News blues…
South Africans skip lockdown level 2 and, from level 3, go directly to level 1.President Ramaphosa announced last night that South Africa had seen new Covid infections reduced enough that the country will move from lockdown alert level 3 to lockdown alert level 1 regulations. (3:45 mins)
Lockdown alert level 1 restrictions:
Background: The former owner had been an unscrupulous DIY guy who owed a lot of money around town. He’d kludged together a DIY electrical system based on guesswork and, maybe, dabs of super glue… in the same way he’d DIY’d other “fixes” around the house. This, to make the house appear sales worthy enough to a naïve, too trusting 80-year-old woman, (also too stubborn to heed advice).
- Curfew from midnight to 4am
- Restrictions on social political and religious gatherings are lifted subject to the size of gathering – 100 people maximum indoors and 250 outdoors or 50percent of capacity of small venues
- night gatherings after funerals still not permitted;
- ongoing social distancing, health protocols (ventilation, hand sanitizing)….
- night clubs remain closed;
- sale of alcohol permitted according to normal license provision but no alcohol sold during curfew hours;
- Mandatory wearing of masks in public places; failure to do so “remains a criminal offense.”
- Border posts that have been closed (30 of them) remain closed; border posts that have been open (20 of them) remain open.
- Five airports open for international travel with “standard infection control measures remain in place.”
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Extreme Covid measures – how the other half lives (2:38 mins)***
Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide ***
Their former law professor calls out (US Senators) Cruz and Hawley behavior (5:53 mins)
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Republican angst: "There are a lot of people in the party ready to move beyond Donald Trump. In fact, most of us realize he is much better at golfing than governing which is really saying a lot if you know anything about Donald Trump's golf game," before adding, "Donald Trump lost, not because more Democrats came out. Donald Trump lost because his own voters defected from him." Watch a Republican point of view of how to “move beyond Donald Trump” – from “crazy to rational”…. (5:58 mins)Hmmm. We’ll see….
Healthy planet, anyone?
Photo essay: the week in wildlifeMeanwhile, back at the ranch…
Months ago, about the time my mother’s house went on the market, I talked to an electrician about surveying the electrical system to ensure it passes the mandatory inspection.Background: The former owner had been an unscrupulous DIY guy who owed a lot of money around town. He’d kludged together a DIY electrical system based on guesswork and, maybe, dabs of super glue… in the same way he’d DIY’d other “fixes” around the house. This, to make the house appear sales worthy enough to a naïve, too trusting 80-year-old woman, (also too stubborn to heed advice).
My mother paid his asking price for a house that required many fixes after she’d moved in.
Fast forward to 2020-2021. We’re selling the house “as is” – “voetstoots” in SA realtor lingo – but that does not mean illegal. Unlike my mother’s seller, we will sell the house with a functional electrical system, as per law. (My mother’s seller simply paid off the friend /inspector responsible for signing off on the electrical system.)
The electrician I hired showed up yesterday (after a 5 month wait) and began inspecting, then fixing, the malfunction system in the garage/workshop and upper apartment.
This included locating the second “DB” – sub distribution board - in the ceiling of the garage (a surprise: I had not known there was a second sub board).
Apparently, the wires in the ceiling were a rat’s nest resulting in the power failure - something to do with improper connection of live and neutral wires….
He also began replacing the remaining power-hungry incandescent and florescent bulbs with LEDs. (I replaced a handful last year as the incandescent bulbs burned out.)
My discoveries about South African building law continue: electrical outlets/wall sockets are not permitted in bathrooms. This explains why the bathroom in my new home has zero electrical outlets – other than two overhead halogen bulbs. It also explains why the bathroom light switch is located in a different room. This law makes it highly impractical for a residents to plug a hair dryer, electric shaver, electric toothbrush, etc., in another room but….
I’d thought the lack of outlet was a building error specific to my new home. Apparently, no such outlets are permitted in South Africa. (This explains, too, why there are not outlets for hair dryers in the public dressing room at the swimming pool – or the bathrooms at my mother’s house.)
Inevitably, electricians have a (legal) workaround… I’ll hire the electrician to install the workaround in my new bathroom.
With the battery failing fast in my iPhone 6SE (and Apple’s ongoing refusal to address their “slowdown” of this device series) I carry my slowed-down phone and battery and charger cable everywhere. (Yes, I’m addicted to my phone … therefore it’s accessories.) Unfortunately, yesterday, I didn’t notice until after nightfall that I’d left my battery charger at my new home. My first reaction was panic: how would I handle my routine hours of wakefulness at midnight and 2pm and 4pm? Usually, I read my latest library e-book on my iPhone’s Kindle app.
