Tag: Cape Town

Cape Town this weekend

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I might have been a bit down on Cape Town and SA in my last couple of posts. (They’re here and here.) Potentially justifiably so, but it would be wrong not to balance things up a bit.

Because this weekend, Cape Town hosted the inaugural Cape Town e-prix, hosted the ICC Women’s T20World Cup Final, hosted The Ocean Race in yachting,

EDIT: And the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s Championship

…and had several (or more) cruise ships visiting:

That’s quite literally billions and billions of Rands into going into local businesses. And when all else seems to be against them, that’s got to be a very good thing.

So we continue to exist, survive and even thrive in our little south-western bubble. It’s not all doom and gloom out there, no matter what you might have read.



pic via twitter

The weather: lots going on

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I mentioned that there were some rather awful conditions on the higher inland part of my journey on Friday. And then how Saturday was an absolute peach of a day. Today is also stunning: light breeze, near cloudless skies, 26oC. But tomorrow… tomorrow looks like fun. Here’s a weather IR view of the country and surrounds taken about an hour ago:

Top right (purple, round) is Tropical Cyclone Freddy. It’s heading towards Madagascar and has sustained wind speeds of 250kph within. That’s the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. Landfall is not going to be pretty.

Then there’s an arc of thunderstorms (orange and red blotches) across the North East of SA. They’re curling down across Botswana and Namibia and might even get down as far as the Western Cape. But they’re likely to be pushed back by that huge cold front (multicoloured swoosh) in the bottom left.
That’s going to hit Cape Town tomorrow and promises to bring “high intensity” rain and strong winds to the Western Cape.

It’s not like we don’t need the rain. We just don’t need it all in one go.

My apps are suggesting the wind turning to the NW late this evening and then increasing in strength throughout the morning. The rain seems to arrive just before dawn, with the heaviest stuff mid to late morning, correlating with the wind which could gust to 92kph.

According to sources, it “demands absolute attention”, so while it’s not a Freddy in any way, shape or form, it’s still probably best not to underestimate it.

Stay safe.

Nothing to see here

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Just a Maltese Airbus A340 overhead on its way in from Wolf’s Fang Airport:

As you do.

Looking at the flight path and time, I knew where it was. I just didn’t know what it was.
So I looked it up. Knowledge is power and all that.

And now I want to go there. Luxury Antarctic Tours. Wow.

It all seems very well appointed. Including the runway itself.

Some issues, granted. I’d prefer just about anything other than a plain black screen to represent “satellite communication”. And that “dedicated medical team” does indeed look dedicated, but somewhat under -equipped.

But in fact, the only real issue is the price.

$104,000 is R1,808,164.80. Or just over a quarter of a million Rand A DAY! For the basic package.

My fok, Marelize.

Why not take the whole family for a couple of weeks?

Company’s Garden Squares

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Some point and shoot fun with the 50mm prime in and around the Company’s Gardens this morning, where my Dad and I got some breakfast and had a nice little wander on his birthday. Don’t ask which one, I think we’ve all lost count. I can write that in safety knowing that I’ve just made him a G&T by the pool.

Everything here from Cecil John Rhodes doing a Nazi salute to a Julia Skimmer (Orthetrum julia) on the edge of a pond; from fire damage to some of the Parliament building to a gosling; and from some happy words from JC through to some brutal (but not brutalist?) concrete and art deco architecture* on Wale Street.

I was actually incredibly impressed by how neat and tidy the whole place was. Really well looked after, and we always felt really safe and relaxed.

Still plenty of tourists around too, and a quick sighting of the MI Cape Town XX SA (IPL) T20** team including (but not limited to) pace bowler Kagiso Rabada…

…emerging from their hotel amidst flags and loud music, ahead of their game against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

* I dunno. Is it? I do science, not building. The 6000 miles… Yachting Correspondent will know. I’ll confirm once he’s been in touch. The pink one is definitely art deco. But it’s not on Wale Street.
** Good grief.

Drone sunset

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I’ve sat in my car park many, many times this year. In all sorts of weather (but mainly wet):

And I was there again last night for the team’s final practice session before the World Cup.
Last week when I was up North, I wished that I had brought my drone along. The sunset was incredible, but I was surrounded by ugly buildings and tall trees, which didn’t make for any decent photography.

So this week, rather than miss out again, I did take my drone along. And predictably, the sunset was completely rubbish.

Initially…

I’d actually packed the drone away and was settling down in the back of the car to watch an episode of Only Connect when I spotted the first tinge of pink in the sky. And while I didn’t think it was going anywhere, I knew I’d be pissed off if it did and I missed it, so I unpacked and set up again and by the time I got flying… well…

First things first: this is a stacked image of 5 bracketed shots, given that the sky was BRIGHT and the mountain was DARK. I’ve already been accused of RBOSSery by someone on the family Whatsapp group (wow – et tu, Brute?), but in fact, it’s actually UN-RBOSSed:

Look at that! And that’s just because there was far too much going on in the sky for the teeny, tiny sensor on my aging drone to handle. So no, definitely no RBOSS or hypocrisy here*.

I think this image would have been better with a bit more Table Bay in the mid-ground, but I was just down the road from Blouberg (aka “Blow”berg), and the South Easter was pumping. I was getting wind warnings even just up at 30m, so I decided not to risk much above 50. A bit irritating, but there are some things that you just can’t control, and hey, I still have a drone this morning, so that’s nice.
Always look for the positives.

Because the World Cup is coming up, I’m not going to be in my car park for a while now, and when practices do start again, they will likely not be 4 or 5 times a week, so I think this was a really good way to sign off for a while.

* Add a bit of Whatsapp compression and I can maybe kind of see where he was coming from, but I’m still rather hurt.