Crime hits new low

And by a “new low”, I don’t mean it’s just not happening.
No. I mean, could it actually get any more despicable?

I can hardly bring myself to share this. Yes, sadly, SA is known for its crime, but it’s not nearly as bad as you might expect if you read (and believed all that you read) in the newspapers and the internet. I checked this morning, and despite the frankly terrifying murder rate here, I was actually still alive.

On the other end of the crime scale is the Isle of Man. At worst, crime there is sparse, and minor.

Or rather: it was. Because today – heartbroken – I read this story:

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You can keep your violence and your drugs and guns. When an heron garden ornament is taken from a heron garden ornament owner’s garden, something has gone seriously wrong with the system.
And it’s not just any heron garden ornament. It’s a sentimental heron garden ornament. One which wasn’t some recent addition to the heron garden ornament owner’s garden, one which had been there for many years and one with which the heron garden ornament owner had developed a special bond. Not quite enough of a physical bond to prevent it from being nicked; more of an emotional bond, but still, a bond, nevertheless.

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The biggest sadness here is that the police in the Isle of Man simply aren’t set up to deal with this kind of thing. And that means that the heron garden ornament owner will probably never see his or her heron garden ornament again.
And that’s despite the clever effort of the IOM Newspapers at the bottom of the story there, with their endeavour to tempt the perpetrator or perpetrators of this heinous crime to inadvertently give themselves away by sending in the best pictures, video or story of the crime. I know that if I was bold enough to take a heron garden ornament from a heron garden ornament owner’s garden, I’d certainly have snapped a couple of pics and grabbed a bit of footage to document my outrageous actions and share with my criminal peers down at the pub on a Friday evening when I was trying to fence my ill gotten ornamental birdlife for a bit of extra ice cream money.

The urge to show off to a (slightly) larger audience by sharing that evidence with “iomtoday.co.im” would probably prove too much to bear and I strongly suspect that the hardened criminal(s) involved in this disgusting theft may very well struggle with the same sort of impulse.

It’s the only hope. For the sake of preserving the very low crime rate on the Isle of Man and in the defence of other wildlife-themed garden ornaments on the island, we can only hope it bears fruit.

I’ll keep you posted.

Harbour View

It’s almost starting to become a tradition that I drop in a quota photo on a Sunday evening. And today in no exception. Propped up with coffee after three too many Milk Stouts last night, we headed out to Bugs Family Playpark in Joostenbergvlakte. A great time was had by all and photos from that will follow soon, but in the meantime, have this:

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That’s Castletown harbour, a seem by Manxscenes’ Peter Killey. A slightly different view to the one I got from actually within the harbour earlier this year at the Tin Bath. The sky also appears to be a different colour.

Tin Bath News

Great news. I get to pick up my Tin Bath tomorrow evening.
The venue seems legit – “the back of a big green barn just before the Malew Street junction” at 6:30.

Weather for the actual event looks pretty awful: 15°C, grey and drizzly. It’s pretty much what we’ve had since we arrived. The kids have given up on ever seeing the sun again and are now perfectly happy playing in the rain. Thankfully, those unpleasant metrological conditions on Saturday will probably make the harbour water seem positively tropical.

Or am I just being overly hopeful?

Castle II

This is another post not about beer. Sorry.

I mentioned a Castle last week in my quota photo post “Castle“. That Castle was Castle Rushen in Castletown, Isle of Man, which overlooks Castletown harbour, which is where I will be taking part in the WTBC next week. Still with me?

Anyway, that aside, almost immediately after seeing my Castle post, Flickr Blog did a Castle post of their own (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery):

Obviously, that’s not Castle Rushen – look at those vast tracts of land with not a harbour in sight. In fact, this is Boldogköváralja in Hungary, although interestingly, both castles were constructed simultaneously in the 12th and 13th Centuries.

Actually, I’m not sure how interesting that is, but here are some nice photos of Boldogköváralja.

I will endeavour to get you some nice pictures of Castle Rushen to go with them. Watch this space.

Representing…

Just over a month from now, I’ll be representing my adopted nation in some World Championships.

It’s not quite the Olympics, but it is an official World Championships and it is all for a good cause.

Bring forth – The World Tin Bath Race:

As far as I am aware, I am the only competitor from South Africa, probably the only competitor from Africa. And thus, a huge responsibility falls upon my shoulders. This is bad news, as I am not small anyway and will almost certainly sink. The event, organised by the brilliantly-named Castletown Ale Drinkers Society, has been going for longer than I’ve been around, and I’m determined to give it the best go possible.

I hope that I can rely on your support for this, and I will be checking which SuperSport channel it will be broadcast on.

Watch this space.