Category: this is south africa

R20 off your parking

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I mentioned somewhere – ah, here it is – about Admyt…

…the still quite new, super-duper parking service in South Africa.
And since then, literally several people have used my code:

TRE162273

to earn R10 off their first parking experience with Admyt.

Now, in an incredible offer, if you sign up for Admyt anytime in June – you can get the app on Apple here, or Google here – and use that code, you’ll get twenty whole bucks credited to your balance.

R20 might not seem so much, but next time you’re standing in the queue to pay for your parking in the cold and the rain at the V&A Waterfront, Constantia Uitsig or any of these other Admyt locations – you’ll surely be kicking yourself as you watch me drive up to the barrier – warm and dry – and automatically whizz straight through, as you fumble for change – ironically exactly twenty rands worth – in your pockets.

It’s free to sign up, and there’s no obligation and no payment to be made until you use the service – and, if your first parking session costs less than R20 – no payment to be made there either. Amazing.

You literally have nothing to lose.

Wednesday ephemera

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Several bits of small stuff to share, so here it all is.
Knock yourselves out*.

Things are going all right

After yesterday’s post, this:

That’s quite a movement, ironically suddenly making illegal “small boat” immigration across the English Channel a whole lot harder.

Home Affairs is a mixed bag

Two tweets, just a few pixels apart on my laptop screen:

and:

And yes, I’ve experienced both ends of this spectrum.
Delightfully astonishing at the one end, but oh so frustrating at the other.

SA Mpox outbreak causes first death

Indeed:

Nothing to panic about here, but certainly one just to keep an eye on…

Explore your adventurous side

A recent advert on the web:

Ah yes. The silver self-defence spike. A true Camping and Outdoor Essential. And… does it really say “Thank you for choosing [manufacturer]” on the lanyard? That’s amazing.

I despair

A local page I follow on Facebook got hacked and started posting all sorts of weird stuff, including (but not limited to) a lot of AI generated content resembling American cities. In fact, the only local thing it posted was this range of images depicting (allegedly, at least) Cape Town, some lions in the Kruger, and some KhoiSan rock art in an ancient cave.

The worst bit was the comments though, with people from Cape Town fawning over the picture of their city. And this, despite all those new mountains, the sun setting on the wrong side, and that frankly weird extension bit coming out of Green Point.
Compare and contrast…

Also, while we’re on the subject, that is clearly not KhoiSan rock art, and WTF has happened to those lions? Our jobs are safe from AI for a while yet. But whether our lives are safe from idiot commenters on Facebook… well… that’s another story.

Winter in the vineyards

In more genuine pictures of Cape Town…
We took a walk around Groot Constantia a few days ago, and it was lovely.

Go and see more of the yellowing vines and lush, green grass on Instagram. And drop a follow if you haven’t already. Thanks.

* simply a turn of phrase, not an instruction.

A taste of Durban

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Given the ongoing state of Durban’s beaches – or rather the water just off them – as illustrated here:

I found the prospect of buying some brown gloop labelled “Taste of Durban”, and with an image of those very same beaches and bits of Indian Ocean, rather unappealing.

Mind you, this actually being Nutella and not sea poop, it’s not like I could afford it anyway.

Ridiculously expensive stuff, although happily E.coli free.

More research needed

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Here’s an interesting article about the recent (last 10 years) chaotic weather that has hit Cape Town.

Its writing was precipitated (no pun intended) (or was it?!?) ostensibly by the storms that hit in April, after the storms that hit in September, after the drought that hit a few years back.

And since it was published, we’ve had more extreme weather. 200mm of rain falling onto Cape Agulhas last week, rendering that road – and many more – undrivable again.

Look, this is the Cape of Storms, as referenced in the article. But climate change should be making Cape Town drier, but these extreme events aren’t related to the cold fronts that bring the winter rain to our region. These are the cut-off lows (see 6000 miles… passim) which can occur at any time of year – and they appear to have been occurring quite a lot recently.

They’re nothing new. The Laingsberg Flood of January 1981 was due to a cut-off low.

But are there more cut-off lows than previously, or are we just more aware of them? Are these handful of floods just an unfortunate series of severe weather events, or is this what we must be planning for in the future?

Sadly, n just doesn’t equal enough to give us a definitive answer.

As it says, we now need some more information, but given the toll of these floods: whether it being people cut off, having property damaged, livestock drowning or whatever, we need it soon, please.

“This results are rigged.”

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Amidst the demands for a re-vote following the bizarre claims from the MK Party that the recent elections were rigged – a move many experts believe is not to actually based in any fact, but more to undermine the authority of the IEC – there was this:

And he offered the following screenshots as proof. One for the Western Cape:

And one for KZN:

I must admit, when I first read his allegations, I was a bit dubious. But the evidence is absolutely there.

How on earth can a bigger number be a smaller percentage? Something dodgy is clearly going on.

Jeez. Tiktok maths.
These people walk among us.
And look the way they voted.