Winter returns

It’s been an amazing weekend, both socially and meteorologically. But all that seems set to change tomorrow when there is both work and a nasty storm expected in Cape Town.

Ugh.

We made hay and went to see Elliot the crateman (photos), watched a house fire (really) and then attended a couple of braais.
And drank a couple of beers.
Some of us then went on to balance a small rottweiler puppy on our heads.

Fortunately, I remained sober enough not to try anything so outrageous.

I think.

Goodbye Elliot

It was with a heavy heart that I read this tweet from the V&A Waterfront account, yesterday.

Yes, after three years valiant service to the Waterfront and its visitors, Elliot, the iconic Coca Cola “crateman” is to be dismantled.

I’m taking the kids along to see Eliot for one last time this afternoon. Doubtless, there will be tears: he’s been a big part of their lives, with every visit to the Waterfront necessitating a trip to his feet. (And occasionally slightly higher when Dad wasn’t looking.)
Rarely have I been moved so much by a piece of art.

   
Note those tiny kids at his right foot, 10 August 2010.

Previously, Elliot has also featured on this blog, when an angry man described him as:

a monument to mediocrity, global exploitation and humankind’s dysfunctional health and disregard for our treasured eco-heritage.

and I defended the sculpture, using the tools of rationality, accuracy and ridicule.

Those were the days.

But now, it’s Elliot’s time to move on to a better place.
Although, looking at that second photo, is there really a better place?

Goodbye Elliot. Hamba Kahle, old friend.
And thank you for all the joy you’ve brought my kids and me.

Imaginate

Excuse the short posts and video sharing. Busy week this week and so not too much time left for blogging. Sentences even being fragmented.
But this busy life doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking of you and so, take a look at this and tell me what you think. It’s the new one from Stunt Bicyclist Danny MacAskill. You may remember him from such posts as Way Back Home.

Video link

Jury’s out for me. I’d prefer more real world and less kids’ toys. But you cannot deny that some of the stuff he does is utterly bewildering.
Mindblowing, even. My mind, in fact, was blown.

Twice.

There’s a bloopers section during the credits too, indicating that the filming must have taken many weeks for broken bones to heal and bruises to disappear:

The seven-minute film took over 68 weeks to shoot, with some tricks taking up to 300 takes to get right.

“The ball front flip to the train tracks took about 250 takes,” MacAskill said. “It was a lot harder on the cameraman than on me! He was having to run up and down with a steady cam.”

That from the review in… er… The Telegraph. Who knew?

Music (a big part of stunt bicyclist videos) is from Houston.

Not just a river in Egypt…

It seems that there is an element of denial in the national psyche over here after South Africa lost in the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy to England yesterday. Now, I don’t want to harp on about this, although the self-flagellation amongst the locals shows no sign of abating, so it’s obviously still relevant (and raw).

But there was this on the IOL news website:

crickTry, if you can, to ignore the formatting issues and look at those options. Because the blame game must be played.

Might I suggest a fifth option though (even though there’s blatantly not even room for that fourth one)?

How about “England“?

Maybe it wasn’t the best SA cricket performance ever, but then, maybe they weren’t actually allowed to play well. I mean, perish the thought that the opposition were actually better than them. We could never admit that though, could we?

Come to think of it, where is the story here? The Proteas lost to a better team, a team that is above them in the ICC rankings, a team that played better cricket than they did yesterday. ‘Choking’ (in this context, rather than a buxom celebrity cook context) is when you lose a game that you were expected to win – or you lose from a winning position. That didn’t happen here.

Oh – and Dale Steyn was injured, you say? – well, we’ll be sure to make a footnote in the history books for you.