struisbaai

Bring back Bok!

Posted on October 2, 2024October 2, 2024

Note: I ran the concept of this post past a reader before I wrote it, and I got the impression that I maybe needed to find a different angle. This can like to be that angle.

Now. On with the post.

Bring back Bok!

That was my cry when I started getting adverts and flyers for this concert all over my socials and emails:

For those who aren’t aware, I have been plagued by Afrikaans singing sensation Bok van Blerk for many years now. Much like Herpes, your presence on his mailing lists is something that you simply can’t get rid of, no matter how many drugs you take or how desperately you try.

But could Lighthouse – that’s these guys:

We are Lighthouse, a family band that loves making music for Jesus, our Lord, and Savior!

actually be worse than Bok?

Yes. Yes, I rather think that they could.

They’ve been aggressively marketing their upcoming Praise and Worship Aand (evening) in Struisbaai this weekend all over my internet. They might even have taken it further: I haven’t looked at the front of my house, but it wouldn’t surprise me if their ubiquitous message had been daubed all over there as well.

They’ve also been punting their BIG SONG: Fear Of The Lord (negative reinforcement is rarely a successful means of control, and this title doesn’t seem to suggest a good way to run any sort of organisation to me) in partnership with the popular series “The Chosen”, on Youtube (76 subscribers).
They tell us:

Go stream it free on The Chosen App. It’s a must-watch!

Hmm. Citation required.

At this point, I usually say something along the lines of:

I did this, so you don’t have to.

But in this case: no chance. You’re on your own.

I did watch the music video though:

Part smiley Jesus (especially when he realises that he’s turned the water into wine, lol), part Afrikaans singing family in their local school hall.

But wait. There’s more!

Binge Jesus for Free on thechosen[dot]tv/app

How exactly do you “Binge Jesus”? What does that process involve?

Yes, in the video, it does seem like he’s a nice bloke.
Yes, in the video, she does seem to have a pretty good voice.

But that doesn’t mean that you have to get tangled up with what almost exactly half of Americans think saved Donald Trump from that bullet in Pennsylvania.

Let’s cut to the chase: I won’t be down in Struisbaai this weekend, and so I won’t be seeing Lighthouse in concert at the Suiderlig Dienssentrum. I will miss Pastor Walters Joubert from Bredasdorp.

Their appeal to:

Kom geniet die Aand saam met ons!

has fallen upon stony ground.

They should at least understand that metaphorical reference.

Meanwhile, in a cruel twist of fate, look who has pulled into my inbox again this afternoon:

This time, he’s singing about the threat that the Afrikaans people and language are [allegedly] facing, and trying to inspire (and here I quote):

…a new generation of Afrikaners who would like to remember the past, preserve it and build on what was good.

Ah yes. The good old days in South Africa.

Bit awkward. Especially since the title of the song is in Dutch (although there is a lengthy backstory, which I read, so you don’t have to) (see? I am a nice guy, really).

Oh man. Nationalist politics or Organised religion?

My two most very favourite things which are doing so much the make the world a better place right now.

Shall we just not?

Was that ok? Do you think?

Is it climate change?

Posted on September 18, 2023September 18, 2023

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth – especially on social media – over the recent big waves and high tides which hit South Africa’s south coast on Friday and Saturday. The combination of spring tides and a moerse end of winter storm led to damage all the way from Cape Town to Durban.

It had the climate change people claiming that it was likely down to climate change, and the climate change deniers… er… denying it. It’s all in the name.

The fact is that neither party can honestly prove anything.

One can’t pin down the huge storm surge on the weekend directly to a change in the climate. As mentioned above, there were a combination of factors which led to the flooding and the damage that we saw.

But equally, it’s absolutely no good saying that it wasn’t down to climate change just because “there was a storm surge 10 years ago”*. Climate is a very long term thing. You’re thinking of weather.

Climate refers to the long-term regional or global average of temperature, humidity and rainfall patterns over seasons, years or decades. While the weather can change in just a few hours, climate changes over longer timeframes.

The fact is that while no one single weather event is directly or wholly attributable to climate change, climate change means that we will see an increase in the number of these sort of events.
They will happen more often, and they may be more severe.

It’s not rocket science. (That’s an entirely different discipline.)

