Finally, the ridiculously long international break is over. I can't say that I'm looking forward to it. I'm still recovering from hating everything about the World Cup, and it's left me feeling very detached. My fantasy football team is underwhelming and underperforming because I put no forethought into Draft Night: Things aren't going well at United: And my personal battle to…

Guess what happened this afternoon? Weird weather, that's what. 14 seasons in one day. Rain from nowhere. Sunshine from somewhere else. Clouds, no wind, drizzle, mist... Just odd. Again. I was taking photographs of horses and horseriders in horrible light, great light, incredible light, horrible light, incredible light etc etc etc) but I chose to point and shoot at the back of Table Mountain, and when I did, I had the idea of a monochrome or a film camera kind of preset look.

Stop reappropriating and misusing words in order to try and appear cleverer or more influential than you actually are. I'm not a fan of corporate jargon. I've said that several times on this blog: here, and here, for example. While those using it seem to recognise, celebrate and compete with one another through the number of buzzwords they can drop into a sentence, I tend to see it as a clear warning sign that I am am…

Mark Cain is charged with the murder of Dr Hannah Terry, whose body was found at her home.

Ouch. Yep. 40 years ago, a-ha released what I still consider to be their best album. Or my favourite at least. Scoundrel Days came out on October 6th 1986, the "difficult second album" after the massive success of Hunting High & Low. This was still synth-pop, but it was somehow deeper and darker than the happy stuff from the first album.

There's some confusion between CNN and "Modern Ghana" about the London Underground. Specifically whether it's getting quieter or louder down there. 2 The "deafening screech" referred to in the CNN article probably refers to the infamous Victoria Line trains. They are the outrighnoisiest of the lines at 112.3dB, while the Northern Line has the highest average of 98.4dB, as the friction between the wheels of the aging stock and the tracks repeatedly offends your delicate eardrums:

The major news channels have got hold of the "Plague in Russia" story (probably not from my post, but still...), and they're mangling it with misinformation, misinterpretation and a good dose of hearsay and supposition. It's not a pretty read. Thankfully (though perhaps somewhat bizarrely), Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading…

Remember this post from 8 (eight) whole months ago? I know that building work has to be done sometimes, and I know that it is often, by nature, rather noisy. I’ve just had enough of it constantly being noisy around me. They're still building across the road. I remember hopefully remarking in that original post: I mean, they’ll run out of stuff to build in the end, won’t they? 

There's been a fatal case of plague in Russia, ironically in a worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. The lab worker "reportedly told medical staff that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples for testing". Look, details would be pretty difficult to come by for a story like this anyway, and they've likely gone through translations, and are third-hand, broken telephone efforts, but it does seem unusual to have a test tube carrying live bacteria while you are collecting samples for testing.

I crashed into another Facebook group full of loonies this morning. This time, it's all about who is controlling the weather. And, if you're willing to spend a little time following the obvious trails, it moves on to racism, xenophobia, anti-vax stuff, Trump and RFK Jr worship and Action SA and FF+ voting intentions. Doesn't it always? Apparently, THEY (I've no idea) are controlling the weather over South Africa.

I've been getting a lot of those "Flag Percentage Pie Chart" style trivia quizzes served up to me on social media lately. I have no problem with that, it's fun to test yourself and to learn stuff. But today, I got the cheat sheet sent to me. It would be rude not to share. And there (Row 6, Column 5) is South Africa.

Or... both? I made a last minute decision to go and play some football last night. I've been getting increasingly fed up and frustrated with not having been able to play for the last few months. And although I'm improving, I've also been worried about taking things too fast and getting hurt - worse hurt - than I already am.

Here, we have the NSRI. In the UK and Ireland AND THE ISLE OF MAN AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, they have the RNLI. Both are incredible services, doing incredible work. And both are non-profit organisations, relying on donations from the public to keep them going. Er... I think you mean UK & Ireland AND THE ISLE OF MAN AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS…

The London version of the Monopoly board was created in 1935 by Victor Watson, managing director of Leeds-based John Waddington Limited - better known as Waddington's Games. At its peak, Monopoly accounted for 40% of Waddington's revenue, before the company was sold to Hasbro in 1994 for the sum of £50 million. Decent money - especially back in those days.

I've sent three more images off to the printing people today, one to decorate a bit of my office, and two for a property down in Agulhas. I had chosen the sunset one for the wall right in front of where I'm sitting now, but suddenly, that long exposure of the winter sunshine in Suiderstrand is looking like it might be a contender too.

Dotting Is and crossing Ts here, because last week I did say this: And I promised to let you know which was the most accurate of the three different sites that I had looked at (yr.no, Accuweather and Google Weather). And, because there was actually no rain at all, Google Weather was the winner in this regard. HOWEVER... when I checked the same app the following morning, having had no rain and standing outside under bright blue skies, Google Weather did also tell me that the rain that was currently falling would clear by noon.

I have no idea what this cartoon is meant to illustrate or the point that it's trying to make. Maybe there's supposed to be some sort of warning in there about mixing noble gases and small canines, although my best guess is that there is no illustration or point. "Just for fun", as they say. But the cartoonist still took the time to draw it, and for some weird reason, it just quite appealed to me. I felt that it probably needed to be shared. Also, it's a great QP when we're off out this evening.

a-ha frontman and all-round nice guy Morten Harket has released a new single with his daughter Tomine Harket (actually Anna Katharina Tomine Malmquist Harket, but that's not important right now), and it's just happy pop. Every extra track is a bit of an unexpected bonus, and so I'm happy if Morten Harket is doing happy pop. They seem to have showcased some of the more ordinary bits of Norway's landscape in the video, which takes some doing, because it's hard to find ordinary bits of landscape in that particular country.

We joined the local Facebook and Whatsapp groups down in Agulhas. I've been a member of them both for several years now. I've even mentioned one of them previously on here: And that goes for today's post as well. Because while the local Whatsapp group continues to bubble along under the surface with occasional sporadic (and often very amusing) flare-ups, there are genuinely times when it is helpful, and therefore it would be unhelpful were I to be kicked off it for taking the piss.

Two very powerful men men holding powerful positions are getting desperate. And that's not good news for every single other person on the planet. Trump and Putin, the worst double act since... ever, are both in freefall. Although to look at Putin, you wouldn't know - just yet. He's now just 1,672 days into his 3 day special military operation, and he is losing ground and losing support.

Two things happened recently in Cape Town. Well, sort of, anyway. Secondly (yes, I said what I said), there was a MOERSE thunderstorm in the early hours of this (Tuesday) morning. This was unusual for a couple of reasons: firstly, we don't generally get thunderstorms down here in the bottom corner of Africa, and secondly, it was completely unexpected, as in, none of the weather forecasts seemed to have any idea that it was going to happen.

Lots of fun. And... quite a lot of alcohol this evening. Tomorrow could be fun, too. But in a whole different way.

It's been a busy, early summers day, and I had a rather productive morning, and got "some" stuff done. And then - ahead of a birthday dinner this evening - I decided to have a short nap. That was not a short nap. I have awoken (which, at this age, is always a bit of a bonus) a bit dopey, and in need of some strong coffee.

A day - and I mean a whole day - out taking photos at a national dodgeball competition. Didn't sit down for 9 hours. And now I can hardly stand up. 925 images to sort out tomorrow, but right now: bed.

But quite a long standby. Officials from NASA have been visiting the Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in downtown Cape Town this week in preparation for the 2028 moon landing. See? Apparently, should things go pear-shaped with the Artemis IV (that's "4", not "intravenous") launch, then the big area of water just out there (some of it visible from the hospital windows, nogal) will be a potential splashdown site for the space vehicle.

6 weeks to go until the municipal elections here in SA, and the rhetoric is really beginning to build up. I’m not supporting any party in this post, merely stating my opinion from an independ…

I've known about VAERS - the Vaccine Adverse Effect Reporting System - for a long time. Based in the US, it's an important tool in making sure that people are able to report anything unusual or dangerous which has occurred after they have had a vaccine. In this way, if there are any issues with the vaccine - be in a specific batch or anything else - then they can be quickly reported and dealt with before they affect too many people.

6 weeks to go until the municipal elections here in SA, and the rhetoric is really beginning to build up. I'm not supporting any party in this post, merely stating my opinion from an independent point of view, and you can use that for or against whichever party or news source you wish. Because it's worth remembering that while we are all aware of the way that politicians "come out of the woodwork" when voting time comes around, waving their party's flag and reminding us what they have done and what they will continue to do when they get our votes, the hostile, unsupportive side of things also is a lot more prevalent right now, as well.