Was I wrong about Twitter?

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Sort of. Maybe.

Two and bit years ago, I suggested that Twitter was on its way out.

So, is this the end for Twitter? To be honest, I’d been using it less and less over the past few years. But I’ll still miss it.
Maybe it’s for the best, given the direction it was clearly about to take. Of course, Musk doesn’t think so, but the replies to his tweet are exactly the reason that I’ll miss Twitter so much when it chooses (or I choose) to give up completely.

The fact is – as I actually hinted in that post – Twitter was only dying for some of us. If you happen to be a right-wing, anti-vax, Oompa Loompa fan, then Twitter is still very much the go-to destination to meet up with like-minded people. But for everyone else, despite its obvious uses, it’s becoming more and more untenable to keep using the site.

There are still many, many interesting, erudite, important, humorous and entertaining people on the app, and still plenty of useful information, from valid local and international sources, and it’s sad that those informal bonds and communities seem likely to die the death now.

The latest to leave – that I’m aware of, anyway: I’m sure that there are thousands of others – is The Stranglers, who posted this, this week:

Of course, the news that some “aging rockers” are leaving the app won’t break Elong Muskrat’s bank – especially with all the extra subsidies he’s now dragging in via his orange buddy – but they are the latest in a long line of people moving on, just like I did.

Surely then, there will come a tipping point, where the only people left on there will be rabid Nazis. We’re not too far away from that now, with them all happily and unironically paying $8 a month to the richest guy on the planet in return for “free speech” and protection from the consequences of their words.

But the further down the Trump route that he goes, the more Nazi salutes he gives, the greater his nasty wankery becomes, surely there will be a point at which there will be a mass exodus of the mainstream companies, personalities and sports teams from Twitter, because of his ownership.

We just really need a few brave (big) people to stick their heads up above the parapet and it could be so lovely watching the platform flounder.

I do think it’s coming.

Quick QP

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I need to go and kick a football around in the silly African heat, so here’s a quick QP to keep the streak going.

I was sorting through some old images looking for a suitable print for a friend’s wall when I came across this one taken a few years back, in Agulhas.

Oooh. So ethereal!

More (and I really do mean more) tomorrow.

The end is naai

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Always wanted to use that phrase (which will mean a lot more to local readers than to anyone elsewhere). But yes, its death knell is sounding, it has one foot in the grave, it is moribund and it is clearly no longer pining for the fjords.

What is it?

Padel. Padel is what it is.

About two years ago, some sage bloke wrote a rather witty and perhaps not ever so kind piece about the this sport, which ended with the lines:

Thankfully, it won’t be around for long.
Please remember to recycle your bat on the way out.

And golly gosh, it seems like he was right. The time has come and the fad has passed.

The Daily Maverick told us last week of the upcoming complete over-saturation of the padel market and the inevitable crash that will… er… inevitably follow. Because there are lessons to be learned from those who came before SA:

Trends come and go, and a look at international markets may hold some clues for eager padel investors. In Sweden, which was once a padel pioneer, the market is now struggling with oversaturation. As a result, Swedish giant We Are Padel is applying for corporate restructuring and may have to close half of its 80 venues.

South Africa is following exactly the same trajectory as Sweden did, and look what’s happening here now:

Although the early adopters of padel were cashing in, paying off their courts within a year thanks to their 70% occupancy rates, things have shifted. Most South African padel courts now operate at just 30% to 50% occupancy, according to Roger Barrow, general manager of the Padel Building Company.

And with fewer people playing – and therefore paying – and even more courts appearing:

Virgin Active Padel Club, already home to 65 courts, plans to push that number to nearly 100 by mid-2025

it’s surely only a matter of time before the bottom drops out of the market.

Oh no.

Hey, and to add to those woes, there’s the sudden appearance of Pickleball.

Looks like you came to the wrong neighbourhood, motherfunster.

Pickleball is another sport that shit tennis players can try to play to help them forget just how bad they are at tennis.
But I won’t be joining them because (contrary to popular belief) I’m not an septuagenarian living in a Florida retirement complex.

Yet.

Anyway, Pickleball is seen as “a market disruptor” (for translation, see this post), and probably the only thing that will keep local Padel players from defecting is the fact that Pickleball is crazily accessible to many more of the economic demographics, unlike the rather elite and aloof Padel, which for starters, has to be played in a huge aquarium.

Either way, though. It’s clear that the end is indeed naai, Padel naaiers.

Hate to say I told you so.

2017 Sunset

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I was looking through some old images earlier when I found this one of a Suiderstrand sunset.

Obviously a lot has changed since this was taken back in December 2017. Not just in Suiderstrand (none of which you can see anyway), but in the world in general. Not even Cyril was in charge back when this was taken. Of course, there are some who would say he’s never really been in charge.

Anyway, rich, golden tones over the most very easterly bit of the Atlantic Ocean. And the lagoon somewhere down there too.