Day 233 – Rain stopped paint

It’s November. Springtime. We shouldn’t be getting days of 40-odd degrees just yet, like we did on Thursday (save those for February, please), nor should we be getting days of 16-odd degrees and annoying rain. Especially on the weekend. And yet…

This is not what I was promised.

With Mrs 6000 away this weekend on a much-deserved chill out with her friends, and the kids working hard on a Scouts project, I walked the dog and then thought that I could get some of those painting jobs done today. Only one issue: they’re outside painting jobs. And it’s 16-odd degrees with annoying rain.
On a weekend.

There’s no footy on until the mighty Malta clash with Andorra, live on SuperSport at 4pm (well, I have the choice of that or San Marino v Gibraltar), and who could resist the pull of that high intensity international football with that great stadium atmosphere?

Love my football right now.

Certainly not me, and so I’m plugging the gap by writing blog posts (well, one) and watching Taskmaster and Only Connect videos on Youtube. It feels a bit wrong, because all those outside painting jobs are hanging over until tomorrow, BUT THAT’S NOT MY FAULT!

Actually, looking outside, it does seem to have brightened up a bit. But I’m quite happy here with my videos and my coffee now.

Oh dear.

Day 159 – Spring Day lolz

Yes. It’s Spring Day. The start of Spring if you are a meteorologist. In the Southern Hemisphere.

And you could almost believe that it was Spring, were it not for the weather warnings issued by… er… meteorologists. In the Southern Hemisphere.

Stuff like:

And:

Actually, tomorrow’s is a bit of a weird one: rather than the usual low pressure flying across the Southern Atlantic from Argentina, this deep low has formed over Namibia and is heading down the West coast as we speak. Were it a bit further inland into the Karoo, we’d be into cut-off low, “Black South Easter” territory, but it looks like this one will sweep around the Cape coast and dissipate as it heads off South West from us into whatever is down there (spoiler: not much).
So not quite another Laingsburg (hopefully anyway), but it will still be wet and windy.

That said, today has been a massive 10 degrees warmer than yesterday, so I’ve done all of the washing and I’m going to lob some burgers on the braai this evening ahead of tomorrow’s nastiness. Because it’s also worth noting that while the rest of the week is also “Spring”, it’s looking every bit as unpleasant going towards the weekend. That’s because of a weak, transatlantic (“normal”) cold front.

I’ve said it before, but when I moved over here, I’m sure that September and October used to be nicer than they are now. The seasonal South Easter would set in sometime around late September and then we’d know that there was a change in seasons. Likewise, it would have moved on by New Year, leaving January and February to just be hot instead of hot and stupidly windy.

All of that has changed. The South Easter hasn’t given up until March in the last few years, ruining an extra three months of otherwise perfectly lovely outside time.

I shall be contacting my local representatives if that happens again this time around.

But hey, that’s all some distance away.
Let’s get through tomorrow’s excitement first, shall we?

 

Batten down your beagles.

Day 104 – Tenuous tsunami parallels

Let’s make things clear right from the start here.

I’m not saying that Cape Town is going to get hit by a tsunami.
We’ve covered that concern here: something I would strongly advise you to read if you think that people are paranoid about Covid-19. You ain’t seen nothing yet.

They walk among us.

But I digress. Often.

One of the enduring images of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami was the drawback: the water disappearing from the shorelines of beaches and resorts about to be hit by the tsunami, effectively (some would say ‘exactly’) like a huge low tide.

In some places, this drawback was up to a kilometre. And in most cases, there was good correlation between the size of the drawback and the extent of the damage caused by the tsunami that followed.

If we ignore all scientific reason for a moment and apply this clear inverse proportionality to tomorrow’s predicted storm, I think we’re in trouble. Because today’s weather in Cape Town could not be calmer or more beautiful. So still. So clear. So utterly perfect.

Not a cloud in the sky. Not a breath of wind.

If only there were some term that one could use to describe such a period of placid weather ahead of a predicted tempest.

And yet… just out there in the bottom left corner:

A frothing mass of low pressure, general misery, howling winds and all the rain we didn’t get in 2017. All due to begin tomorrow afternoon/evening and then be followed in by a second front on Sunday into Monday.

And our eyes are already on another vicious lump of nastiness heading out of Uruguay towards SA like Luis Suarez’s poor sportsmanship and bad temper in 2010.

And possibly every bit as bitey.

But let’s just get through this weekend first. Here’s what we’re expecting to see at 0800 local time on Friday morning:

Big winds, much rain, huge waves, general unpleasantness.

In all seriousness though, it does look like quite a nasty one, so please look out for your community and maybe consider helping out your local shelter, which will obviously be under more pressure than usual over the next few days.

Day 76 – Misery

It’s a completely filthy day in Cape Town. It’s poured down all night, it’s been pouring down all morning; it’s cold, it’s dark, it’s grey and it’s miserable.

And there’s no escape. No cosy pub for a lunchtime treat. No popping around to a friend’s for a coffee and a chat. No retail therapy at the local mall.

(You could probably leave me out of that last one anyway, to be honest.)

Online is a mess. Division, arguments, fighting, prejudice, goading and general bigotry.

So no escape there either.

Pathetic.

It’s one of those days when I feel complete justified in feeling a bit down. But that doesn’t mean that I have to capitulate to the negativity.

I’ve lit the fire early. I’ve had several good coffees already. I’m going to cook a moerse chili for dinner, which will occupy some time and make the house smell good. I will put some music, which will occupy my mind and make the house sound good.

I may enjoy a lunchtime glass of red wine. Try and stop me.

I also have some YouTube videos to catch up with and while I wouldn’t normally be so lazy as to do them all in one day, today seems like a bit of an exception, so that’ll be the afternoon sorted as well.

Suddenly, things seem more a little more bearable.

Talking of videos, there are some lovely images in this one: London on Lockdown – Soho by Matthias Hoene.

It’s amazing just how unsettling an empty street can be.

There are three parts to this series, but this is the best one. And it would be even better without the Scouse bloke occasionally narrating it.

So maybe mute those bits for a more enjoyable experience.

Stay warm. Stay home. Stay safe.