Sunday 7 February 2021, Day 43 of Level 3 Adjusted, Day 319 of Lockdown. 😷

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#Grateful for a beautiful day, but a little cooler at 24C; for Imtiaz being back at work, and having the assistance of Bakoven learner Marc to clean up the left over litter from yesterday plus the litter from the picnickers today; for finding F & L pink tonic at Pick n Pay, a surprise; for a walk to Clifton 2nd Beach and back, making so many chat and litter pick up stops that I could not get my heart rate up high enough, only receiving 200 Discovery points today; for a short snooze this afternoon; for another Camps Bay clean up walk with Imtiaz this afternoon; and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙

I was not happy with the lack of support from the City of Cape Town in the past two days, and the conditions under which we have to clean up Camps Bay. I summarized it for the Camps Bay residents :

‘Camps Bay Clean 6 and 7 February 🌴🌿🐠🦆

Yesterday was a crazy beach day, almost as busy as a Public Holiday. As Imtiaz does not work on Saturdays, I requested assistance from our community in cleaning up the litter around the Tidal Pool picnic areas. Sadly none was forthcoming. 😱

A young picnicker was kind enough to help me remove the litter in the Stream. I could not cope in cleaning up all the litter, especially as the Council green bins were overflowing, with no City bin clearers working at all yesterday!

Imtiaz had a huge job today, to catch up with yesterday’s litter plus the fresh new litter, there being slightly fewer picnickers today. We started at Bali Bay Beach, finding the green bin overflowing, so we had to decant some of the bin content into our garbage bags to make space in the bins. We were fortunate to have the assistance of Hout Bay Intentional learner Marc helping us for an hour, doing this as a community project. Imtiaz had to rebag the bags we left next to Caltex on Friday, as they had been torn open and all their content strewn around, almost like starting from scratch. He walked the Promenade, on Glen Beach, Maidens Cove, in front of the restaurants, and then we both tackled the greater Tidal Pool area again, before Imtiaz went home, dead tired.

Once again green bins were overflowing in Camps Bay, as the morning Council cleaners only cleared bins from the Law Enforcement Office to Clifton. The afternoon clearing team did not work this afternoon. I have requested urgent meetings with the head of bin clearing and bag removal via Councillor Nicola Jowell since December, but he is now on leave!

I had walked up to Second Beach Clifton, and found torn domestic garbage bags in Clifton and Glen Beach. PLEASE can we request that black bags only be put on the pavements in these areas on Mondays? And that cardboard boxes be put into bags – the Council cleaners do not remove them from the pavement.

It’s been a challenging weekend. When we asked one group of picnickers why they don’t put their litter in the green bins, a young lady said it is because we are paid to clean! Boy, I had to hold my tongue 😡! While Imtiaz does get a daily fee, I do not.

Thank you for your support. 🙏

Chris von Ulmenstein’

SA Corona Status 1 476 135 cases 46290 deaths 😷😢

FitBit 16000 steps 11 km 👣

Lovemylife❤️

The Corona Virus Lockdown (Level 5), announced by our President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier to commence on 27 March and to continue until 16 April, subsequently extended to 30 April, lowered to Level 4 from 1 May, lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, lowered to Level 2 from 18 August, lowered to Level 1 from 21 September, and moved back to Adjusted Level 3 from 29 December,  extended to 15 February on 11 January, and extended but relaxed on 1 February, is an unprecedented event in my lifetime. I am posting my daily Facebook post to journal this Corona Lockdown Journey, perhaps to serve as material for a future Book.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide