Mindless Rant

It is so bloody hot in Pretoria, South Africa, this week!   It is close to 40˚C (104˚F) every day and the night time temperatures never go below 20˚C.  We are all on edge and tired.  Beer is warm in a country where people consume a crappy brew called Castle by the tanker load.    I mean, who calls a beer Castle?  It must have been a hot summer when they came up with that name.  And it shows in the beer.  Have one and your whole system turns to toxic sludge.  Come on SAB Miller XXX fishpaste - sue me!  

Oh, and I woke up to discover that Steam had been hacked.  I was angry man!! What is this?  And I mean, STEAM hacked - the same idiots that ban people for a typo!!  HACKED!!  Karma is such a bitch.  Lucky I have a tech savvy son to help me secure my account.  He LOLs as he confirms that I have not left any important stuff in the account in any case.  I use 1Password to generate the mother of all passwords.  Take that!   Even without salt that is a killer.  I feel better - momentarily.  

The politics are just as hot.  The leader of the ANC Youth League was suspended for 5 years from his party.  He responds in defiance from an even hotter Limpopo that he’ll appeal the outcome.  Why?  Please claim that you have heat stroke Julius.  Just continue with your business my friend - it is good as it is.   Please do not have another march from nowhere to nowhere to test the resolve of your followers.  People might die.

In Cape Town the Aussies look like they are crushing the local flower boys in one of two REAL cricket games, just to be blown away by a great bowling attack on the mother of all of the weirdest pitches ever prepared at Newlands.  One has to ask how this happened, and in the light of the history of screwing with the game, one feels cheated.  I mean - WTF!!  This is worse than the Bryce (who remembers him) debacle a few weeks ago.  But who would notice?   It is about the money these days.  Screw the poor fools that thought they would be seeing great cricket on Saturday.  

Went to the local super supermarket, you know the posh one,  and bought imported (I cry in my warm bubbly) pomegranate.  Use by date is 3 days from now.  It has a distinct fizz to it and being a consumer of alcoholic beverages, I notice the smell of the by-products of fermentation.  I take it back and I ask if they would replace it.  Yes, sure, no worries.  So I open the next container, and point out that it too is evolving.  The manager sniffs it, and no, it is fine.  This is where the beast in me wakes up, I guess.  So I say, well, I’ve paid for it, and I am happy to walk away from this - you just eat it sir!  Nope, no can do!  Why not, well he does not like pomegranate.  You see where this is going?  It is warm, even in this posh air-conditioned shop.  Fade out and fade in as I walk out into the late afternoon with a bottle of warm bubbly.  

Meanwhile I pour over pics from Dunedin NZ where my family indulges in seafood and a bottle of the most divine Sauvignon Blanc bubbly from somewhere cool in New Zealand.  I listen to TuksFM and they insist on playing metal.  I mean, get a life, just play some Johnny Cash - we are all dead already, have mercy.  Metal!  Sweating teenagers with hormones dripping from hot guitars and drummers sweating blood.  There is no mercy in this world.  The TV offers nothing of value.  It is Noot vir Noot.  For those souls reading this  outside South Africa, this translates to Note by Note, but for those in the know, it equates to crap squared!   About two minutes into the show, the host does what is expected and he chooses the girl in the second row for a competition - NO SHIT SHERLOCK!!

I open doors and windows.  This allows the great multitude of insects in, even on the fifth floor.  It is clear to me now.  We are the dinos of our age.  It is time.  We refused to pay carbon tax, so GAIA is taking revenge and unleashing the exoskeleton brigade.  I smile and take a sip of iced bubbly while I spray the room with a phosphate and chlorine mix laced with nitrous elixirs.  What the hell - GAIA is pissed off already.  

A cool breeze clears the smell of death momentarily and my thoughts go back to late 2009.  The pool light is set to deep red and we are floating in the salty warm water.  The stars are bright lights in a black sky, even here in the city.  We are wrapping up here before moving to the next phase of our lives.  There is sadness and anticipation as we point out the familiar constellations and we talk about the winters in Bloemfontein when we first discovered the majesty of the Universe.

I walk out on the balcony.  Some idiot grills his motorcycle in a moment of madness, a dog barks at a shadow and I look towards the east where Saturday is dawning.  I imagine my love welcoming the day...

This afternoon a tree was dropping red flowers and leaves like tears.  The vastness of loss of so many lives and so many loves hangs over this day,  Turning away, I sip the bubbly and I realise it is a pretty good day to be alive today. 11/11/11