Limbo

The Velvet Bandit (San Rafael, California)
Artists from Barcelona to California and beyond are hailing
the hope that comes with shots that were developed in record time and are now
being administered to millions of people worldwide every day. 

News blues…

Meet John Hollis, a man with super-antibodies against Covid-19  (4:24 mins) 

***

Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

Healthy futures, anyone?

It's unavoidable: we must ban fossil fuels to save our planet. Ideas on how we do it 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Limbo. Living in limbo. That’s me.
Yesterday, I was living with uncertainty. 
Today, uncertainty has morphed into limbo.
Either no forward momentum – no house sale, for example – or simply stymied. An example of the latter: SARS will not accept a photo of my mother holding a sheet of paper with her case number and the date AND a photocopy of her ID book. (The sheet of paper with info is a SARS requirement.) Getting her to the point of wellness to take that photo took more than a week.
Alas, her ID book seems to have disappeared. Which means I must hunt for it.
Then, retake the photo – which means waiting for her to have a good-enough day that she can hold both the paper and the ID book. (If I find it. If not, she’ll not get her refund, the refund that will keep her financially afloat.)
I can make out that she’s saying her ID book is “in the drawer.” I’ve looked in every likely drawer – in this house, in her Care Center drawers…. No ID book. Today, I’ll look again.
It’s exhausting trying to do one’s best for a parent – and feeling as if one comes up short every time.
After seven years of my mother paying scant attention to her life’s administrative tasks, the task has fallen to me. I feel haunted.
Unsure if I can carry on.

The ID book that broke the camel's back?

***

Tomorrow begins daylight savings time in most US states. “Spring forward, fall back” means Californians set their time pieces forward one hour. And, for a week or two, Californians head to work, or school, etc., in the dark. And leave work, or school, etc., in daylight. That  magical moment when one steps out of the workplace into sunshine. Summer’s afoot!

In South Africa, the days get shorter and nightfall earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 9: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:21pm.
March 12: sunrise 5:56am; sunset 6:18pm.
March 13: sunrise 5:57am; sunset 6:17pm.

Living with uncertainty

Five minutes before Eskom shut down our power from 6 to 8am today, my daily mug of coffee in my hand, I phoned my friend in California. As we reviewed the historical Covid-19 bill, just signed into law by Prez Biden, power outage began and my wireless dropped.
One year of residing in KZN and I’ve accepted this fact of life.

News blues…

Another reason to respect Dr Fauci: hard as the media presses him, he avoids making predictions.
We humans would fight to the death to maintain, rather than change, a tightly held point of view. Dr Fauci models another way of doing things.

Predicting the course of SARS-CoV-2 has been especially difficult… As Anthony Fauci [points out] pandemics themselves change depending on how we react to them. “It really is an evolution, in real time, of understanding something that you never experienced before,” he said. This is why he hates being asked about the future. “There are too many moving targets.” Despite the snippets that make it into headlines and sound bites, America’s most famous pandemic expert is extremely reluctant to make predictions about “returning to normal” at any specific time.
“The answer is, actually, we don’t know,” …but interviewers are rarely satisfied by that. He recounted a typical conversation: “But what’s your best guess? It’s dangerous to guess. But let’s say everything falls into place. When do you think that would be? Fall? Winter? You have variants. You have stumbling blocks. All right, give me the best-case scenario…. But very often the best-case scenario doesn’t come out. Well, let’s say you do get people vaccinated. When do you think we could get back to some form of normality? Well, what do you think ‘form of normality’ is? I mean, normality is the way it was back in October of 2019? Well, who knows how long that’s going to take. We may need to be wearing masks in 2022 if the variants come in and they sort of thwart our vaccination efforts to get everything under control.” Despite his consistent dodging and hedging, Fauci said, the human demand for certainty seems to drown out his actual answers. He imagines the headlines: “‘Fauci Says We’ll Have to Be Wearing Masks in 2022.’ No, I didn’t say that. ‘Fauci Says We’ll Be Back to Normal by the End of the Year.’ No, I didn’t say that either.” He sounded weary when we talked. “It’s dangerous to predict.”
We all want concise, concrete predictions. Attempting to minimize uncertainty is a universal human instinct … Yet efforts to eliminate uncertainty are bound to create more of it. Perhaps the most vexing lesson in epidemiology is that predictions themselves change the future. Bold forecasts have unintended consequences. When experts say that cases of COVID-19 are trending downward and the outlook for summer is rosy, for example, states start declaring victory and eliminating precautions. Even if you turn out to be exactly right about the capacity of a virus, people will react as it spreads, changing their behavior and altering prior patterns of transmission. Then, if you adjust your models and predictions accordingly, you are susceptible to criticism about “flip-flopping” or “changing your story.” Pandemic analysis is not a line of work for those afraid to update their conclusions as new evidence becomes available. It requires speaking despite uncertainty about the future, based on a keen eye for certainty in the present.
Read >> “The Pandemic Is Ending”

