Here’s what happened today

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The run went “ok”, thanks for asking. Cold, hilly, muddy. Fun. My boy beat me by half a minute, exorcising the ghosts of the infamous Inch Beach Parkrun of 2023. But we finished in (I think) 5th and 6th out of 70-odd runners, and I can’t really complain about that.

My legs might complain about it tomorrow morning though.

But that wasn’t the only success of the day. And I fully recognise that this is a personal and niche success, but…

Managing somehow to rewire the light on the braai without having to resort to external help was a big win for me. Sure, it took a while, and yes, it was fiddly and awkward, but now we have a braai light that works, and so we had a braai to celebrate.

An illuminated one.

Lovely.

Hope to run

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Nice family day today. Meeting at school, and then a dash to distribute 80+ blankets to a baby charity in Retreat, thanks to Mrs 6000’s amazing organisation for a Mandela Day project. They will make a huge difference.

We got Little Miss 6000 an appointment for her learners test (now feeling old).

A quick walk on Muizenberg beach and then lunch overlooking the sea, complete with a breaching whale, before heading home to head out to horse riding (not me).

And tomorrow… Up early for a charity trail run. If I can. Still a bit battered and bruised from football, but determined to get out there and give it a go. I might end up walking it though.

It promises to be a crisp, cold morning. I’ll try to remember to take the camera.

I’m staying home this evening

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OK, I have a daughter to pick up about 10, but other than that.

But staying home mainly because I am completely broken after football last night. Everything hurts, to mangle an REM song.
Sure, we got soundly beaten, but I ran around an awful lot, and if I’m absolutely honest, we really didn’t deserve the scoreline (which I’m not going to share). Neither did I deserve the nice stud mark above my right knee and the associated bruising, but that’s just one of those things.

I’m willing to admit that most of the pain is self-inflicted, though.

Same again next week, then?

Absolutely.

Barcelona closes two cruise ship terminals

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Obviously, they’ve been reading 6000 miles…, and have decided that action is required.

Ostensibly, this is – as you can see – a plan to fight the city’s overtourism problem. And we’ve heard a lot about the clashes between tourists and locals recently. Must be equally nice and awful to have that sort of problem. But I’m not sure that Barcelona needs the money quite as much as Cape Town does. So shutting down two of your seven!!!!! cruise terminals might be a viable option to cut tourist numbers to some degree.

But then look down at that last paragraph: green power supplied to cruise ships while they are berthed. And while that doesn’t remove the tourists (the two closing cruise terminals do that) or the visual distractions, it might at least reduce the amount of pollution that these ships add to the ports in which they are staying.

Perhaps, since Cape Town is seemingly (and reasonably) anxious to grow our local cruise ship business, we should be looking at providing a similar green energy policy and hook-ups for the cruise ships visiting the Mother City? We have wind, we have sunshine, and we could place something right down in the port area without the need for extensive infrastructure like power lines.
Given how much money the cruise ships bring into the city, surely some it invested in making them a greener way of accessing Cape Town – and protecting the health of the local population – would be no bad thing.

Preserving our heritage (or “Give peas a chance”)

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News from back home about a plan to save a Peas Sign.

Ghost signs are silent storytellers, etched into the very brickwork of our communities. These faded, hand-painted advertisements offer a nostalgic glimpse into bygone eras, snapshots of commerce, culture, and everyday life.
One striking example lives on the gable end of the Cocker and Carr building: the “Natural No. 1 Processed Peas” sign. Timeworn but enduring, it speaks volumes about the area’s local identity and trading history. Its survival is thanks to the resilient oil-based paints of the past, whose pigments have weathered decades of wind, rain, and urban change.

Wow. Quite the intro.
And yes indeed, there is an old sign advertising processed peas on the gable end of the building in question:

There used to be an advertising board on that gable end, and when it was taken down, the previous advert – for No.1 Processed Peas was revealed.

I’ve no idea how old it is, but we’re probably looking at some time in the early/middle bit of last century. Sadly, it seems that the manufacturers never considered just how vague their product name would be in an internet search. Frustrating.

And great news: the plan is now to find some means of safeguarding this piece of urban heritage, so that it remains as a reminder of the past – even if it is just an ad for some tinned peas.

Preserving it is more than just restoring a wall, it’s about protecting a piece of living heritage.

I couldn’t agree more. We’re far too quick to destroy and discard these sort of historical pieces. And while stuff like this might be a bit mundane, it’s also completely irreplaceable. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
It’s not doing any harm up there on the wall. It’s not offending anyone or getting in the way of anything, so why not preserve a bit of history?

(And while they’re at it, maybe tidy up the rest of the wall, too?)
(Just a thought.)

There’s actually a heritage building being restored very close to our home here in Cape Town, which I’m delighted about. It certainly beats having 8 soulless townhouses squeezed onto a tiny footprint like they’re doing everywhere else. And once it’s finished, it will be a real icon – alongside a wonderful family home – and will be preserved for generations to come.

My only issue is that saving heritage housing does apparently seem to be a rather noisy endeavour.

If they could do something about that, it would be nice.