Rubbing it in

An incoming email from famous neo-classical composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi:

Spring is coming!
As we reconnect with nature and the world around us, Spring represents a time of looking forward; as we plant the seeds for our year ahead.
To celebrate the changing of the season, I’ve released a collection of songs inspired by the coming of Spring and it’s yours to enjoy at the link below.

And yes, he provided the link as promised. And even a countdown to the Vernal Equinox (not the meteorological one).

The thing is, he’s forgotten all about his Southern Hemisphere listeners here. Spring isn’t coming for us. In fact, if Spring is coming for them up North, we’re headed straight for Autumn. Goodbye sunshine and long summer nights, goodbye crippling heat, goodbye days on the beach, blue skies, and fresh, new growth.

Hello winter storms, roaring fires, copious red wine, and (apparently) disconnecting with nature and the world around me. Oh, and the 2024 Euro Championship.

Of course, those of you who know me will also know that I have no issue with any of this. Because why on earth would I?

Happy Spring (or Autumn) to each and every one of you.

SANBI announces new garden access membership scheme

Indeed. Now that (almost) a year has passed since SANBI (who run the Botanical Gardens in SA) called time on BotSoc members (who are people interested in plants generally, and/or people who wanted “free” access to the Botanical Gardens in SA) getting “free” access to the Botanical Gardens in SA, SANBI has launched its own “free” access programme.

“Free”, because it’s not free at all, but does offer a huge discount on their day to day pricing.

Previously, by being BotSoc members at R562 per adult, and R90 per child, we could (and did) have access to all of the Botanical Gardens in SA. Unlimited access for a whole year, nogal. That was a really good deal. But then SANBI told BotSoc that it wasn’t going to continue, and… well… it ended with any membership that expired after 31 March 2023.

The good news is that – as you may have noticed in the title of this post – SANBI has now announced a new garden access membership scheme.

It’s basically the same as the old BotSoc one, but more expensive (because of reasons, obviously). Adult memberships are now R600 (up 6.76% – ok) [thanks for the correction, Anita B!] R800 (up 42.35%) and kids are R400. That’s a very reasonable 344.44% increase.

And yet it still represents decent value for money, with a day pass to Kirstenbosch R100 for adults and R40 for kids. So six eight adult visits and ten kids’ visits and already you’re ahead of the curve.

The new tickets are available (and valid) from 1st April 2024.

About Germany

Every time I need to cross the North-South railway line to the East of our place, I curse the apartheid spatial planning system. Back then, the railway acted as a physical (but also a strong metaphorical) boundary between the more affluent suburbs and the less well off.
And yes, everything else that went with that divide.
The crossing points are few and far between, I’m guessing to make it actually quite difficult to traverse from one side to the other, and that’s still the case today. Even more so, in fact, given that there are far more cars on the road and thus the crossings become pinch points for jams and frustration.

It’s just one of the many ways that SA’s past is still visible each and every day, and although we’re getting somewhere, it will take years of continued hard work before anything close to parity and equality is achieved.

But that’s for another post.

And it won’t be written by me.

South Africa isn’t the only previously divided country though. Remember Germany? The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but even though we’re now a whole generation and a bit on from there, and even though there are no restrictions on who goes where anymore, the divide between East and West clearly still exists. I came across this amazing collection of maps on this tweet, and I’ve popped the gif here as a video for your ease of viewing (it’s easier to pause):

It’s really interesting to look at each of the individual maps and try to work out what’s happening and why it’s happening, but it’s also fascinating to just let it play through and watch the border – which isn’t actually there, of course – perpetuated through all of those different habits, experiences, demographics and customs.

35 years is clearly nowhere near long enough to overcome decades of – in this case – communism (or, I suppose, if you want to look at it another way: capitalism. Although, back in the day, no-one was trying to flee to the East for a better life, now were they?)

Back once again

A much nicer flight home yesterday, passing over the Blyde River Canyon, OR Tambo International Airport, Ellis Park, the FNB Stadium, Fraserburg, Inverdoorn (and its nearby wind farm) and the Matroosberg Nature Reserve.

(There was a lot less snow yesterday.)
We probably went over a lot of other stuff as well, but I either wasn’t looking at it or didn’t recognise it.
As we swooped in for a northward landing, I did notice that there was Congestion Before Victoria.

Obviously.

A good trip in general, I think. I hope I got everything that they wanted. Many kilometres were covered. A few challenges, but there are always going to be a few challenges.
The cutest little airport. One dodgy hotel. One amazing hotel (thankfully in that order).
HEAT! Wildlife. Birds.

Potholes. Scenery. Friendly people. Interesting stories. HEAT! Much fruit. Some cracking biltong.

And now, back to it. A good night’s sleep last night, some catch-up at gym this morning – hard work after a week off – and while I did well over 10,000 steps each day, the opportunity and environment were wholly unsuitable for a run.

And today? Some decent coffee, maybe a beer or two, and the intention to watch a lot of football this afternoon.

How did we get here?

With all the analysts, experts and common sense telling us that SA is about to go to even more pot after the upcoming elections; with the UK in danger – allegedly – of becoming a failed state; with wars in the Middle East and the ex-Soviet Union (and everywhere else that we don’t get to hear about); with Trump looking like even a possibility for re-election in the US, you might be forgiven for wondering how on earth we ended up in this situation.

Alasdair Beckett-King (you may remember him from such posts as Day 417 – King Lear redux) is also rightfully incredulous:

The thing is, even though it’s quite clear what has actually brought us to this (Alasdair inadvertently touches upon it above, in case you were still wondering), realistically, it’s not like our collective idiocy is going to change anytime soon.

“Surely it can’t get any worse, though, right?” he asked for the 8,114th time in the last 5 years.