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Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

***

The Lincoln Project: Double Standard  (0:55 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

More than half of protected areas in Africa had been forced to halt or reduce field patrols and anti-poaching operations. A quarter of protected sites in Asia have had to reduce conservation activities, such as guards to protect against rhino and tiger poaching in Nepal.
According to Nigel Dudley, co-author of a paper in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), “Parks have emptied out to a large extent and there’s no money coming in,” raising concerns about the longer-term impact of falling tourism on conservation budgets.

Bush meat hunting has also increased significantly due to both patrol reductions and growing poverty.
In the same publication, a survey of rangers in 60 countries showed that a fifth of them had lost their jobs due to pandemic-related budget cuts. Others had their salaries reduced or delayed.
… In one positive development, some animals appeared to enjoy the respite from visitors with more park sightings reported of some species such as a pig-sized endangered mammal called the Mountain Tapir in South America.
“That’s a lesson for us for longer-term management, that animals need to have a rest and that tourism is wonderful but can also bring problems… ”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Revisiting uncertainty… I’m slowly acclimating to my new reality: Currently, I’m in charge of the direction of almost nothing in my life. Rather, I live in a zone of if/then scenarios: IF the house sells, THEN A, B, C; IF the house does not sell, THEN D, E, F. IF my mother can sign the needed documents for SARS THEN G, H, I; IF my mother cannot sign the needed documents for SARS THEN J, K, L. Each scenario has expected and unexpected consequences.
This lifestyle is a nightmare for a former project manager, preferring to make things happen “on time and on budget.”
Gurus and sages might advise “living in the moment,” or “taking things one day at a time,” or similar trite-ism. Fighting reality is a losing battle – and there both wisdom in acceptance and a kind of joy in recognizing that, despite doing one’s best, one must practice – and is successfully practicing - patience.

***

South African days getting shorter while nightfall happens earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 9: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:21pm.
March 12: sunrise 5:56am; sunset 6:18pm.

Load shedding, reprise

Eskom – Electricity Supply Commission – is “maintaining” power stations, again. This means 2-to-2.5-hour stints of no electrical power across the country. Eskom mentioned the current schedule yesterday, about one hour before the first stint of load shedding began.
Eskom’s operating mantra: Planning? Nah, who needs it? Over-rated.
Power in my neighborhood went off at 6:00am, just as I began working on today’s post. Internet and wireless – and clarity of phone calls (already patchy) will be non-existent for at least the next 2 hours.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc across our shrinking planet:
Worldwide (Map) 
March 11, 2021 – 117, 645,000 confirmed infections; 2,612,000 deaths
February 11, 2021 – 107,324,00 confirmed infections; 2,354,000 deaths
January  6 – 87,157,000 confirmed infections; 1,882,100 deaths 

December 3 – 64,469,710 confirmed infections; 1,492,100 deaths

View BBC’s interactive map and chart of data in detail 
Source: Johns Hopkins University, national public health agencies
Figures last updated 8 March 2021, 10:39 GMT

