Fire

The rules are very clear.

They state that on the first day of the new Premier League season, you have to share this song:

And if you are in the Western Cape (which I are), you are also obliged to remind readers that this fantastic and original video was filmed in Piketberg, just up the road from Cape Town.

I’d much rather that Sheffield United were up there (the Premier League, not Piketberg) competing with the best in the land (and also Nottingham Forest, Dirty L**ds and West Ham), but maybe next year when I share this song again, we’ll be there.

Day 91 – Title-less

The sky is getting darker, the wind is blowing ever more strongly and the temperature is dropping ever so slowly.

There’s a storm front coming
White water running and the pressure is low
Storm front coming
Small craft warning on the radio

So sang Billy Joel. Mind you, he also famously claimed that

We didn’t start the fire

And as you will read below, that’s actually something I fully intend to do just now.

Yes, there’s another Cape cold front on the way in. It’s not a huge one, but it has been sitting just to our south west for a few hours now, teasing us about its imminent arrival. It’s coming in two parts: one today and one on Saturday. Much like the UK’s coronavirus problem, it seems likely that the second wave will be the worse of the two, but much like South Africa’s coronavirus problem, that assumes that we’ll make it through the initial wave first.

As ever, I have battened down the beagle and I will be lighting the fire presently. But I’m tired and I’ve been making silly mistakes all day. It wouldn’t surprise me if I have actually battened down the fire, so I will double-check before I stick a paraffin-laced cube of white stuff anywhere.

I’m listening to 6 Music on what would have been the prelude to the Glastonbury 2020 weekend. Obviously, that’s not happening for viral reasons, but they have been celebrating what has gone before and what would have been, with some really uplifting, joyful, positively emotive music.

I don’t think that the currently wonderful weather in the UK is helping those people who had tickets for the Festival this year either. It would have been fantastic. And while there’s obviously no substitute for actually being there, I would have still enjoyed watching it in big bold 4K, 6000 miles… away in front of a smouldering hound.

In the meantime, the last bits of online schooling before the staff and students of the kids’ school get a well-deserved week off, several household chores, a bit of football, some red wine.

See you tomorrow.

Awful news

There was going to be a post about politics here, but i’ll do that another day. That’s not the awful news. In fact, you might think that not having to endure a post about politics here might actually be good news.

Sadly, the awful news is that there is awful news displacing that post about politics.

Fireman’s Arms burned down last night.

Usually, I’d find some sort of humour in the irony of the situation, but I’m just sad. Fireman’s is a great pub. Friendly people, amazing vibe, decent beer. And then last night at around 3am, this happened:

The good news is that it appears that while the beer garden may be no more, the rest of the building looks ok – given the situation. And apparently the pub cat survived unscathed. Thanks be to Bastet.

Conspiracy theories about insurance claims were quick to surface, but why, when the pub is going from strength the strength and business is booming? And if it was (which it wasn’t), why do it just before your busiest time of year? (Although that’s obviously exactly what they’d want you to think). And then there was this from yesterday afternoon:

…which may will point to as a likely cause of the blaze. (Although that’s obviously exactly what they’d want you to think).

I’m just sad. I hope that Kevin and Dean can get things sorted and get open again as soon as possible. I know that the regulars will do everything they can to make it work again.

 

UPDATE: Great News!

“Like”

Fire

I spent so much time having fun today that there’s suddenly barely enough time to squeeze a post in before I turn into a pumpkin (or something).

So here’s a quota photo of a fire that I recently attended.

Just enough light to bring some colour in the leaves, and yes, a bit unbalanced perhaps, but I loved the light on the earth on the right hand side, and so I just couldn’t crop it out.

Bigger on black here (and this really is one of those images that works really well in this format).

Given that each of those plants was 5m (15ft) high, seeing this up close was quite an experience.