Category: this is south africa

Car Park Fog

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Very busy day today. Bit of gym, some photography, some editing – cut short by loadshedding – collecting the kids from school… [YOU ARE HERE] …and then some horseriding, a belated birthday celebration and some football from Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane (again, partly hampered by loadshedding).

So here’s a photo from my car park on Monday evening.

Just a phone pic because I didn’t take my camera (rookie error). A puddle, some fog and some security lighting making for a spooky scene. No editing. The fog was less fun on the way home. It’s all good until someone doesn’t have any working rear lights. Then it’s not good at all. But because that sort of thing happens regularly in South Africa, you have to be ready.

What you can’t see here are the billion mosquitoes from the local wetlands. I promise you that they were there though. I killed about 20 in my car afterwards, and I’d only had the door open for a couple of seconds.

What you can’t smell here is the local sewage plant and oil refinery. I do feel that you’re missing out on the full experience.

Anyway, as mentioned, much to be done, so pop back tomorrow (and every other damn day) for more bloggery.

Thanks, NICD

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Yesterday, this from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, an organisation for whom I have a lot of time:

But while that’s good advice, the headline isn’t right. And I said so:

I thought that it had fallen upon deaf ears. But then, today, this:

Was it me? Was it not? Either way:

Thanks, NICD.

Oh, and (South African) reader: go and get your flu jab.

Here we go again

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Gorgeous pre-frontal skies in Cape Town this morning can only mean one thing: a front is coming.

The hint is in the name, see?

And yes, it does look like tomorrow’s weather is going to be pretty ropey, then we’re in for a couple of very chilly days before Sunday, when… well… it’s looking positively biblical.

The weather apps agree on the timing, but are all at odds over the actual amount of rainfall. We’re looking at anything from 10-20mm tomorrow and anything from 22-50mm on Sunday. It’ll be cold and windy as well, just to add injury to injury.
Don’t expect daily highs of anything more than 15°C*.
Do expect winds gusting to 85+kph.

All of this will put additional strain on the electricity supply, which doesn’t even do well when everything is peachy, so it’s full-on recipe for disaster stuff. Ugh.

Thus, it would seem likely that tomorrow will be our first fire of the season. For the record, our first fire of last winter was 25th April. This is probably the most predictable weather-related thing that’s ever occurred in Cape Town.

* we’ve been down “15 isn’t cold road” many times before. don’t force me to make you to turn right onto “well 30 isn’t hot avenue”.

Who are these people?

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I recently saw a Finnish comedian asking the same question. As Finland was voted the happiest country in the world for the sixth year running, based on a poll which basically asks: “Are you happy?”, he and his friends were wondering exactly which Finnish people they had polled.
Of course, this was all for comedic value, but still, when the results of a poll are so surprising, it’s maybe a valid question to ask. And the results of this poll are surprising, so I am asking the same sort of thing:

Who are these people?

No, not these people:

I’m talking about the other people.

I’m talking about the 12% of whites, the 19% of Indians, the 23% of coloureds and the 35% of blacks, that – by extrapolation, at least – appear to think that the country is being steered in the right direction.

wut?

Look, at least we had a majority that fits with the correct (my) viewpoint. And I get that different people have different political views and beliefs, and of course that’s ok.

But…

…with political corruption, governmental incompetence and an apparently blasé attitude from those “in power” so evident in everything that’s wrong with the country; with literally every single economic marker looking genuinely frightening; with 12 hours of rolling blackouts each and every day with no end in sight… well, you have to wonder how on earth they think things are getting better.

Is it just the ability to shut everything out?

To somehow bury their heads in the sand?

Is it drugs? In which case, to paraphrase a famous movie scene: “I’ll have whatever they’re having”.

To be able to live in such ignorant bliss would be absolutely amazing. Sadly, for most of us (see poll results above), that’s clearly just not possible.

So, it’s onward and upward (at least between 10:30am and 2pm when the next 4½ hour power cut kicks in).