Re:RETURN OF THE MET

Reading with amusement the comments on what a comeback this race has made on the SA Racing scene.

Delusions or hallucinations after having too much............... J&B MAYBE.

Forty five years ago. The 1978 ROTHMANSJuly Handicap winner POLITICIAN goes down to Cape Town to defend his Met Crown and become the only horse after 40 years to win the race back to back.

He was unbeaten in Cape Town having won all of the Cape Guineas, Cape Derby, Queens Plate and Met.

Yet ...............the crowds failed to turn up to see a champion .

PART 1.....................CROWDED





PART 2.....................CROWDED NOT?.................

.......this was mainly due to the laid back rural nature of Cape Racing way back in the day....that aside from Justerini&Brooks they never had really big sponsorships and paled in comparison to the other 2 main racing jurisdictions.....I attended my 1st Met back in 1989 and already a veteran of many July's, Summer Cups et al...... and going to Kenilworth on their biggest day was like going back to a prior century. It was not crowded, very casual and one could look important and wonder around in any and all facilities unchallenged....the picnic spots were buddy buddy largely unreserved and very casual it was organized like a sunday school fete....in 1992 they got the rights to receive the live video feed of the Paul Simon Cape Town concert....only a handful of us stayed to watch it on the large infield screen, despite the grand advertising of this event ....So I can believe that years prior with the bigger horse names that they failed to attract really big crowds....but now Cape Racing is the place to be and would have really liked to have attended but way only be there for the Derby "hopefully".....:whistle:

There was a communique from Bob about tickets selling out super fast for the event.

Any mention of the House Full signs to be put up after 10 thousand soles gained entry?

That the event was to be capped to 10,000 soles only.

A crowd similar to the Cape Minstrels parade day on the course perhaps?

......no matter what who how....the Cape is the place to be and 4Q cant hold a candle to what they have achieved down there.....this petty provincialism is so passe.....but in reality the Cape in general is by far better than anything else in the country....I always maintained that in our political mess.....people will vote with their feet.....and if they did not like the way things were run where they were....and if they had the means....simply move to a place where things were far better.....:whistle:

The Politician Met was sponsored by Benson & Hedges.


Sent from my Ferrari using Tapatalk

......only attended the Met in the J&B era.....mostly that swill was gratis on course and led to many drunken brawls mainly in the picnic area.....the year that La Fabulous won.....some oke smacked another oke in the head with a half full bottle of J&B and carried on drinking from it while the on course 1st aid tried patching up the other oke with blood pumping from his cracked scull....a similar incident happened the year of the Paul Simon concert.....:ohmy:

Could it have been a blessing in disguise. I mean capping the attendance figures to 10,000 soles.

Like, um we just got over Covid , you know .

Would there have been enough TOILETS for the thousands .

The jockeys making a bee-line for the outside rail and the patrons a bee-line.....to the TOILETS.:lol:

Bob you were warned ...................to pack the IMMODIUM.


FILE: A new strain of stomach flu is doing the rounds in the Mother City. Picture: Stock.xchng
Stomach flu Stomach bug Cape Town stomach bug
Email Print
Eyewitness News | 31 January 2014 17:56
CAPE TOWN - A Cape Town medical practitioner on Friday said a new strain of stomach flu is doing the rounds in the city.

The bug is running through classrooms as well as in the workplace.

According to Doctor Jane Benjamin, she has seen at least five patients in the last two weeks who have the bug.

She says the symptoms include nausea which lasts for up to 48 hours and other flu-like symptoms.

"It's also really important to stay very well hydrated. If at any stage you do develop diarrhoea, seek help."

ewn.co.za/2014/01/31/Stomach-bug-grips-Cape-Town

PS. Although it's dated 2014, there is a gastric outbreak, something to do with the sewer and the water?

www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/sewage-spil...c3-97d6-0a0efbcad9b6


Sewage spills raising health concerns
The closure of yet another beach due to a sewage spill – this time a part of Gordon’s Bay – has added to the growing fears over health and safety, especially amid increasing gastroenteritis reports. Picture: Brendan Magaar/African News Agency(ANA)
The closure of yet another beach due to a sewage spill – this time a part of Gordon’s Bay – has added to the growing fears over health and safety, especially amid increasing gastroenteritis reports. Picture: Brendan Magaar/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Jan 6, 2023


SHARE

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Telegram
Share on WhatsApp
Copy to Clipboard

Listen to this article
0:00 / 5:12
1X
BeyondWords
Cape Town - The closure of yet another beach due to a sewage spill – this time a part of Gordon’s Bay – has added to the growing fears over health and safety, especially amid increasing gastroenteritis reports.

The City, however, has claimed it has not received any reports from patients over drinking water or water for recreational activities, and a spate of stomach bug cases was due to rising heat temperatures, with the Provincial Health Department backing this.

Story continues below Advertisement

Between October 31 and December 26, 2 453 gastroenteritis cases were reported to the City.

Gordon’s Bay Beach, between the walkway and the area in front of Spur, is the latest to experience sewer overflows.

