What 's the weather like where you are ?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

i believe "day zero" has now been put back to early June Ruby?!

if that is so, that gives some breathing space...

[Ruby]

^July now. It's not going to happen. The 'Day Zero' campaign struck fear into the hearts of the citizenry (as was intended), and we have, as a city, reduced our water consumption by a considerable amount - tourism, burgeoning development and major sporting events notwithstanding. Ironically, the city is losing money due to that reduction and is now charging us higher tariffs, slapping penalties around left right and centre and finding other ingenious ways in which to recover revenue lost for a service they cannot guarantee to deliver.   

In other news - it's been raining for 24 hours, on and off. Hooray! Most unseasonal - rain tanks are overflowing - amazing how much water can be collected from ones roof!!

[Music Head]

^^
and just think of all the protein

[SteveO]

A very good winter (so far) away up here ! Not much snow and unseasonably mild temperatures ! Today it's 10 Celsius or 47 Fahrenheit ! I can shun the heavy coat, boots gloves and hat today !

[Ruby]

^^
and just think of all the protein

That's exactly what I'm thinking about, lol!   

Neglected to mention that one of the reasons Day Zero (loathe the term, btw) has been pushed out is because municipal supply to agriculture has been curtailed (the other is that our aquifers are being tapped). Some of our farmers in the drier regions have relied on municipal water for irrigation and can no longer do that. Others, situated in and around viable catchment areas, built private dams (all approved by the Dept of Water and Sanitation) and are now augmenting supply to the city because they have enough to spare – for a while; there’s a limit. Many people are out of work and some farmers are finished – terrible for everyone who depended on this work for their livelihood. A whole tomato canning factory just didn’t open this year and some wine farmers have lost entire vineyards. The pain will be felt by us all further down the line.

[Jerome]

Hope the situation improves soon. Spoke to my mom in CT recently and her entire gardening efforts have all but been wiped out. A bad situation. And of course the clowns in control did nothing for years other than up prices. As if that is going to fix the problem.

I remember not too long ago a certain Minister for Water citing the reason a town in one of the drier regions of the country had run out of water. 'The old apartheid regime built the dams too big and they take too long to fill - that's why we have run out of water' ??!!??!!

I am ad-libbing here but there is supposed to be an old Native American saying that goes something like this;

Only when the last bird is taken from the sky
The last fish taken from the stream
And the last beast slaughtered on the land
Only then will man realize that he cannot eat money

[CRAZY-HORSE]

love that ad-lib saying Jerome, sums up mankind to a tee!

[Ruby]

Hope the situation improves soon. Spoke to my mom in CT recently and her entire gardening efforts have all but been wiped out. A bad situation. And of course the clowns in control did nothing for years other than up prices. As if that is going to fix the problem.

I remember not too long ago a certain Minister for Water citing the reason a town in one of the drier regions of the country had run out of water. 'The old apartheid regime built the dams too big and they take too long to fill - that's why we have run out of water' ??!!??!!

I am ad-libbing here but there is supposed to be an old Native American saying that goes something like this;

Only when the last bird is taken from the sky
The last fish taken from the stream
And the last beast slaughtered on the land
Only then will man realize that he cannot eat money

It’s quite stressful so I hope it improves soon too! Not a nice time for garden lovers at all … even some of the indigenous gardens are starting to look straggly and sparse.

Re that dam comment – I remember thinking it was idiotic at the time, but now realise that it contains at least one tiny kernel of common sense; Theewaterskloof, CT’s biggest reservoir, is massive, but it’s widespread and actually quite shallow which means there’s a huge amount of evaporation - was on a flight over it the other day – not a pretty sight. IMHO we would be much better off with deeper dams that have a smaller surface area. One only realises when this kind of catastrophe strikes, how complex the story of water really is!

That proverb has been milling around in my head since this whole thing began. There are people who don’t give a single toss about our/their water – the attitude is that they’re paying so they WILL use as much of it as they please (hotel, B&B guests, those with large rolling lawns, those who are convinced that this is all some kind of con, etc.). Can’t they see that once it’s gone, no amount of money will bring it back?? So disconnected. There are a couple of versions – all valid …

When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.

[Jerome]

Just got off the phone after speaking to my mom and sister. Situation getting quite tense by the sound of things. Strangely enough, there is supposed to be a ship in the bay loaded with water, apparently from Madeira - the Portuguese island off the coast of Africa where I went on holiday last year. The ship's name is 'Barbara', which for reasons I will not discuss here happens to be a pretty significant name from the past. Strange old world we live in. Coincidences and signs all over the place - I might be losing my marbles......!

BTW - I found a lot of ex-South Africans living in Madeira - a place I can see myself retiring to when the time comes. It has everything you need. A little paradise, but as the line in the old Eagle's song goes -

They called it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise
Kiss it goodbye.

[Music Head]

^^
well said
pave it and put up a parking lot