Sunday evening quota post

I am literally shaking with lack of sleep. Or it could be lack of red wine. Or lack of hot weather.

On days like today – grey, overcast, chilly and damp – it’s sometimes difficult to remember the heady days of summer, even though they were here with us just a few short weeks ago. Here’s a quick reminder of those warmer times with Alex and I splashing in the shallows at Struisbaai.   

Of course, these days, the beaches of the Western Cape are much more famous for beached whales.

Surfers in South Africa are being warned to watch out for sharks off the coast of Cape Point where the carcasses of 55 whales are beached.
The stranded whales were found at Kommetjie Beach.
Hundreds of volunteers had tried to push the False Killer whales back out to sea – around a dozen of them later died of exhaustion and stress while 40 more were shot by authorities.
Although the authorities are clearing the carcasses, Ian Klopper of the National Sea Rescue Institute warned people to be on their guard because sharks may be looking for the whale carcasses.

The official line is that the authorities were shooting the whales because their cries of distress were attracting more whales onto the beach. However, it seems more likely that the whales were shot because South Africans enjoy shooting things and this was too big an opportunity – and too big a target – to miss. Like fish in a barrel. Sort of. 

Obviously, this sort of thing is very sad. No-one likes to see 55 whales dying on a beach. However, I do feel that the criticism of the council response by the local tree-huggers was a little melodramatic:

Carol Brown, formerly with the Durban dolphinarium, said Cape Town was clearly not geared for a mass stranding.
“There should have been rubber ducks and whale stretchers.”

Of course there should, Carol. Unfortunately, the 2009 rubber duck and whale stretcher budget was apparently cut after there were precisely zero mass beachings of whales in the last decade in Cape Town and was spent on something slightly more worthwhile; like building houses for those people living in shacks and providing food for hungry children.
Do make a submission to the City Finance Department for an increased rubber duck and whale stretcher budget for next year though, won’t you? Or better still, move back to Durban and waste their bloody oxygen instead of ours. 

Moron.

12 thoughts on “Sunday evening quota post

  1. I was cursing you for sending us all your crappy weather until I read that the picture was not taken this weekend. Lucky!

    Ordinarylife´s last blog post was: Fired for Facebook status! (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

  2. That’s ok and you can keep your sharks too! I know you want to be generous and share but it is really not necessary.

    Ordinarylife´s last blog post was: Fired for Facebook status! (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

  3. The sun is breaking through the SMOG over here in Nottinghamshire mate. You can tell by the number of lobster coloured people walking with an odd way about them. I’e’ Trying not to let their shirt collar or sleeves rub against their sunburn!

    Wiggy´s last blog post was: May Top Droppers (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

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