Apathy

News blues

Shanghai, China’s biggest city and metropolis of 25 million people, will lock down its eastern half from Monday until Friday. The phased lockdown is expected to curb the Omicron-fueled Covid-19 outbreak and has in recent days become the leading hotspot in a nationwide outbreak that has hit China with its highest caseloads since the early days of the pandemic.
Read more >> 

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Americans have been deeply divided ideologically about a multitude of issues - healthcare, immigration, voting rights, gun reform, climate change, on and on – for years. The pandemic has exacerbated rifts, pushing Americans further apart on key pandemic response efforts. Last year,

[s]urveys from Pew Research Center,  found that in the early months of the pandemic, about 6 in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents believed the virus was a major threat to the health of the U.S. population, compared to only a third of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents. That 26-point gap would ultimately grow to approximately 40 points by the fall…

Read “For red and blue America, a glaring divide in COVID-19 death rates persists 2 years later” >> 

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On War:
War makes unpleasant bedfellows…
South Africa as a political entity has been sitting on the fence regarding Russia’s invasion and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Now, it may become clear why this is so: the confluence of Escom’s decades-long mismanagement (Escom, remember, is SA’s coal-driven electricity parastatal), the potential for Russian-built nuclear power plants in our future, and Russian natural gas. And, “daar lê die ding” - Afrikaans for something like “that’s the thing” or “the truth is revealed”….

Amid a war in Ukraine and soaring gas prices, South Africa wants to urgently secure access to vast amounts of natural gas.
Gazprombank, owned by Russia’s state-owned gas supplier, confirms it is considering a bid for what is potentially a multibillion-rand contract — which, if awarded, would raise questions on whether South Africa’s stance on Ukraine is being influenced by its thirst for gas.
The Central Energy Fund (CEF) released a tender last month, looking for a gas aggregator to help secure liquified natural gas (LNG) for various gas-to-power projects planned for the Coega special economic zone in the Eastern Cape.

Read more >> 
And more >> 
And yet more >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

© Joel Pett | Copyright 2022 Tribune Content Agency

 Shawn Heinrichs grew up along South Africa’s coasts. His protective instinct for life beneath the waves inspired a career investigating its mistreatment by humans and campaigning for change.”
Today, he photographs oceans and ocean creatures and says, “'Apathy is one of our biggest problems'”.
See his photos >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Readers may know my penchant for Marmite. For the gustatorily ill-informed, Marmite, it is a black, salty goop invented by German scientist Justus von Liebig and originally made in the UK. South Africans who enjoy eating this black goop spread it on bread, toast, savory biscuits, etc.
Marmite threads through my memories of childhood so I overcome the gross factor and tuck in. For example, I attended an all-girl high school as a “day scholar” (not a “boarder”) and wore uniforms with a tie, brown lace up shoes with bobby socks, etc., etc.
One memory of those days involved the trays of Marmite sandwiches (“sarmies”) set out for “boarders” for a first “break” snack. I and a girlfriend – also a “day scholar” - found it the height of daring to sneak up on the trays and snatch half a marmite sandwich. We’d scarf up the morsel, only half conscious that the snatching added to the taste.
Oh, what daredevils! Good times! 
Marmite was on my grocery list today.

Alas, no Marmite.
Marmite is made from brewers’ yeast. Apparently, the pandemic played havoc with SA’s Marmite production affected by shortages of brewers’ yeast and the shortage continues. Plenty of Bovril on store shelves. Bovril is a salty, black goop but it doesn’t entice.
Back in October of last year, makers of yeast-extracted Marmite said production was to start up again. No sign of the goop at Pick n Pay.
Boo hoo!

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The goodish news?
The hard work I’ve mentioned over the last weeks is paying off. I’ve accomplished much. Not so the electrician who, despite his statements to the contrary, has still not installed the pre-paid electrical meter downstairs. A month ago he assured me he’d have installed both meters within two weeks. That hasn’t happened. Indeed, I’m troubled by the dearth of completion on any of the jobs he’s working on at this house. (The laundry washing machine unexpectedly burned a fan belt that’s been extraordinarily difficult to replace. It’s an older workhorse of a machine, so I wait and wait and wait…. Maybe, like Marmite the fan belt shortage is a product of the pandemic, too?) 

The workload is exhausting – cleaning in preparation for painting, painting, cleaning up after painting… weeding the pond… harassing the culvert/road workers … weeding the pond... sorting through “stuff” … keeping the house running… this, that, and the next thing… 

But we’re getting there!

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Crisp evenings and nights signal autumn here: 

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:08am
Sunset: 5:59pm

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:58am
Sunset: 7:29pm