Best song of the year (so far?)

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I know that musical taste is a personal thing, and that some people don’t even look (or listen?) to the music stuff on this blog, but it’s a chunk of my life, so I like to stick it on here. #MMIRIM, remember?

And this latest Baxter Dury track has got me hooked. (Previous Baxter Dury posts are here.)

New album next week, you say? Even more hooked.

Are we allowed to suggest Pet Shop Boys vibes? I think so. But then with that instantly recognisable gravelly voice over the top, that bitter, personal feel, and lyrics like:

An aisle seat on a cheap airline
Trying to get to Lithuania
I think of you to calm my nerves

it could only be Baxter.

Now if we can only get that dreadful stand-in 6Music DJ to pronounce the title correctly, we’ll be golden.

And there’s so much room for remixing here. Give the right people a bit of time and opportunity and I’m going to be pumping this 24/7 in the gym. Doing backflips on MDMA.

(That’s another lyric by the way.)
(And probably not a great idea, healthwise.)

Beyond the curtain

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I’m heading North this afternoon, out beyond the infamous Boerewors Curtain. That’s the line between the English-speaking South of Cape Town, and the Afrikaans-speaking North.

Cue the “Don’t forget your passport!” jokes.

But it is a bit like that.

It’s not the only Cape curtain though. Between the Southern Suburbs and the Deep South is the Lentil Curtain. And so we exist between the two: eating meat like our Northern neighbours and occasionally enjoying a salad like the hippies in the south.

But I digress. Often.

Today is about racehorsing, and Durbanville is the course in question. It’s very much the smaller of the two courses in Cape Town but it has a nice homely, personal feel to it, and it’s always a nice friendly place to go.

And after that, dinner at Signal Gun – on a school night, nogal – hopefully celebrating a winner (or two).

Did you make the list?

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Which list? Well, the name of storm names for the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands for the 2025/26 season, of course!

Some of them are clearly UK names, some are clearly Irish and some are clearly Dutch, and no-one seems really sure how they are chosen.

Although…

Hmm.

And there has been much comment on that last one: “Wubbo” – which of course, and as you can see, is pronounced “Vuh-boh”.

“I refuse to die in a storm called Wubbo,” stated one person ‘on the socials’, but to the Dutch, Wubbo is a famous name. Remember Wubbo Ockels – the first Dutch astronaut? His journey to space on the Challenger space shuttle (mission STS-61-A) in 1985 was made even more impressive than most, given that he probably had to start from below sea level, being from the Netherlands and all.

Amazing.

Mind you, if they do get through to Wubbo, that’ll be 21 major storms and that would be very bad news for those bits of Europe.

But you’d never rule it out because of Climate Change.

I note that there was no requirement to help us out with the pronunciation of “Dave” or “Eddie”. And I do wonder if Storm Bram (when it comes) will leave a mysterious shipwreck upon the beach at Whitby…

“But, strangest of all, the very instant the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below … and running forward, jumped from the bow on to the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard hangs over the laneway to the East Pier … it disappeared in the darkness.
Also, please take care on the A171 Guisborough Road, where there are reports of a fallen tree.”

Beneath Budapest

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A little pushed for time this evening, so please can I send you elsewhere (and request that you come back here again tomorrow)?

And the elsewhere is this CNN article on the hidden thermal caves beneath Budapest.

Some really interesting information:

Molnár János is still alive and growing. Water rich in hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide continues to percolate through the rock, creating a mildly acidic cocktail that eats at the walls. The result is a Swiss cheese labyrinth of chambers and passages.

And some stunning images:

I’ve been to Budapest a few times, and I had no idea about any of this.

I probably should have asked more questions.

A good weekend

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We headed down to Agulhas in the dark on Friday. That meant that we managed to get a whole Friday afternoon of activities in Cape Town and still wake up down at the Southern Tip on Saturday morning.

And actually, I have no issue with driving down the R316 at any time of the day or night. Always fun.

And it was a fun family weekend with some superb weather.

Walking on the beach, braai’ing and games night yesterday.

And then, after a lovely lie in, 8½kms  barefoot along Struisbaai beach with some considerable pace and speed. And yes, some blisters on my toes, but I’ll probably survive.

Home in time for a bit of footy on the TV and off to bed before the new week kicks off horribly early tomorrow.