Not a great day

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It’s hard not to be a bit down when you wake up to wind, rain, poor service and no electricity. And then the bad news is compounded by the first two things served to you on social media. All a bit much for a Monday morning.

Still, a problem shared is a blog post written, so let’s go for it.

I mentioned the weather yesterday, so this wasn’t unexpected. And yes, it’s great for the garden. But as I write – and with the rain still coming down hard – we’re looking at over 33% of the rain in the last four months having fallen in the last six hours. It’s dark and chilly and wintery.

And there’s no electricity.

“So how are you writing this, then?” I hear you ask.

Well, the answer is that I am peddling hard on my exercise bike, which I have hooked up to the grid at home. And we’re all good, as long as I can keep up the speed. If I slow down, however, then th

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exactly.

Stage 6 loadshedding today, then (and remember as a rule of thumb, number of hours without electricity each day = Stage x 2) because of the breakdown of 8 (eight) generating units across the country, and the tacit promise of possibly more issues ahead because of the rains up north.

A true taste of what’s to come this winter. And it’s not pleasant.

Then, news that two World Tours have actually made it to South Africa. This has been a long-term gripe for a lot of people down here, and rightly so. We’ve mentioned it more than once, as well. So what I’m about to say might seem a little hypocritical, but I’m going to say it anyway.

The quality of the bands that are coming to SA… isn’t great.

I mean, like this:

This band coming over is problematic for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the fact that this will count as a potential strike against our indignation at being left out of numerous other “world” tours.
The argument will be: “You say that bands never come to SA, but I saw that the Backstreet Boys included two dates on their recent tour”, like that’s a feather in South Africa’s cap when the band in question haven’t had a hit record in almost 25 years, and clearly just need a bit of extra pocket money for drugs and plastic/orthopaedic surgery.

And secondly, the number of individuals using the line “Backstreet’s Back, alright!” when they hear the news. Don’t do it, please.

We don’t need this. Although, they did give us this amazing TV moment.

Amazing.

But the Backstreet Boys being back, alright! is still better – far, far better – than the other “world” “tour” that’s coming here. Because if you want to talk about grifters out to make a quick buck from a naïve public, well, you really need look no further:

Ah, jesus. What utter trash. The Mattias Rath of this age, peddling snake oil and pseudoscience to a sadly desperate public. And yes, the talk will be free, but don’t expect that there won’t be book sales and voluntary donations and supplements to buy and, and, and… Because if you think that this charlatan is doing this out of the goodness of his own heart (no pun intended), well, then you’re his perfect audience member.

Eish. What a day.

Oh. Wait. I mentioned poor service as well, didn’t I?

Well, the kitchen is still. not. finished. And they haven’t turned up to do anything about that this morning.

This week, and I say this with some degree of (probably misplaced) confidence, can surely only get better.

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Right?

The weather: lots going on

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I mentioned that there were some rather awful conditions on the higher inland part of my journey on Friday. And then how Saturday was an absolute peach of a day. Today is also stunning: light breeze, near cloudless skies, 26oC. But tomorrow… tomorrow looks like fun. Here’s a weather IR view of the country and surrounds taken about an hour ago:

Top right (purple, round) is Tropical Cyclone Freddy. It’s heading towards Madagascar and has sustained wind speeds of 250kph within. That’s the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. Landfall is not going to be pretty.

Then there’s an arc of thunderstorms (orange and red blotches) across the North East of SA. They’re curling down across Botswana and Namibia and might even get down as far as the Western Cape. But they’re likely to be pushed back by that huge cold front (multicoloured swoosh) in the bottom left.
That’s going to hit Cape Town tomorrow and promises to bring “high intensity” rain and strong winds to the Western Cape.

It’s not like we don’t need the rain. We just don’t need it all in one go.

My apps are suggesting the wind turning to the NW late this evening and then increasing in strength throughout the morning. The rain seems to arrive just before dawn, with the heaviest stuff mid to late morning, correlating with the wind which could gust to 92kph.

According to sources, it “demands absolute attention”, so while it’s not a Freddy in any way, shape or form, it’s still probably best not to underestimate it.

Stay safe.

Hoopoe avoidance

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I know, I know. This is going to be another of those seemingly ubiquitous blog posts about avoiding African birdlife. I’ve actually no idea if anyone will read this: it’ll likely get lost in amongst other transient literary offerings like “We missed a Jacana” and “Grey Hornbill Evasion”. Still, needs must.

It’s actually great that after such a horrible journey yesterday, today’s trip back was so uneventful that Hoopoe Avoidance was the biggest thing that happened in the approximately 3 hour long drive. But after a great start to the day and a good 6km along the beach in Suiderstrand and beyond, I set off into the sunshine and headed home. It was a lovely drive: Radcliffe & Maconie joining me for much of it, and then The Lathums filling in for the last 45 minutes or so. The roads were deliciously empty, the scenery was beautiful and all was well.

In fact – and here we go – the only even mildly concerning incident was just north of Bredasdorp, just round the corner after the R317 Stormsvlei turnoff – you know the one.

A sudden flash of orange across the windscreen: had someone flung some Clivias at me (again?). This is always happening to me*.

But no, this was an African Hoopoe, with a bright orange body (like a clivia) and its black and white wings only visible as it dodged across the right hand side of the car. I probably missed it by a few metres.
The hoopoe made it safely into the (alien) trees on the other side of the road. I continued heading north on the R316 towards Napier.

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That’s it. That’s the blog post.

* it’s not

Quick trip

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A quick, functional trip down to Agulhas today. And the luxury of a morning departure to avoid the traffic. I had considered coming back today as well, such was the simplicity of the one task in hand. But after a surprisingly horrendous journey down: dark, miserable, zero visibility, and lashed with driving rain all the way from Grabouw to beyond Caledon – plus an apparently fatal accident on the R316 (not me) – I’m glad that I put measures in place to do an overnight stop. Not the greatest of drives to the Southern Tip.

Only one slight issue now I’m here: some really iffy cellphone signal. And I rely on that signal for my internet, so my plan of a few games of Geoguessr tonight seems rather optimistic.
Anyway, if you’re seeing this post, something has happened to get it uploaded. It might be that I have got lucky with the local cell tower (not like that), or it might be that I have gone somewhere to find some bars. Either way, thanks for reading.

With a bout of loadshedding coming up later this evening (that won’t help the mobile network), and the wind allegedly due to drop a bit, it looks like a quick solo braai will be the order of the day for dinner, and maybe an early night. I’m going to attempt a bit of a run tomorrow morning, and then it’ll be back on the road to Cape Town for an early afternoon appointment with United’s trip to Millwall.

So now, let’s hit the PUBLISH button and see what happens…

EDIT: Nothing. Nothing happened.

EDIT 2: I think I’ve found a place with some signal! Thank goodness it’s low tide. I draw the line at swimming to give you a blog post.

Great Braai-dea

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Spotted on Twitter and shared here because… well… just look at it.

The image is hilarious. The commentary just makes it even better.

But hedgehog is delicious. Remember the crisps?
Of course you do.

Obviously – for the bunnyhuggers amongst you – this hedgehog isn’t about to be braaied – it’s just having an X-ray. Mind you, set the timer wrong and I guess it would be pretty much the same outcome.