The Best of 2024

Posted on

A mixed year, dominated on the home front by all that stuff happening next door.

United were utterly terrible for the first half of the year, really good in the second.

There was a blue man on a bridge in Paris.

Something turned 175.

I did a playlist.

Some cows docked in Cape Town.

The Boy Wonder passed a test.

The DA “burned” a “flag”.

Some feline suspects escaped.

There was some poorly concealed Uranium on the Isle of Man.

It was all going off at the ploughing in Ireland.

We learned why it was so dangerous to cross the road in Georgia.

We won the Derby.

There was Raygun.

Yeah. There are few hundred more posts to read if you want to, as well.

Shall we try to do it all again – but better – next year??

Morning Hike

Posted on

The last Last Sunday of the Month Hike of the Year:
Bailey’s Kloof – from the Shark Spotters’ Hut above Muizenberg and then up – and up.

(and then back down again.)

Not far, but a LOT of ascent, so thank goodness for the lovely cloud cover for most of the way up – which also gave us some wonderful crepuscular rays over False Bay.

The cloud was very welcome on the way up, but it brightened and brightened as the morning wore on – pretty much perfect conditions for a nice gentle(ish) walk.

Plenty of flowers around including (I think) Watsonia spp., Aristea glauca, Erica cerinthoides and a single Mountain Dahlia (Liparia splendens) doing its thing on the back of St James Peak:

But aside from the plants, not a lot on the wildlife front, including the birds.

Then back for a cold beer or two and a quick dip in the pool, and I’m now heading rapidly towards the TV for United’s last game of a – rather mixed – 2024.

Stellenblog

Posted on

A day out (sort of – we were home by 3:30pm) in Stellenbosch. And I know I said that I’d share it live, but if it weren’t for the detail above, you might think we were still there, so it’s all good, right?

We started at the Unlock Escape Rooms in the Eikestad Mall, where we played the Oak City Wine Heist game. We’re kinda old hands at escape rooms now, and we were headed out to Stellies because we’ve done all the ones in Cape Town. We finished this one in 47 minutes, but it was a bit disappointing. One of the major components of the room wasn’t working, and despite watching us struggle with it for maybe a quarter of a hour, they only told us that it was broken after we got out and had asked what the relevance of the whole thing was.

So we could have been a lot quicker, and it could have been a lot more fun.

They also could have… you know… mended it. But no.

So fun, but not up to the standards we’re used to. 3 out of 5 stars.

Then off to Hartenberg for some wine and some food. And this was really good.

It’s seriously pricey, but their “super premium” tasting option is worth it just to experience their flagship offerings. Link.

Great service from Sive, and a real privilege to be able to taste some really superb wines, despite the bonkers prices. Their Gravel Hill Syrah is exceptional, but at R1,275 (£55, $69), it’s also way out of reach for most of us. I also enjoyed the The Stork Shiraz (R1,050) and the Bordeaux style (not blend, because no Malbec) The Mackenzie at R875.


And while the wines were unquestionably very special, you could get three or four bottles of very decent stuff for the price of any one of those big boys, so you can make your own call on that.
Because it’s not like their “everyday” wines are in any way poor. Their easy-drinking Cabernet Sauvignon (R335) made for a lovely accompaniment to their delicious cheese and charcuterie grazing platters in the summer heat.

Before we left, we popped down to see their Ankole cattle. Too hot to spend too long with them, but wow, they are incredible: hornz for dayz.

And then – with the Boy Wonder acting as chauffeur – it was back home for a swim and a blog.

The problem with having so very many wine farms on the doorstep is that even when they are really good – which Hartenberg undoubtedly is – it seems wasteful to go back when you could be experiencing something new and untried.

But maybe we need to add this one to our “let’s go back again” list, just because it was a great few hours out.

Afternoon catch up.

Posted on

Look, this is going to be a quick one. The braai is lit, and I’m running slightly late this afternoon, due to a entirely deserved and much-required 2½ hour nap just after lunchtime.

Wow, it was good.

It was a morning filled with a decent gym workout, followed by another upper body session while sanding and painting (some of) the living room. It turned out that I’d been a bit bold with the filler when doing some maintenance a couple of weeks ago, and when the time came to make it all flat again (today), there was probably more work than there should have been.

Anyway, that’s now done and it actually looks pretty good.

In other news (because I know that you are desperate to know every detail of my life), I might – might – have finally fixed the bug that has been plaguing my Garmin watch for the past couple of weeks. And if – if – I have, then I will be able to start getting Discovery points for my 10,000 steps again instead of having to rely on several (and more) hardcore workouts each week.

Might not be a big thing to you. It’s a big thing for me.

And there will likely be post on it at some time in the future so that other people don’t have to go through the same irritation that I’ve had to bear.

OK. But now I need to go. A chunk of rump, some lamb ribs and some tikka chicken are awaiting entry onto the braai grid, and I’m going helping them on their journey over the coals.

Tomorrow looks like it might be a fun day, which – if I have time – I’ll share live.