Ugh. Sp0.0nsorship

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I learned yesterday that all the London Underground stations and lines with a double O in their name (and some popular ones that don’t even have a double O in their name) are now sponsored by Heineken 0.0.

It tastes terrible, by the way.

But that’s not really the issue here. Is this a bit of corporate marketing fun, or is this actually a bit rubbish?

Answer: It’s both.

What?
Oxf0.0rd Circus doesn’t even work. If you already have to start making crap up after you’re done with Bakerloo and Waterloo, then this is a campaign that probably shouldn’t have got further than the drawing board.

And to those who say that it’s not confusing and just a bit of harmless fun, that map advert above on the left has got Kilburn Park and Maida Vale in the wrong order.

Well done!
Is this a lack of effort? A lack of attention? A lack of just… caring?

Whatever. Maps are meant to be maps: to help you get from A to B (or to 0.0) as easily and clearly as possible. They aren’t meant to be adverts.

And yes, there are bigger things to be concerned about going on in the world at the moment, but I (and hopefully you) have the brain capacity to be concerned about more than one problem.

No. Less of this kind of thing, please.

Flycatchers in Jonkershoek

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That was a nice day out.

A drive to Stellenbosch, and then out into the Jonkershoek Valley, where we stopped off at the Oude Nektar Gardens and had a wander in the peace and quiet, taking in the fresh air and the amazing trees, flowers, lawns and birds. Which included plenty (or more) Black Saw-Wings (Psalidoprocne pristoptera) overhead, and at least a couple of flycatchers nearer the ground:

That’s the Fiscal Flycatcher (Sigelus silens) on the left, and the African Dusky Flycatcher (Muscicapa adusta) on the right. The size is a bit off, because the Dusky Flycatcher is small, but the Fiscal Flycatcher is Far Away.

But they are always nice to see, anyway. Whatever size and wherever they were.

Then next door to Stark-Condé for some wine tasting and lunch.
Both were really good, but certainly not cheap:

When did R60 per wine for a tasting become a thing? Could we not organise some sort of locals rate, please?

That said, we did particularly enjoy their Cabernet Sauvignon and their – wait for it – Oude Nektar Red Blend. We tried the 2022 vintage of the latter, and you could definitely taste the potential. It really just needed a few more years.

And (of course), they’ll do that cellaring for you, but (of course) you’ll pay a pretty penny. The 2015 vintage comes in at a cool R1950 a bottle. I can imagine that it would be rather amazing, but that’s a lot for a bottle of wine, when you’re (mostly) just a happy quaffer.

And so we enjoyed some really good Eastern Cape fillet with the 2022 version of their CabSav, had a leisurely walk around the beautiful lake:

…and headed home happy.

Almost the same

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We went to watch some cricket last night. We almost didn’t get to see any cricket because of the only rain Cape Town has seen in about 2 months (and is only likely to see for the next 2 months), but all ended well with a dramatic, shortened match.

And then, as we left, this image:

Which weirdly reminded me of another – from a different time and place – that I had seen while going through some old images earlier in the week:

The sun is a floodlight, the dust is drizzle, the tree… well, that’s also a floodlight, and the buffaloes are the happy punters heading into the night.

Same same, really.

Tomorrow: wine tasting!
Watch this space.

It’s not as easy as it should be

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It’s not actually that easy to set up a new phone from scratch.
And maybe that’s a good thing.

As I said the other day, I got a new phone recently, and I am using the opportunity to de-clutter my handheld mobile experience. That’s all well and good, but it does mean that I can’t just press the magic Google button and transfer everything over onto my new device.

And so there has been a bit of picking and choosing, and then once there is a picked and chosen situation, you have to log in to each of those new accounts on the new device. Extra authentication is obviously enabled on everything I use, adding at least two extra steps each time, and some things just don’t want to work at all – more Sweet FA than 2FA. I can’t transfer my banking app over (the QR code just won’t scan), and I can’t log into Reddit at all, even though I’m still logged in on my laptop.
Whatsapp – as one might expect – is being an utter bastard.

But I guess that the trouble I’m having to go to is at least somewhat reassuring in that my online life seems quite well – too well? – protected.

And so I suppose that it would have made things a lot easier if I had just pressed the magic button and then let Google do its thing. But then I would have spent a lot of time deleting apps and data and things. Or would I? Would I just have been lazy and be left with a new, sparkly, but full and cluttered phone?

Mmm. Probably.

And so I’ll keep going with this new, minimalist approach and see if I can conquer the gremlins and the demons of just being able to log into an app. Jeez. It really shouldn’t be rocket surgery.

Oh – the camera on this thing, by the way – very nice.

Spotted online

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This quote:

If you think about the vastness of space, and how enormous our galaxy is, how big our planet is, and how small we are, I’m not really eating that much cheese.

Please feel free to substitute braai meat, Castle Milk Stout or chips.

I know it’s not healthy, but it’s not every day (well, it is at the moment, but…).

Holiday time. And it’s really not that much cheese.

Look at the bigger picture.