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.

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.

It’s arriving

The infamous Al Kuwait is due to arrive in Umm Qasr in Iraq today.

I know. You’d forgotten all about that whole thing the day after it left, just like the rest of Cape Town had.

But the good news is that the ±19,000 cattle on board (or however many of them are left) will now be able to live out the rest of their long lives frolicking in the lush, green Iraqi pastures.

All’s well that ends well.

Happy days.

First lit 175 years ago

Happy 175th Birthday to this old place:

A sandstone tower 27 metres high, it was first lit on the 1st of March 1849, it’s been lighting the way around the dangerous Cape Agulhas rocks ever since (well, it took a bit of time out between 1968 and 1988, but we don’t mention that). From burning sheep tail fat (1849 -1905) to an oil lantern (1905 – 1929) to a petroleum vapour burner (1929 – 1936) to an electric light bulb (1936 – [1968 & 1988 – shhhh!] to the present day), it’s a National Monument, a Western Cape Heritage Site and an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Phew!

And as the sun sets in Agulhas this evening, it’ll be on duty again: its lamp and first order Fresnel lens generating 7,500,000 candela, flashing white every five seconds, piercing the darkness for 30 nautical miles (56 km, 35 miles).

Happy Birthday, old chap.