US (Map)
March 11, 2021 - 29,222,420 confirmed infections; 529,884 deaths
February 11, 2021 – 27,285,150 confirmed infections; 471,450 deaths
January 6 – 21,294,100 confirmed infections; 361,100 deaths 

December 3 – 13,920,000 confirmed infections; 273,370 deaths

View the interactive map 

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
March 11, 2021 – 1.522,700 confirmed infections; 50,910 deaths
February 11, 2021 – 1,482,412 confirmed infections; 47,145 deaths
January 6 – 1,150,000 confirmed infections; 30,525 deaths

December 3 – 796,475 confirmed infections; 21,710 deaths

***

Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

News blues…

Today, a year ago, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Within days, companies across the globe began shutting offices - many with little time to prepare employees for working entirely outside the office.
Besides logistics – how to equip employees with technologies for working at home, smart employers also had to address challenges posed by the pandemic’s mental and emotional toll.
Cisco’s executive vice president and chief people, policy and purpose officer Fran Katsoudas said,

"our employees were coming to us for guidance for everything: the pandemic, how they lived, wanting to know what was safe and what wasn't safe. … It became very natural for us to have meetings where we had medical and mental health practitioners and discussions about business strategy, all in the same meeting."
To help employees cope with the changes and uncertainties of the pandemic, some companies enhanced their benefits, offering things like free counseling, stipends for childcare and office set-ups and increased days off.

This has radically changed the post-pandemic workforce in many countries. Remote work is no longer be considered a special perk. What other changes do employers and employees face in the future?

Read  >> “The pandemic forced a massive remote-work experiment. Now comes the hard part” 

Healthy futures, anyone?

Good news / bad news…
Paradoxically (since Australia has some retro ideas about coal power) Queensland passed laws banning 'killer' single-use plastics. Environmentalists hail ‘fantastic news’ for the state’s turtles, whales and seabirds

Queensland has become the second Australian state to pass laws banning single-use plastics including straws and cutlery that are blighting the state’s waterways and beaches and endangering wildlife.
Environmental groups congratulated the Queensland government after it passed legislation on Wednesday night that will ban single-use plastic items, including polystyrene food containers and cups, from 1 September. The state’s environment minister, Meaghan Scanlon, said the state had seen benefits from its 2018 ban on single-use plastic bags, which had dropped 70% in litter surveys. 

Not so good news:

Plastic bags and flexible packaging are the deadliest plastic items in the ocean, killing wildlife including whales, dolphins, turtles and seabirds around the globe, according to a review of hundreds of scientific articles.
Discarded fishing line and nets as well as latex gloves and balloons were also found to be disproportionately lethal when compared with other ocean debris that animals mistakenly eat.
The review, by the Australian government’s science agency, CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, found ingesting plastic was responsible for killing animals across 80 different species.
Whales, dolphins and turtles were especially at risk from eating plastic film, with seabird deaths linked more with ingestion of hard plastic pieces and balloons. 

…and Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé are accused of “zero progress” on reducing plastic waste for the third year in a row - with Coca-Cola ranked No 1 for most littered products. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

When stress starts to erode one’s confidence in one’s ability to remember names, dates, and other details, it’s advised to focus on “the little things.” Mosquitos fit that description: small but highly flexible and very annoying.
There’s not much I can do against mosquitos during the day, but at night I erect a barrier – mosquito net – and crawl under it to thwart the ever-voracious pests.
Alas, my mosquito net is old and a bit tatty. I use it solely in South Africa and have done so for the past 15 years. It’s showing its age for, now and again, an enterprising mosquito finds its way through one of the small holes that have developed with age in the net. Last night, two enterprising mosquitos buzzed around me inside the net.
I can’t help but wish Eskom could harness such persistence to run that state-owned enterprise.

