Category: uk

Day 71, part 2 – Moved

Posted on

After 8 years of occasional bliss, overnight – while you were sleeping – 6000 miles… moved from South Africa to a new home amongst the bright lights of London town. The Big Smoke, innit.

Not me, obviously. I’m still here. Like I could get a flight anyway. Like I’d go to London anyway.

No: the blog. Away from Afrihost, and hopefully away from all the recent problems from which it has been suffering, and off to a new, more professional, much-recommended host.

The address remains the same. Do not point your browsers elsewhere. 

I cannot thank The Guru enough for his monumental efforts and extreme patience in sorting this out for me. From dealing with the slings and arrows of outrageous coding, through to taking  arms against a sea of well… actual troubles; and by opposing them, still having to deal with me and my lack of technological knowhow.

I am very grateful, and as soon as Level 5 lockdown is rescinded again in Cape Town, there will be wine.

In the meantime, please enjoy the new, faster, more streamlined and still every bit as poorly written offerings on here.

Day 64 – There goes the weekends

Posted on

With apologies to Eminem:

Guess who’s back, back again
Football’s back, tell a friend…

Yep:

I won’t lie, I am a bit torn over the decision to restart the Premier League. Sure, I want to watch the action, but I’m not sure it’s the best idea from a safety point of view, and I just hope that it doesn’t backfire for any of the players or backroom staff involved.

But – deep breath – the decision has been made and we go into our first game away at Aston Villa with (apparently, at least) 7 Ollie McBurnies up front.

It’s a bold, attacking line-up. Come on you Red And White WIZZZZZZZAAAAARDS!

Day 10 – Quiz advice

Posted on

Double figures!

Well done, us!

Whoop!

Meh.

 

One thing I have managed to do while we’ve been on lockdown is a bit of quizzing. I’ve done some live quizzes on Quizando, I’ve played the old quiz that I used to play back in the UK (because he’s had to move online as all the pubs are shut), and I’ve been enjoying Jimmy Carr’s The Little Tiny Quiz of the Lockdown on Youtube.

10 questions every evening at 6pm UK time (that’s 7pm CAT), with the answers 2 hours later at 8pm UK time (that’s 9pm CAT) (although if I had to tell you that, you’re probably not going to do very well).

Less than 10 minutes per evening, all in, and there have been some cracking questions for pub quiz addicts. And amazingly family friendly as well.

Here are the Day 1 videos for you to try, first of all the Questions:

And the Answers:

I’ve just finished Day 6, and I’m doing pretty well. And this is just for fun: no prizes here, so no point googling or cheating or whatever – just enjoy it.

If you’ve got any decent quiz ideas while we’re all stuck indoors, please leave me (and with me, everyone else) a comment on the 6000.co.za Facebook page.
There is always space in my life for more pub quiz goodness.

Vincent > Bill

Posted on

Spotted on social media ad nauseum, lots of stuff like this:

So what?

Vincent CC Cheng et al. not only told us about “the Corona virus” [sic] back in 2007:

(that was ahead even of the MERS outbreak of 2012), they even told us exactly why this 2019/20 pandemic was going to happen:

It’s an informative and enlightening read, if you have the time.

The fact is that despite his standing, his fame and his amazing charity work, it seems that no-one batted an earlobe at Bill. And so why on earth would anyone have been bothered with what Vincent had to say?

We’re hearing so much about the changes in attitude that this pandemic is having and going to have in the future, but no-one listened to the experts back in 2007 – it’s only now that their (actually fairly obvious, when you read the evidence) predictions have come to pass that we’re giving them the time of day.

And even then, in this case, it seems like it’s only me that’s doing it.

Shouting about Bill will do no good now. No-one cared what he was saying back in 2015, false hero-worship of a false idol just because someone dug out an aging Ted talk and popped it on your Facebook isn’t going to stop any pandemic. Bill didn’t know about Coronaviruses; Bill was relaying the experts views to the general public.

The public chose not to listen.

Over in the UK, laboratory scientists and healthcare workers are being offered free coffees, cheaper food, special opening hours at supermarkets and numerous other benefits in the UK right now. And I think that’s great. They’re at the sharp end when it comes to this sort of thing. But then, they’ve always been at the sharp end. Underappreciated by a succession of governments – of every colour – and the general public for years and years, they’re suddenly the heroes of the hour. Sure: this is a biggie. And yet they’ve been putting their lives on the line in the face of some properly horrible diseases (CJD, Ebola, Anthrax, TB) for decades. So thanks for noticing now, but maybe have a sit down and a quick review of your previous thoughts and feelings on the people working in the healthcare sector when there was no global pandemic as well.

Once all this is over (the outbreak, that is); once we have the vaccine and some degree of herd immunity; once we’re returning to something like normal life, will you listen the next time Vincent or Bill has something to say?

I’m guessing not.