Look, if you will, at the heat in the UK. We covered this last year, when it got ridiculously hot. That was very definitely weather, but if you take a look at the trends over several decades you can see that hot days are getting hotter, and they’re getting hotter, quicker. That’s the climate, so we can expect even hotter days in the future, even more often.

Of course, then there’s the thorny subject of whether we (mankind, humans) are responsible for this change in the climate (that does or does not exist, depending on your intelligence). Yeah, I think that everything points towards us having a hand in it. But even if it’s not all down to us, why wouldn’t you want to make the world a bit of better place by not chucking out quite as many toxic fossil fuel fumes, even if it’s just because they’re toxic? With the lovely byproduct of less CO₂ and less climate change.

Keep going like we are, and the only good thing that can happen is that a few more awful restaurants might end up in the Indian Ocean. And that’s scant reward considering the horrific consequences for the rest of the planet.

* which washed away a terrible restaurant in Struisbaai and almost actually made me believe in some higher power.

About New Year

Posted on January 2, 2023January 1, 2023

It didn’t start well, when the guys renting the place next door put their new Now That’s What I Call Shit Cover Versions album on their big flashy speaker at about 4pm. Who knew that ABBA’s pisspoor Rasputin could be any worse than it actually is?

Well, stick it on a generic dance beat, add a no name songstress from Pretoria, and wow… new levels of horror can so easily be achieved.

Thankfully, we were actually only treated to brief periods of high volume nastiness, and because of the gale force wind, we were seeking shelter inside for at least some of the time anyway. It should be noted that the last braai of 2022 was conducted during the last loadshedding slot of 2022, and featured a picanha steak which has to be amongst the best 3 things I have ever cooked.

Just. Incredible.

(Though I say it myself)

Off to Struisbaai beach at 10:30, but the usual car park behind the dunes had been taken over by gazebos, loud music and a lot of very, very drunk people. Something felt not quite right. And so we moved down towards the harbour in search of something that felt a bit more safe and calm.

We found it, but I’m going to just come out and say it here: it wasn’t as much fun as usual. A combination of strong wind, high tide and an (at least) partial ban on private fireworks just killed the vibe. The organised fireworks display was decent, if unspectacular (in so much as a fireworks display can be unspectacular), and I just wanted to have a pre-Covid Struisbaai New Year back again.

Still, it was very well attended, the several thousand spectators dwarfing the 20 or so joy sponges on the Municipality Facebook page saying that the blood of their pets would be at the door of the Mayor (yes, seriously) for allowing any sort of display at all.

If only fireworks had existed when they got Keith, their Maltese Poodle.

Home just about 1, to find the next door had apparently Klippie and Coked themselves to a midnight standstill, and all was (mostly) peaceful in the village. Indeed, our only issue was that in our absence, the beagle had helped itself to a packet of cake mix and a bag of Woolies Olive Crostini, which rather limits our snacking options for this evening. It’s also rather restricted the beagle’s movement for this morning.

Lump.

Today will be filled with lazing, beagle walking, napping and another evening braai, just as holidays should be.

Happy New Year, readers.

They’re back again!

Posted on December 31, 2022December 29, 2022

After a couple of years off because of you-know-what…

It is going to be – as the above flyer suggests – MASSIEWE!

But this year’s effort does raise an interesting question. This is clearly an organised display, whereas previous years have been all about the joys of bring your own fireworks. And while (hopefully), this will be a bigger display with bigger fireworks, how are they planning on stopping the several thousand people bringing their own pyrotechnics onto the beach? And what will be the implications of them doing that? Because having bought them for beach on New Years Eve (like every other year), you don’t want to then drive them all the way back up to Pretoria after the holidays, so you’ll let them off back at your airbnb before you head home.

One of the main benefits of having a given area and time to discharge your explosives has always been that it was (relatively) easy to control and have appropriate fire and medical services in situ. It’s still a crazy couple of hours, and things can get a bit iffy, but it’s a lot of fun as long as you don’t get maimed.

But if they ban the fireworks from the beach, sadly, they’re asking for trouble in the next few days.

Run

Posted on November 5, 2022November 5, 2022

After a fairly appalling night’s sleep, during which my little luxury memory foam pillow seemed to have forgotten all that my head had taught it, the Boy Wonder and I went for a bit of a run, ahead of a thing we have planned.