Busy today, although it did include sushi for lunch and beer in front of the TV, but that’s time that’s not being spent blogging.
So step forward a quota photo of Table Mountain, taken from the Waterfront.
Better and bigger on Flickr.
Tomorrow, possibly more writing, although equally, possibly not.
Despite being the second city of Norway, Bergen is actually pretty small. But it seems like there are still loads of things to do there. The thing is, you might not have ever so much time. We don’t, so I was delighted to find a blog post entitled:
Explore Bergen In 1 Day – The Complete Guide
Thing is, I’m now just a bit unsure exactly how long 1 Bergen day is. Because the blogger in question managed to fit: 1 funicular ride to a scenic viewpoint, 1 historical UNESCO heritage site, a market, an aquarium, a castle, 4 museums and 2 hours of shopping into his one day in Bergen.
Blimey.
I can’t imagine that Parichay Mehta (for it is he) saw any of these places in great detail. Allowing for a reasonable amount of travel time between them, we’re looking at about half an hour per visit. Still, it has at least given us a bit of a heads up as to what’s on offer, given that we have… wait for it… a whole 1 AND A HALF days in Bergen.
Which of course means 45 minutes per attraction. And given that tourism is very much our secondary reason for visiting, that seems more than reasonable.
Oh, and we’re going to do one of these as well, because you don’t go to Bergen and not do The Sognefjord (apparently). Cannot wait.
(Obviously, when we go, I’ll do a more sensible ‘Bergen in a limited amount of time’ post.)
On fairly regular occasions on this blog, we have taken the pi… we have taken the mickey out of state-owned electricity generating behemoth, Eskom. You can look here for most all of those posts.
But, credit where it is due, it does seem like Brian Molefe has begun some sort of turnaround at the much maligned power utility. There was a very positive – if characteristically honest – press conference this morning, at which these lines were uttered:
We don’t foresee load-shedding for the year unless something goes terribly wrong, but it is still conceivable because we are not out of the woods yet.
Fair enough – and they’ve done well right over summer (the last loadshedding was on 14th September 2015), so who’s to say that it might not continue through winter too – especially with new projects coming online as well:
The successful synchronisation of unit three of the R25bn Ingula hydro pump storage scheme to the grid last week will add 333MW, reducing pressure on the grid and allowing Eskom to undertake its maintenance programme.
Ingula is basically a huge version of the Steenbras pumped-storage scheme, which saved Cape Town from loadshedding on several occasions last winter.
In fact, the future’s so bright, we may have to wear some sort of eye protection:
Mr Molefe said Eskom was working very hard to conclude its construction of the Medupe and Kusile power stations ahead of target. The two power stations and Ingula will add about 11,000MW to the grid on completion of them all in about five years’ time.
On completion, he said, SA would have enough electricity for economic growth and perhaps even a surplus to sell to its neighbours.
A surplus? Blimey.
Of course, there are still uncertainties – like the fact that there’s not ever so much water to run through the Ingula turbines at the moment, and like the vicious circle of the crappy economy caused by the shortage of electricity meaning that Eskom will have to pay more for its loans, meaning that prices will have to go up (again) or less maintenance and building will be possible.
But generally, better – right?
UPDATE: Here’s an alternative view though:
The improved outlook is less about what the state power utility is doing and more to do with an economic slowdown.
OK, that’s not great. But still… no loadshedding, right? #GlassHalfFull
Hate your job?
Obviously, being a research scientist [only ever so slightly back from being] right on the cutting edge of science, this isn’t a problem that I face on a daily basis. Because mundane stuff like malfunctioning incubators, staff on long-term sick leave and a soul-destroyingly meagre paycheck never make you feel like work is a struggle and that you would have been far better off as an astronaut or a train driver like you wanted to be when you were 5. Those things don’t apply to cutting edge research science. Oh no.
Still, it’s nice to know that there are options, should you, you know, ever feel that way.
That advice (as you can probably see) supplied to us by @Michael1979, whose timeline makes it look like he’s never faced these sort of issues.
It was on or about this time last year that the Huge Cape Town Fire Of Twenty Fifteen was finally extinguished. And that seems as tenuous good a reason as any to share this acoustic version of Bridlington duo Seafret’s single Wildfire:
For the original, with its psychologically-challenging video, you’ll need to read this post from last year.
Lovely.