… er… by a computer.
Sometimes, this works. The other 99% of the time, the random tweet is out of context and either makes absolutely no sense or is wholly drab and disinteresting, in which case the whole thing just looks daft. I’d love to unfollow the account, but I can’t because firstly, it’s like watching a car crash in slow motion: you just can’t look away, secondly, it can be stupidly entertaining at times, and then thirdly – one day, maybe one of my tweets will be shared.
I can but dream.
In the meantime, here are a few examples of Great tweets, from people whose next works of art we are looking forward to :-)!
We begin with a fantastic trifecta of osteoporosis prevention advice, some copyright issue and a question about lightbulbs. IT GETS NO BETTER THAN THIS! Great tweets, looking forward to your next works of art :-)!
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Then, Hilda doesn’t know if Andre and Hilary are coming along to… her… thing. Will Andre confirm?
Either way, Great tweet Hilda, we’re all looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
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Here’s a tweet from Andre Beukes (the owner of @SM_CapeTown), auto-RT’d by his own auto-RT bot. It’s almost like his alter-ego wants us to know all about Andre’s habits with Vaseline. Eww. On the plus side though, it is a Great tweet Andre, looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
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It pays to be prepared. Guy Fawkes Day in Cape Town may be November 5th, the same as Guy Fawkes Day everywhere else in the world, but you can never get important messages out too early. Even 11 months ahead of time. This is a Great tweet, I’m really looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
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A short compliment with half a twitter link. Have we now reached Peak GreatTweet? What a Great tweet, looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
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Pizza delivery is a cut-throat business in SA. And any company whose social media policies can help it to rise above the rabble is bound to be successful. In telling us what they sell and for how much, Domino’s has really achieved this. In a difficult field, this is a Great tweet, we’re literally looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
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More from Andre’s other account, but this time, it’s an bot auto-RT’ing a tweet originally automatically sent out by another bot. Botception, almost. Great news for Andre though, as both his follower count and his mention reach is up. It’s for these reasons that this can rightly be defined as a Great tweet, looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
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Cape Town Freeway Management Service is dedicated to keeping us all on the road, 24/7/365. Their updates are therefore very important if you’re travelling by road in the Cape Town area, but surely you would be hard pressed to describe them as a “Great tweet” or “a work of art”. Well, you would have been until you see this next superb update about the routine maintenance occurring on the N7 south: it’s a gem! Wowzers! What a Great tweet, Cape Town Freeway Management Service, looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
The technology to make this system work better surely exists. We can put men on the moon, probes on comets, almost definable iced animals on Zoo Biscuits. We must be able to program a computer to better decide what actually is a great tweet and come up with something more varied and sincere than Andre’s bot is currently managing. No?
I know what you’re thinking though:
Great post, looking forward to your next work of art :-)!
Thanks, guys.