Bye Bye Bakkies…

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People have a tendency to look at people’s careers through rose-tinted spectacles upon their retirement.

It’s ok though, I don’t struggle with that sort of thing:

bakkies

I was at Newlands for the 2010 dangerous play incident, when 120kg Bakkies cleared his 75kg Springbok teammate Gio Aplon out of a ruck, shoulder first. [Video]

Because of his suspension for that incident, Bakkies fans had to wait a full 7 weeks for his next misdemeanor – this, a full 29 seconds into the Tri-Nations game against New Zealand:

(Which prompted this rant from JD Bryce.)

When we’re being regularly reminded how sports stars must act as role models, I can’t say that Bakkies’ retirement will be a big loss to rugby. Less of that sort of example, please.

Great player? Perhaps.
Thug? Most certainly.

And it’s that latter category that I  and many others will remember him for.

Sonia is unhappy about loadshedding

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Look. No-one is happy about loadshedding. What’s to be happy about not having power for a few hours several times a week? It’s annoying, it’s disruptive, it’s frustrating.
But some people are more unhappy than others. Maybe that’s cos they just don’t get it. I think that maybe Sonia is one of those people.

Loadshedding, for those uninitiated in this relatively recently-founded South African pastime, is where there’s simply not enough electricity to go around and so the municipality cuts power from certain areas at certain times in order to conserve power and protect the grid. We’re given schedules to tell us when we’re likely to be cut off, but it’s not an exact science.

What follows is the comments thread (never read the comments thread) from a City of Cape Town post on Facebook, telling us about where was going to be switched off next and when.
I think they’re doing a pretty good job of keeping us informed. Sonia is less impressed:

lsimg

Incidentally, Sonia’s area (wherever that may be) probably doesn’t have a schedule on the City website because it’s not supplied electricity by the City. But that’s beside the point. Because it’s that second comment that makes me wonder what Sonia is thinking.

The electricity at my moms old age home was out from 10am till after 2pm! This is when the old people have to eat etc – that was very bad planning!

Damn straight, Sonia. You tell them. How could they leave your mom and her pals without any food over lunchtime? That is bad planning. The City should have a list of places where people want to eat lunch at lunchtime and they shouldn’t do loadshedding in those areas.

BUT THEN WHY STOP THERE WITH THEIR NEWFOUND GOOD PLANNING?

Next, they need to look carefully at when old people need to ‘etc’ as well, because as you state above, that’s obviously something that old people need electricity for as well. Lunchtimes aren’t just about eating, hey? More often than not, there’s ‘etc’ to get through too.

They should also have a separate list of places where people want to have lights when it goes dark and they should not loadshed those areas either. Another list might include areas where people want to have a cup of tea or coffee any given time during the day. These areas would have to be wholly exempt from loadshedding, because otherwise, how are these people going to beverage themselves adequately?

What about areas where people want to watch the rugby or other more exciting sport? I tried to watch some more exciting sport on Saturday afternoon with very limited success because there was no electricity due to loadshedding. This was very bad planning. Saturday afternoons are widely regarded as the best time for watching more exciting sport and yet they did loadshedding right while I was trying to do it.

How very dare they?

What about people who need to keep things cold in fridges, or do washing in a washing machine, or use computers, or traffic lights, or other things that use electricity?
There are hard lessons to be learned here. The City of Cape Town need to look carefully at their loadshedding schedules and, frankly, need to rearrange them more sensibly around people’s activities – especially those activities which require electricity.

Well said, Sonia.

Intermission blog

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Beatenburg done and now we’re awaiting Jared and 30 Seconds to Mars. The spotlights are on…

image

… the scene is set.

Last time out, Jared climbed to the top of the stage. He was a bit mad back then. But that was 5½ years ago.
We’ve all grown up a bit since then, right? Although I might go a bit mad again tonight.

Review tomorrow. Possibly.

Reasons

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I’m exhausted. It’s been a long, long day. And that’s what life is going to be like for the rest of the run up to our December trip to the UK. Errands, meetings, lunches, braais (so no, it’s not all been hard work) and the delight of mid afternoon loadshedding. And then the extra hour and a half they added on to it. FFS.

I’m going to continue to try and update this blog each day, but given the way things are going, I promise nothing. It doesn’t mean that you aren’t top of my priority list though. It’s just that you share that position with several other things as well.

You know how it is, right?

Ched Evans: a decision

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Finally. It’s taken far too long quite a while, it’s been fraught and it’s been wholly unpleasant. But finally, Sheffield United have come to a decision regarding Ched Evans:

Following the statement dated 11th November and after ongoing and extensive deliberation, Sheffield United Football Club has decided to retract the opportunity for its former player, Ched Evans, to use the Club’s facilities for training purposes, as was previously intended.

And, I suppose that means (although it doesn’t actually say so) that he won’t be playing for us again either. And as Paul Heaton pointed out last week, that’s probably a good thing:

I firmly believe that Ched Evans has the right to rebuild his career in football but rebuilding a career should not involve walking straight out of prison and into the shirt of the club he so badly let down.
I believe he needs to move away and move on…

United remain defiant in their statement though:

As noted in previous statements from the Club, the legal system of this country provides for both the punishment and the rehabilitation of every person who has been found guilty of a crime. Sheffield United will not be used to promote the view that professional footballers should be treated differently, as has been the want of certain sections of the media and various commentators. In addition, we remain disappointed at some of the inaccurate reporting, misinformed views and commentary, as well as the actions of a minority of individuals on social media. Professional footballers must be treated as equals before the law.

And yep, I agree with all of that.

But the fact is that this was always going to be a no-win situation for the club. While there obviously isn’t going to be the widespread, media-driven condemnation of this decision as there was with the original training thing was announced, there are a large number of “true” Blades fans who don’t agree with it. They see it as the Board “bottling” it – the local term for running scared or giving way under pressure. They cite (correctly too, I think) the fact that the vast majority of negative comment came from individuals who had and have nothing to do with Sheffield United. Whether that makes those people’s opinions less valid (I think it probably shouldn’t) or less influential (I think it probably should) is still up for discussion.

And supporting that opinion that they buckled to social media pressure, the Board seem to admit that they are nursing a bloodied nose and bruised ego:

During this whole period, we have been served a timely reminder of what we have been throughout our history: Sheffield United is a Family and Community Club that, even in times of adversity, will remain strong and grow from its experiences.

How these “true” fans will choose to react to this decision also remains to be seen, but it seems that as far as Sheffield United go:

The Club will not be making any further comment on this issue.

…it’s case closed.