***

Best laid plans.
At last I have complained enough that I’m getting help to try to loosen my mother’s tax refund from SARS. I’ve the forms, instructions on how to prove to SARS that my mom is, indeed, the woman who has paid taxes on time for the past 60 years and the woman whose bank account number is the same she’s used since 1988.
I took these forms to the Care Center today in an attempt to have my mother sign and two witnesses view her signing the documents.
Alas, my mother was too exhausted today. There was no way that she had the energy to do any of what SARS requires. 
But tomorrow is another day.
I’ll keep trying.

***

South African days getting shorter while nightfall happens earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 9: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:21pm.
March 10: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:22pm.
March 11: sunrise 5:56am; sunset 6:19pm.

Sigh. Trying times.

News blues…

More crazy ‘Mericans… (2:10 mins)

***

Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

Healthy futures, anyone?

Human inability to deal with our garbage/rubbish/waste/trash.
Perhaps it’s the lack of one shared and collective term, but we humans show a remarkable inability to deal with our waste, from biological (poop, pee, blood, body parts….) to throw away packaging and toxic waste from generating energy.
Did you know:

• 12 human visitors to the moon left behind “96 bags of poo, urine, and vomit” and other trash
• Encounters with and trips to the moon make it a junkyard of more than 200 tonnes/tons of debris, from space hardware to golfballs….
• Our oceans are flooded with chemicals – from use and over use of fertilizers on farms with chemical runoff into waterways that ultimately flow into the ocean – and trash from human activities… .
• The continent of Antarctica, too, is a human litter zone. “Half-operational and deserted stations are scattered around the continent, some still inhabitable, others lost to extreme conditions, and a number left standing to solidify geopolitical claims to land, fishing rights, and minerals. These abandoned … “ghost” stations are a physical manifestation of the passion for this harsh land—a drive to both understand and dominate it—that has ultimately begun to destroy it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Gearing up for sweltering 32C temperatures today with more of the same running around associated with trying to make life plans for my mother – and myself.
A potential house purchaser who’d dropped out last week is back this week – now with money in his pocket. We shall see.

***

Days getting shorter, nightfall happening earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 9: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:21pm.
March 10: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:22pm.

Riding the waves

News blues…

Third wave South Africa:

Over the past year, SA has been ravaged by Covid-19. To date, more than 1.5 million cases and more than 50,000 deaths have been confirmed. The true number of cases is likely to be more than 10 million, and we know that unexplained deaths, most of which are due to Covid-19, sit well above 100,000. With ongoing community transmission and subsequent error-prone viral replication, new variants of SARS-CoV-2 will probably emerge and may favour further transmission.
None of us knows when the third wave will hit, but most of us in public health and science believe our Covid-19 vaccination roll-out will not be quick enough to prevent this, nor subsequent waves.
Read more >>

Third wave United States:

The next two months could determine whether the US will experience another surge in coronavirus cases, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
After months of devastation, steep decreases have been reported in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. More people are getting vaccinated, and the government on Monday released guidance on safe activities for fully vaccinated people.
But now infection numbers have plateaued at very high levels -- with the US averaging 60,000 new cases daily in the past week. Multiple governors have eased safety measures despite health officials' warnings. Spring break events are kicking off across the country, threatening the potential for further spread of the virus.
Read more >>

***

Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The Care Center in which my mother currently resides caters to a large population and, by default, must engage what I’d call “institutional care” rather than “intimate care.”
I'd polled many facilities in the region before taking her there to evaluate the place as one that might meet her needs. Her biggest need: ability to keep her dog, Jessica. 

