If I promise…

If I promise to do a “proper” blog post tomorrow, I think that I can probably get away with just a couple of lines tonight after a really busy day, right?

Let’s give it a go.

Frustrasie

A frustrating morning. I woke up earlier than I wanted to, right into the middle of a spell of loadshedding. And no sooner was that over, the internet went down. Sure, they warned us that this might happen because they are doing some maintenance, but for “spells of 30 minutes or an hour”.
It’s now been almost 4 hours.

Running a business?
Underpromise, then overdeliver. You’ll make friends and keep customers and everything.

And so I threw myself into the electrical project I’ve been working on. And I worked hard and got lots done, but it looks like I’ve done nothing. That’s because I found some frighteningly dodgy wiring…
[“What? In your house which “passed” its CoC with flying colours?!?”]
Yes.
…and so I had to rewire some stuff. Fiddly, difficult to get to. But now safe.

But that was enough frustration. And so I’ve come inside and given up. There’s still no internet, but at least the TV is working for some footy.

Let’s see if I can upload this via my iffy cell signal. If you’re reading this, it worked.

Guess Who’s Back?

Back again.

Eskom’s back.

Tell a friend.

Ag, there’s actually no need to tell anybody. I’m sure that this is already hot news right across the nation. I’d have posted it earlier, but I was gecko-proofing an internet switch box.

As you do.

I don’t know exactly what plans you had for this coming weekend, but I hope that they didn’t involve too much electricity. Because it does seem likely that there will be somewhat of a shortfall in the supply of that here in SA.

To be fair, we’ve had a pretty good run, especially considering the state of the system before. It was quite literally held together with duct tape and prayers, so for it to hold on seamlessly for 10 months is actually rather impressive. And hopefully this is just a blot on the landscape, a fly in the ointment, a floater in the swimming pool.

A temporary thing that can be sorted quickly and easily.

In the meantime: download the ESP app again, check your inverter settings and charge up your devices.

We’ll get through this, South Africa.

How many years is that now?

It’s the last Thursday of the month and that means that I’m heading out for the MBCC dinner this evening. And this is the first last Thursday of the month of the year, which means that we’re starting yet another year of this monthly boys’ dinner thing.

How many years is that now?

Definitely at least several. It must be getting into the late teens (if not more), and that would make it the third longest thing I’ve been a part of since I moved to SA some few years ago. That’s after football and my relationship with Mrs 6000, obviously. Without the latter, I wouldn’t even be here.
Without the other two, I might not be here either though, I guess.

I think it’s quite impressive that we’ve kept it up for so long (careful now). Personal friendships are one thing, but it takes some organisation and discipline to keep a group thing going. And amongst a group of guys… well, that’s to be applauded. Because generally, organisation and discipline aren’t necessarily up there with the most recognised of attributes for an assembly of blokes.

And so I guess we’ll celebrate in the usual manner this evening, with some beers, some decent food, chat about footy, golf, poker and not cycling, and throw in a smattering of jokes in poor taste.

I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Landing

Sometimes, my ability in the field of photography even astounds me.

This wasn’t one of those times.

But still, here’s a shot from the bedroom window, handheld [audience: no shit, sherlock] of Mrs 6000’s flight arriving back from Johannesbeagle this evening.

Her plane (a 737-8LD, as I’m sure you can see), is the small orange smudge almost dead centre, just above all the small (and large) whiter smudges. Given the weather this evening, with plenty low cloud and a strong wind, I think I did ok to even see the thing, let alone capture it in pixels.

But I doubt that this image will win any awards.

It’s just nice to have her back. It’s been a long 15 hours without her.