Blogs from Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 2

“Confusion is to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”- Isaac Newton If one likens Covid-19 to a large roulette wheel spinning in a casino and randomly stopping every now and then to deliver a new number with a sinister message, it is certainly delivering just that. A pandemic which kicked off in February 2020, continues to spin out of control and shows little heed for many of the efforts being frantically thrown at it by seriously confused humans across the globe. A quick global check reveals interesting scenarios. In England, PM Boris Johnson is desperate to announce to the Poms that Covid-19 has been defeated and life can return to normal. His target date for this massive announcement is 19th July. Will it happen? Watching Wimbledon over the past ... read more

“There are no desperate situations, there are only desperate people.” – Heinz Guderman Who would have thought as the month of June 2021 winds down that Covid-19 would by now not have disappeared? On the contrary, as we move into month seventeen of this catastrophic pandemic, this pesky virus has mutated into a monster by way of the variants constantly evolving and the scary reality that the most recent of them, the Delta variant, spreads far more easily and rapidly than any of the others to date. There is little doubt that for many of us there is a numbing acceptance that we are a long way off of getting the better of this virus and thus seeing our lives return to normal. The numbers don’t seem to matter anymore given that there is a sort ... read more

“The World seems to slouch onward into its uncertain future like some huge inarticulate beast, too much attained by wounds and ailments to be robust, but too strong and resourceful to succumb.” – Richard Hofstader Writer’s fatigue or Covid-19 exhaustion are the two likely factors which have curtailed the updating of the Covid-19 blog notwithstanding that this pesky virus needs to be updated to read Covid-2021. Who would have thought that this unprecedented pandemic would endure for so long and take on so many different variants? The last blog was published on 29th March 2021 and read by 71 people. Interesting that no comments, chirps or message reactions have been posted by readers since December 2020 so I suspect Covid-19 fatigue has set in and we are all suffering a new variant called Covid-19 gatvol. Just ... read more

“An infected mind is a far more dangerous pestilence than any plague- one only threatens your life, the other destroys your character.” – Marcus Aurelius (1800 years ago) 2021 is truly underway and no doubt the hopes of millions of people around the globe that this would be a better year, are vanishing fairly quickly. The Covid-19 “buzz” is now all about rampant second waves, a new Covid-19 variant born in South Africa “nogal” and stricter lockdowns for many, many countries. Fascinating how South Africa was fingered with gifting the World with this new variant. How on earth did the scientific boffins determine precisely which country this new strain came from? So, the picture is generally one of doom and gloom although there is a brightly shining star out there. Vaccinations are underway in many countries ... read more

Yesterday’s celebration for Nui’s birthday was a success. Only Nenad ate and drank too much. It is difficult to be disciplined with all that fresh food and delicious wine in this country. The last time Nenad ate a lobster thermidor was also at the shores of the Indian Ocean, in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania in 1980 (outsch). The owner the Italian restaurant a son of an Viennese father and Milanese mother, tried really hard to make it a special evening. He joined us for a longer conversation joking chatting, reminding us of our dear friend Domenico and the numerous Sole Mio celebrations we had in Bangkok. No we are not homesick at all, but miss our friends from Bangkok. And Nui who bravely is trying all sorts of different foods around the globe does miss ... read more