In addition to meeting that need, my mother agreed it was “a nice place” and that, yes, she’d move in.
Now that she no longer has the dog (it is back at her house, with me), I’m considering placing her in a smaller, more intimate facility.
I’m polling various medical and geriatric experts and friends and acquaintances to gather info on the feasibility of moving her, 87 years old and recently traumatized by surgery and anesthetic.
I’m also evaluating the feasibility of bringing her back to her home.
If the house does not sell soon (on the market almost 6 months) I’d consider hiring home-based care. This is actually not as expensive as her current care. In fact, on paper, this solution may be more financially feasible than keeping her in the Care Center. And offers far greater advantages to her spirit and her psychological and emotional health.
I’m now polling experts on this possibility, too. After all, when she “passes” (aka “dies”) she’d pass far happier in her own bed, her own house, and surrounded by her own, faithful dogs.
I know, I know: sounds crazy.
But the overall situation is crazy.
If I receive a serious offer to purchase the house - not a suspensive sale offer, I’d sell in a heartbeat. Moving her to a more intimate environment, after that, is still an option.
Tomorrow, March 10, was my arbitrary D-Day, the date I planned to make a “final” decision on future direction if no acceptable purchase offer had been made.
To date, no acceptable purchase offer has been made.
An “interested party” – husband and wife – viewed the place yesterday and, according to the realtor, “are very interested.”
Alas, even as I write this, the realtor is undergoing unexpected surgery. She’ll take the next several days to recover from the immediate effects of surgery then two weeks away from the office to regain her strength – although she plans, in the interim, to “work from home.”
So, despite best intentions, even if the interested party makes a feasible offer, fate will slip my arbitrary D-Day date.
Murphy’s Law: “What can go wrong, will go wrong….”

***

Days getting shorter, nightfall happening earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 9: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:21pm.

Pithy

News blues…

Numbers of active Covid infections in South Africa appear to be dropping. For the first time since June last year, SA's active Covid-19 infections are just below 30,000.
With new infections decline – 862, and 31 deaths – in the past 24 hours, are we on an upswing? Or is this the ebb before the next wave?
Play it safe: masks, social distance, vigilance, and stay home.

***

Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

***

Weird-isms for the times
Never were truer words uttered by “flip flopper” Senator Lindsey Graham who expresses a desire to “harness the [Trump] magic. There's a dark side and there's some magic there. To me, Donald Trump is sort of a cross between Jesse Helms [religious bigot], Ronald Reagan [conservatives’ golden idol] and P.T. Barnum [circus impresario].” https://www.rawstory.com/lindsey-graham-harness-donald-trump/
This is the same Lindsey Graham who said of Trump in 2015, “He’s a race baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot…” 
These days, Graham is Trump’s bestie BFF and golf partner. “"Donald Trump was my friend before the riot…and nd I'm trying to keep a relationship with him after the riot. Uh, I still consider him a friend. “
As ‘they’ say, “politics makes strange bedfellows”… and these guys are strange.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Short and sweet posting today as I’m off and running early.
First meeting with matron of Care Center to review my mother’s situation. My original thinking, before she agreed to move into that facility was, number 1: they are the only place in town that accepted her with a dog. Plus, the location is gorgeous with wandering wild zebra, warthog, impala, blesbok, etc., passing right outside her bedroom window.
I’m also meeting with the manager of a smaller, more intimate care center to understand what it might offer my mother – all the while holding the reality that my 87-year-old mother is very frail and would be further disoriented by another move.

***

Days getting shorter, nightfall earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 6: sunrise 5:53am; sunset 6:25pm.
March 7: sunrise 5:54am; sunset 6:24pm.
March 8: sunrise 5:54am; sunset 6:22pm.

Business as usual, cont'd...

News blues…

A Tweet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC - finds that state-issued mask requirements are associated with the slowing of COVID-19 cases and deaths. “Wearing a well-fitting mask consistently and correctly is one of the best ways we can protect ourselves and each other. “
On the heels of Texas and Mississippi lifting their statewide mask mandates and ditching other coronavirus safety measures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report suggesting states should be doing the complete opposite to Texas and Mississippi.
The study closely examined COVID-19 cases, as well as hospitalization and death rates across the country, and – surprise! - found that mask mandates were associated with reductions in those figures, while on-site dining was associated with increases.

From March 1 to Dec. 31 of last year public mask mandates were associated with a 0.5 percentage point decrease in the daily growth rate of cases up to 20 days after the rule was put into place, the study found. Those reductions increased over time, shooting up to 1.8 percentage points 100 days after implementing the mask mandate.
Rules allowing for restaurant dining, meanwhile, were associated with a 0.9 percentage point increase after 60 days of greenlighting that activity. That figure jumped to 1.2 percentage points after 80 days. The study, however, did not differentiate between indoor or outdoor dining, the latter of which infectious disease experts say is much safer than the former.

• CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a recent press briefing, “I am really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from COVID-19.” 
• Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said that it is a mistake to relax coronavirus restrictions when more contagious and possibly more dangerous virus variants are circulating in the US. He warned, “We're walking into the mouth of the monster.“  
• Dr. Anthony Fauci said the US shouldn't ease restrictions in place to prevent Covid-19 before the number of new coronavirus cases falls below 10,000 daily, "and maybe even considerably less than that…." He added that the country should pull restrictions gradually, after a substantial portion of Americans are vaccinated.
  The last time the US saw fewer than 10,000 new daily cases was almost a year ago, on March 22, 2020. The number hasn't fallen below 50,000 daily cases since mid-October, and the seven-day average on Wednesday was more than 64,000. 

Will Americans listen?
Some will. Some will not.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is listening. He signed an executive order once again extending the requirement that most people in Colorado “wear a medical or non-medical face covering” … for another 30 days. 

The following US states and territories have mask mandates:
Alabama | American Samoa | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | District of Columbia | Guam | Hawaii | Illinois | Indiana | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | Ohio |Oregon | Pennsylvania | Puerto Rico | Rhode Island | Texas | U.S. Virgin Islands | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming The following US states and territories do not have mask mandates:
Alaska | Arizona | Florida | Georgia | Idaho | Iowa | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | North Dakota | Northern Mariana Islands | Oklahoma | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee
Details on each state’s mandate >>

Choose your summer vacation spot with care and an eye toward health.

***

Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

Healthy planet, anyone?

To address and inform the public about how corporate and ideological interests spread disinformation across the US, and use their influence to try to stop climate action, the Guardian is partnering with Floodlight , a nonprofit environmental news collaborative partnering with local journalists.
Floodlight’s debut story  investigates how the gas industry is fighting to weaken the climate ambitions of two Texas cities: Austin and San Antonio.

***

Cyclone Winston devastated vital coral colonies off Fiji, but four years on, the reefs are alive again, teeming with fish and colour 

***

Photo essay: the week in wildlife 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday’s cooler weather allowed me to wheel my mother on a long-awaited trip outside the Care Center. We didn’t go far and, hunched as she is now, I’m not sure how much of the local flora she saw, but it made a welcome change for her. I’ll do it again today, but this time I’ll pad her with cushions to prop her up and prevent her slumping in the wheelchair.
I’m concerned about her swollen and painful right hand. She’d complained last week that her hand was sore and, as I massaged tight tendons in her palm near both pinky fingers, I’d encouraged her to flex her hands frequently. That hasn’t helped.
No red spots on her hand indicate insect bites or infection and she has no discernable bruising; puzzling.

***

House sale, ongoing: neighbors who have lived on this street for 30 years, indicated interest in viewing the house after the end of the sole mandate period. They prefer to make an offer free of an agent’s commission.
Yesterday, I showed them around the property. I discerned references to yet another suspensive sale. This relies on the seller assuming the loan while the buyer pays it off over an agreed period.
I’d refused a suspensive sale last week (the buyer tried a classic bait and switch) and informed real estate agents, “no more offers for suspensive sales – I’m not interested.”
Turns out this is likely the neighbor’s tack, too. I’ll refuse his offer, too - albeit with reluctance.

 
After more than a year living here, I’ve learned a thing or two about this country.
For one thing, I despair of what I call the country’s “reverse development” mentality: very little effort put toward educating workers about the benefits of high-quality work product. Planning is an alien concept as it what defines quality and/or a job well done. This means people work without a plan, or supervision, or quality controls, and or consequences for failing to perform adequately.

***

Days getting shorter, nightfall happening earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 6: sunrise 5:53am; sunset 6:25pm.
March 7: sunrise 5:54am; sunset 6:24pm.