Within a space of four days, four beaches, including Strand Beach, Small Bay in Blaauwberg and Fish Hoek Beach, had to be temporarily closed due to spills. Fish Hoek Beach, between the lifeguard station and Jager’s Walk, was reopened on Thursday.

More on this
Dirty beaches ‘no surprise’ over dearth of maintenance, planning
Another Cape Town beach closed as sewage overflows
Health warning signage has been erected, advising the public of the situation.

“Fish Hoek Beach’s temporary closure was due to a sewer overflow caused by a blocked sewer pipe that was cleared.

Items such as plastics and materials were removed from the sewer pipe.



“A section of Gordon’s Bay Beach’s temporary closure is due to a sewer overflow in the area related to a sewer pump station that tripped because inappropriate materials had been thrown into the local sewer network yet again.


Gordon’s Bay Beach, between the walkway and the area in front of Spur, is the latest to experience sewer overflows.
“The pumps are being serviced and mitigation measures have been implemented in the meantime to maintain the sewer operations.

“City Health will be taking water samples on a daily basis for water quality testing until such time as the levels are within the minimum requirement for recreational activities, as determined by the National Water Quality Guidelines,” the City said.



It urged the public to avoid contact with the water until further notice, and stated that this was a precaution as contact with the water could result in potential gastro-intestinal issues.

“Therefore, any person who enters the water does so at their own risk.

Health warning signage has been erected, advising the public accordingly,” it said.
The estuary mouth at the Milnerton Lagoon and Lagoon Beach, which has also remained closed since last year, has seen some residents and visitors, including children, swimming in the polluted waters during the festive season due to hot summer temperatures.

Lesley Rochat, founder and chief executive of AfriOceans and an environmentalist who wrote a blog last month titled “Drowning in poop”, said sewage was a complex cocktail containing a plethora of substances harmful to humans and the environment.

“One does not exactly expect to be floating in poop along such a beautiful and pristine coastline as False Bay. But it is far from pristine.

On a number of occasions, and from our eco-tourism centre, Shark Warrior Adventure Centre situated at Seaforth beach, we have sea-kayaked in floating poop!

“Now this is not good for tourism when a tourist asks: ‘What is this stuff floating on the surface?’

“Too much sewage entering our oceans results in lack of oxygen in the ocean which then creates dead zones, areas where fish and other marine life are unable to grow or survive. Not to mention the fact that the marine life we eat contains drugs found in the sewage such as antibiotics and hormones, which are harmful to humans,” said Rochat.

According to Rochat, she has been informed by the City that funding was lacking to address the problems of failed pumps and old, outdated systems, which were taking greater strain with increased load shedding.

Leslie Petrik, emeritus professor of the faculty of natural sciences in the department of chemistry at UWC, said disease was invisible as it happened to individuals who mainly suffered in silence.

“It is very difficult to correlate the disease with the exposure to polluted water, unless there was regular public health data being collected, which is not being done by the City as far as I can see.

“The really worrying aspect to me is that the organisms in water samples we tested were highly antibiotic resistant; in other words the organisms had developed the ability to survive the antibiotics used to cure disease.

“This means that if one were to be infected with such resistant bacteria, it would be very hard to treat the infection, and may cause extended hospital stays or even death from untreatable infections,” said Petrik.

Patricia van der Ross, Mayco member for community services and health, said between October 31 and December 26 there were 2 453 gastroenteritis cases.

“City Health has not received any reports from patients regarding drinking water or water for recreational activities as a cause of diarrhoea. Please note we are currently in what is known as surge season.”

Cape Times

RELATED TOPICS:



IOL
Independent Online, popularly known as IOL, is one of South Africa’s leading news and information websites bringing millions of readers breaking news and updates on Politics, Current Affairs, Business, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Travel, Sport, Motoring and Technology. Read more

Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Subscribe to us on Youtube
Subscribe to our RSS feeds
SECTIONS ON IOL
News
Lifestyle
Entertainment
Travel
Business
Property
Sport
Motoring
Opinion
IOL TV
Brandstories
MORE ON IOL
About IOL
Contact Us
Weather
Newspapers Highlights
Newspapers Contacts
Manage My Notifications
SUBSCRIBE
Independent Media
Email Newsletter
Get the IOL app on Google PlayGet the IOL app on the App Store
© 2022 Independent Online and affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Press Code
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Advertise with us
Feedback
Complaints Procedure

Last week the UK Government, the most corrupt in the Western world, voted to allow raw sewage to flow into rivers for the next 15 years.

......KZN Durban the sh!t capital of the world.....turds on the beach all over the place from Umdloti to Amanzimtoti and that was in December 2021 way before the riots, floods and everything else that has befallen that poor place by the sea....they say that the fishing there has improved though....:S .

Reading this I have to wonder whether I attended a different Met in 1979 to the one reported in this post. I was barely able to secure a seat on the grandstand upper gallery @ 10:30 in the monrning just after the gates opened. If memory serves me correctly the first race jumped @ 13:00. I never left my position until after the Met as I would not have been able to get back to it.
From my elevated position the racecourse appeared to be 'prop vol' so clearly I must respectfully beg to differ.