Fast forward to 2020-2021. We’re selling the house “as is” – “voetstoots” in SA realtor lingo – but that does not mean illegal. Unlike my mother’s seller, we will sell the house with a functional electrical system, as per law. (My mother’s seller simply paid off the friend /inspector responsible for signing off on the electrical system.)
The electrician I hired showed up yesterday (after a 5 month wait) and began inspecting, then fixing, the malfunction system in the garage/workshop and upper apartment.
This included locating the second “DB” – sub distribution board - in the ceiling of the garage (a surprise: I had not known there was a second sub board).
Apparently, the wires in the ceiling were a rat’s nest resulting in the power failure - something to do with improper connection of live and neutral wires….
He also began replacing the remaining power-hungry incandescent and florescent bulbs with LEDs. (I replaced a handful last year as the incandescent bulbs burned out.)
My discoveries about South African building law continue: electrical outlets/wall sockets are not permitted in bathrooms. This explains why the bathroom in my new home has zero electrical outlets – other than two overhead halogen bulbs. It also explains why the bathroom light switch is located in a different room. This law makes it highly impractical for a residents to plug a hair dryer, electric shaver, electric toothbrush, etc., in another room but….
I’d thought the lack of outlet was a building error specific to my new home. Apparently, no such outlets are permitted in South Africa. (This explains, too, why there are not outlets for hair dryers in the public dressing room at the swimming pool – or the bathrooms at my mother’s house.)
Inevitably, electricians have a (legal) workaround… I’ll hire the electrician to install the workaround in my new bathroom.
***
Living semi-moved into two living spaces has drawbacks, the biggest of which is forgetting one's cell phone battery charger.With the battery failing fast in my iPhone 6SE (and Apple’s ongoing refusal to address their “slowdown” of this device series) I carry my slowed-down phone and battery and charger cable everywhere. (Yes, I’m addicted to my phone … therefore it’s accessories.) Unfortunately, yesterday, I didn’t notice until after nightfall that I’d left my battery charger at my new home. My first reaction was panic: how would I handle my routine hours of wakefulness at midnight and 2pm and 4pm? Usually, I read my latest library e-book on my iPhone’s Kindle app.
Could I survive hours of no iPhone?
How would/could I handle withdrawal?
It helped that the battery charger was not missing, that I knew where I’d left it. I wasn’t able to fetch it until morning, but the crisis was survivable.
True, I’ll also miss my daily routine early morning phone call with my friend in (his late night) California. My laptop, however, functions so I can email him and let him know. Then I plan to race over to my new home and retrieve the lifesaving devices.
I called to alert the neighbor and he arrived promptly to fetch it – one of his “youngsters,” he said, newly introduced to training.
He reported he’d lost several pigeons that day to hawks attacking mid-flight.
Training racing pigeons to return home happens by 10 kilometer increments: first trip away from home is 10kms distant, then 20kms, then 30kms… until the birds can find their way home from as far away as 800kms.
Now there’s an inbuilt homing device.
How would/could I handle withdrawal?
It helped that the battery charger was not missing, that I knew where I’d left it. I wasn’t able to fetch it until morning, but the crisis was survivable.
True, I’ll also miss my daily routine early morning phone call with my friend in (his late night) California. My laptop, however, functions so I can email him and let him know. Then I plan to race over to my new home and retrieve the lifesaving devices.
***
Big social occasion: I had lunch with two friends in a café yesterday - first time in more than a year. What a treat!
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Our neighbor races pigeons and, yesterday, while training, one of his pigeons landed near our garage and limped under cover of a plant box.I called to alert the neighbor and he arrived promptly to fetch it – one of his “youngsters,” he said, newly introduced to training.
He reported he’d lost several pigeons that day to hawks attacking mid-flight.
Training racing pigeons to return home happens by 10 kilometer increments: first trip away from home is 10kms distant, then 20kms, then 30kms… until the birds can find their way home from as far away as 800kms.
Now there’s an inbuilt homing device.
***
Obsession: Tracking the sun’s rising and setting schedule: Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
Feb 27: sunrise 5:48am; sunset 6:32pm.
Feb 28: sunrise 5:49am; sunset 6:31pm.
March 1: data missing due to failed battery on iPhone 6SE. (Curse you, Apple!)
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