Welcome to South Africa

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Occasionally, I use a service called UCOOK. they deliver recipes and ingredients, or they deliver ready made meals for you to reheat. It’s not cheap, but in the first instance above, it’s quite fun to make something different, and in the second, it can be very convenient.

I will be more likely to use UCOOK when they have a special offer on. Usually it’s some wine with your meal, but today’s offer was for some Stella Artois and some Stella Artois chalices.
Yes. Chalices. That’s what they’re called.

I was expecting delivery before 5pm, but then I got this SMS, which I could only ever have got in South Africa:

“Apologies for the inconvenience”? Never mind that, tell me if the damn driver is ok. I’m not even particularly bothered about my glasses chalices. I can’t believe that a UCOOK truck filled only with frozen craft pizzas and a few cans of Stella got hijacked.

I mean, it’s not exactly a high risk shipment, is it? It’s not cold, hard cash or expensive jewellery or illicit drugs. It’s pizza and beer. And not even a lot of pizza and beer. You could hijack a pizza van and a beer van and get loads more (albeit for twice the effort). And you’ve still got to cook the pizza and cool the beer – no mean feat given the fact that there’s zero electricity around at the moment.

It’s just a bizarre – and uniquely South African – thing to happen.

On a more serious note, I have emailed UCOOK to enquire as to the well-being of their driver, and to pass on our support and sympathy. I’ll drop some feedback here when I get it.

The Shining Path

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No, not that one.

I have a list of jobs to do which is growing longer by the day, rather than shorter. For every one I get rid of, another two seem to spring up…

The Hydra possessed many heads, the exact number of which varies according to the source. Later versions of the Hydra story add a regeneration feature to the monster: for every head chopped off, the Hydra would regrow two heads.

In keeping with the mythical hydra theme, my jobs list also has poisonous breath and blood so virulent that even its scent is deadly.

It’s no wonder I’m trying to keep my distance.

One of the jobs is editing photos. And I’ve had to subdivide that one. Still outstanding are the Elgin Train Trip, the Robben Island Tour and our Mossel Bay Road Trip. And a few smaller events in between.

Right now, I’m occasionally dipping in and out of Lightroom and trying to get a bit of rhythm going on Instagram. And that’s probably the best place to watch out for images at the moment, given the number of other potentially more pressing tasks that still await my attention.

Like the one above, looking down the shiny line between Eerste Rivier and Bellville on the way back from Saturday’s adventure. More like that coming soon on all major platforms (no train pun intended).

Also… don’t forget to subscribe for all the latest posts from 6000 miles… Many thanks to all those who have already done so. Your support is appreciated. 🙂

Resubscribe now!

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There are many ways in which you can be notified of a new post here at 6000 miles…

  • You could simply pop over to the blog, using the address 6000.co.za, and see what’s been going on since your last visit.
  • You might notice that a new post has been announced if you follow me on twitter.
  • Or if you ‘LIKE’ the blog on Facebook, we’ll probably appear somewhere in your feed each time a new post is published.

But what if you’re sensible and you don’t do social media? What then?

There used to be an email subscription option, but sadly it developed some security issues (not for the subscribers, I hasten to add: it was the back end of the blog that was in danger), and it got canned by WordPress at very short notice.

And so I have instituted a new one: you’ll find it towards the bottom of the sidebar on the right, or if you’re on a mobile device, simply scroll down to the bottom of the page. Look for the word “subscribe…”.

All you have to do is enter your email address in the box provided, confirm via the link delivered to your inbox, and you’re all set. You’ll get an email telling you each time a new post is published on here, you’ll get no spam – guaranteed! – and should you foolishly wish to unsubscribe at any time, it’s just a couple of clicks away.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using the other methods as well, but sometimes a simple email is the best way forward. And thanks to the “instantaneous” feature on the new plugin, you’ll be the first to know each and every time I put pen to paper pixel to screen.

(Re) Subscribe now! It would actually be foolish not to.

Goodbye MTW

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Friday evening saw the broadcast of the last episode of popular BBC comedy panel show Mock The Week, after 17 glorious years.

I will miss it.

Still, at least they went out with a bang…

Oof.

If you need your Dara O’Briain fix, he’s on the current series of Taskmaster on the UK’s Channel 4, and I’d highly recommend that show to top up your now much-depleted laughter bank.

Train trip excitement

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Took the steam train to Elgin today. I’m still on it. It’s all romantic and everything, but they have to attach a couple of diesel electric engines to it to get it up the hill at Sir Lowry’s Pass.

Sadly, this being South Africa, one of those diesels broke down, meaning that the train was pulling deadweight, the wheels were spinning, sparking, and causing fires under the carriages.

Thankfully, because we were going so painfully slowly, staff were able to get all alongside, putting out the fires as they occurred.

We’ve dumped a few carriages now, and we’re back underway.

Hopefully, we haven’t started any wildfires along the way…