Two videos

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Opposite ends of the planet, but both mildly relevant to me.

First off, Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder. All of United’s press conferences used to be recorded, edited and shared. But this season – for the first time ever – they’re live streamed.

See if you can notice when Wilder realises this in the video below.

Press conference errors aside though, it’s so good to see this guy smiling again after last seasons travails.

And then, this:

The weather in Cape Town continues to be pretty bloody awful, and – had it been a bit better – I was going down to the glamourous Access Park today to explore their sports shoe shops. Thankfully, because it was so nasty out, I didn’t. (But then, I suppose, if it had been a bit better, then the big thing wouldn’t have fallen down.)

As anyone familiar with this delightful place will surely attest, it’s all rather shabby. But you would have thought that they could have used some decent metalwork in the big sign at the gate, at least.

On the plus side, after this nastiness is done with (feels like -4, WTF?!?):

Check out the rest of the week:

21o isn’t going to break any records, but I’m loving those big yellow balls. (Careful now.)

And we might (for the first time in a long while) have a Spring-like Spring Day.

Age old problem solved

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It happens to us all from time to time, but it really is frightfully embarrassing when you forget your butler’s name.

Er… when one forgets one’s butler’s name, of course.

Anyway, perennial favourite here on 6000 miles…, Alasdair Beckett-King, has come up with the perfect solution, ensuring that you never have to worry about facing that sort of ignominy again.

As he says, anywhere between Wrexham and Manchester will do. And here’s a map to help you out, should you be a bit vague on the stations in that area:

But does it work?

Let’s give it a try.

I say, Cuddington. Could you ensure that dinner is served no earlier than 6 o’clock this evening? I wish to watch the entirety of the Bournemouth versus Newcastle United football match and I do not wish to have concerns over missing Mrs Otterpool’s soup course.

Very good, Sir.

Thank you, Cuddington.

Clearly, yes, it does.

Sunday morning glamour

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I was up foolishly early for a Sunday, ready to answer the usual deluge of inquisitive emails and social media posts as to what glamourous activities I’ll be getting up to today and for the week, in my position as one of the top bloggers in South Africa.

But sometimes, the organisation isn’t always as good as it could be, and I’m still wondering if I’ll be running the kids to school and extra-murals or heading off on an all expenses paid trip to the Maldives this week. I mean, the latter has never happened before in 20+ years of blogging, but you live in hope and you never say never.

The tough choices have started early today, with decisions to be made as to whether to head off to the gym across the garden in the rain, or do a “proper clean” of the coffee machine.

Anyway, suffice to say the Nespresso machine…

Shush.

…is now gleaming, and I think that one day, we’ll be able to look back with some pride on holding the esteemed title of “Most Recently Descaled Kettle in Cape Town”, for at least a brief period.

But what now? It’s still miserable out, Carlton vs St Kilda (9-5-59 to 10-8-68 at ¾ time) on the TV is deliciously scrappy, but not really that engaging*, the garden is as ready as it’s ever going to be for the upcoming stormy days, the fireplace is primed for use this afternoon, and I can’t go into one end of the kitchen without sunglasses.

And still no flight or accommodation details for the Seychelles.

Or anywhere else.

I’m running out of excuses to not get on the static bike…

Damn.

* UPDATE: It got good. Last kick of the game win for St Kilda. Unbelievabeagle scenes.

New feature

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Generally, when I want to insert an image into a blog post on here, I have a few options. Upload it from my phone, upload it from my laptop, share it from a URL or select it from my media library. That last one assumes that I’ve already uploaded it into the library the first place, of course.

But now there’s a new option:

Do I need this? Probably not, but:

It’s starting to feel a little like AI everything, everywhere, all at once.

And yep, it’s there and it’s free, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Here’s what I asked it to do:

Imagine the most South African image you can. Lots of different African wildlife wearing Green and gold shirts. They are at a braai at sunset time. Table Mountain is in the background.

And here’s what it gave me:

I’m actually quite impressed. Yes, there are tigers. Yes, there’s a huge Eland/Kudu/Alien beast on the left, and a terrifying “thing” next to the central tiger, and the lion’s legs on the right don’t join up with the rest of the lion, but otherwise… not bad.

Is this now my image, or does it belong to WordPress? Or some third-party AI provider?

I doubt that anyone will want to steal it, anyway.

I can make two of these images, apparently. I’m still not quite sure if it’s two per post, two per day, two per month or two: ever. I’m also not sure what I will ever use it for.

But you’ve got to have a bit of AI in your stuff these days – it’s the rules – and here’s mine.

Like a kipper

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What a morning. The sun was out. The solar was PUMPING. Really breezy, but it felt… Summery.

But this afternoon, I’ve been done up like a kipper.

It’s riding Friday (not me), and after the incredibly warm, sunny – but really windy weather over our side of the mountain – I asked the riding instructor what the weather was like over on the her side.

It’s lovely out. Slight warm breeze.

Shorts will be comfortable, I reckon.

And so I went with it.

Yeah. But Cape Town doesn’t play.

Four seasons in one day is nothing. Because I genuinely believe that the instructor was telling the truth – we’ve all been so desperate for some sunshine – but in the 20 minutes that it took to get over here…

THINGS HAVE CHANGED.

The wind has picked up, the cloud has rolled in, the sun has gone.

I’m sheltering behind the henhouse (not a euphemism), but it’s still rather chilly. Especially around the leg areas. I mean, I’ll definitely survive, but – for the record – shorts were not comfortable.

I’ve been done up like a kipper.