Quocust

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Quocust = Quota Locust.

Obviously.

I’ve been going through some images from earlier in the year: mainly just to check that they’d all been backed up successfully onto the family server and the external hard drive (they had). And I found myself tinkering in Lightroom with the odd one here or there. This was one of them, taken on our footy club’s weekend away in April. These guys (the insect here, not the footy club) are fairly common visitors to our back garden in Cape Town, although this one was a little further inland.

This is a Garden Locust (Acanthacris ruficornis). Fairly innocuous on his own, but you wouldn’t want too many of them around, nibbling your plants and eating your crops. There’s no scale here, but he’s probably about 7cm long.

I don’t really remember taking this photo, but I actually quite like the way that I’ve thrown caution to the wind as far as considering any sort of balance to the image.

It still works. (For me, at least.)

The Gentlemen

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We’ve just finished binging The Gentlemen on Netflix, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Those of you know me, know that I don’t do this sort of thing often or lightly, so this must have been good.

First, find a really good writer and an all-star cast, and then this far-fetched – but thoroughly absorbing – tale can begin.

The idea of a collision between the worlds of organised crime and the British aristocracy, the exploration of each of those places from the previously oblivious other side of the fence, and the bleeding of one into the other is an interesting watch: sometimes jarring, often humorous, but always entertaining.

Fair disclosure at the start here: the storyline is sometimes a bit silly, and often rather “convenient”, but you need to overlook that (and it’s really easy to do), because the cinematography, the music, the humour and the characters are just incredible. Larger than life, just enough backstory, living large in their own weird and horrific world parallel to ours, where illegality and violence are the norm, with just enough honour amongst thieves to make them occasionally seem like decent people.

And this guy…

An utterly compelling performance of a terrifying individual living in a bipolar world of simultaneous complete peace and horrific violence, yet seemingly only existing in perpetual tranquility. Dangerously unhinged, but outwardly so very calm and completely in control. The constant contradictions are so delicious.

Here’s the trailer [WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE] The Gentlemen trailer – click through at your own risk. But it is so good. And so funny.

For the record, the nastiest violence is never on screen: always implied. The fight scenes etc aren’t pretty, but there’s nothing you couldn’t see the like of on your local sports channel most Saturdays.

6000 Recommends. Give it a go.

A good night out – unless you are South Sudan*

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* or you needed more than 4½ hours sleep.

We went down to the DHL Stadium in Cape Town last night for the AFCON qualifier between South Africa and South Sudan. As I mentioned yesterday, this match didn’t matter too much, with SA already qualified, and SS already… not. And so it was a bit of a free hit, and an opportunity to celebrate both the qualification and the first Bafana Bafana game in Cape Town in 9 (nine) years.

And although the early kick off made it tough for a lot of people to get there on time, the stadium did fill up and there was a really joyous and jubilant atmosphere. A properly fun occasion.

Cape Town didn’t miss out on the chance to show off, as well.

It finished in a (more than) comfortable 3-0 win for the hosts in front of a passionate crowd; South Sudan almost being too bad to play well against. And – once the traffic had cleared – we made a quick trip to the Dark Horse for post-match drinks and bar snacks (OMG, the Prego Bruschetta!).

I’m not saying what time I got home (or in what sort of state), but you’ve seen the footnote beneath the title, and you know that I’ll be in bed by 8:30 tonight in an effort to make up for any lost time in Sleepsville, Western Cape last night.

Football this evening

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Not playing, like we do most Tuesday evenings in Green Point.

No. Watching, like we are doing this Tuesday evening in Green Point.

When we bought tickets, South Africa v South Sudan could have been an all-important, must-win game for Bafana Bafana. But because of results in the intervening period (a win for each of them, as it happens), it doesn’t matter quite as much.

Still, a nice home win in front of a sold out (2 tiers) crowd would be very welcome. And it’s been too long since I’ve watched live footy. So we’re going to go down there and enjoy it.

And then eat some tentacles at the home of tentacles a little later.

On That Whale

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A dead humpback whale was brought ashore onto Hout Bay beach this weekend. This is very unfortunate, but is also just one of those things that happens. You don’t need to blame climate change or toxic oceans here: animals sometimes die, and animals sometimes die in the sea close to a shoreline. And if they are a 14m, 35 tonne humpback whale, you’re possibly more likely to notice them than if they were a small crab. Sadly, they can also be a bit of a hazard. Aside from the smell and the health risks, whale carcasses on the shoreline can also attract sharks, and so removal of the carcass is something that needs to happen timeously.

Usually, the whales which are washed up around the Cape Town coastline are taken – by truck – to the landfill site at Vissershoek. This is a fairly unusual thing, but we’re probably looking at a few every year, so it’s hardly unheard of.

This one seems to have caused a bit of stir though. Maybe because it was moved on a weekend and a nice day when people were out and about.

And just look who commented! With that emoji.

It’s always sad when a family member passes on. Sorry for your loss.

But it was the Reddit post referenced in the link above that really got me laughing.
The original question here:

Was answered in typical Reddit form by a super helpful local user:

“Probably dead”? Amazing.

You think?

Not just popping out of the water and onto a low loader for a Township Tour of Imizamo Yethu and a drink or two in the Constantia Valley before being dropped back into the Atlantic, then?

Dead, you say?

Yes, I think you might be right.

Probably.