Sunday morning on the plot. Quiet. Peaceful. Birds chirping. Coffee in hand.

Then, a plane appears. Not once. Not twice. But four deliberate loops in the sky. Zigzagging trails. High altitude. Stop-start patterns. A strange pulsing formation in the contrail, like teeth or coded signals. And I watched. And I took photos. Proof.

So naturally, I did what any self-respecting ou on a plot does: I posted it to the Kromdraai WhatsApp group.

The Vinegar Response

Within minutes, one of the group members proudly shared a BBC article. Apparently, people like me, the ones who use their eyes, are now called "chemtrail influencers." Apparently, we hang out on Telegram and throw bowls of vinegar outside to neutralize the evil in the sky.

Well, I may not know the chemical composition of that trail, but I do know:

• Vinegar doesn’t evaporate into a counter-aerosol, and
• Sarcasm doesn’t neutralize aluminum oxide.

She even sent a photo of a bowl of vinegar on a table. For real. Thanks Susan. The skies are safe now.

The Comical Divide

While Kromdraai group members took turns calling me a conspiracy theorist, I called my wife outside.

I pointed up at the very visible sky scribbles of doom and said: “Look at that. Trails. Not one, not two. Four loops.”

She glanced up, said, “Ok.” And walked back into the cabin.

I said, “Maar... don’t you SEE it?” She replied, “So what? There’s nothing I can do about it.”

That, my brother, is when I realized: The apocalypse won’t be televised; it will be ignored into obscurity while people check their emails.

A Lesson in Modern Blindness

This isn’t just about chemtrails vs contrails. It’s about the death of wonder.

We no longer ask. We no longer investigate. We no longer wonder. We either mock, or shrug, or surrender to helplessness.

Something strange happens overhead, visibly, undeniably. And it gets a "meh" at best... and a vinegar bowl at worst.

So What Now?

Next time you see something strange in the sky, don’t just reach for the BBC. Don’t reach for vinegar. And please, for heaven’s sake, don’t just walk back inside.

Look up. Take a photo. Ask a question. Talk to someone.

Because if we stop doing even that, we’ve already lost far more than clear skies.

Photo taken on the morning of 15 June 2025 from a Plot in Block A, Kromdraai. What I saw happened. Whether you believe it or not, well... that's up to you. But I won't be putting out vinegar bowls any time soon.