Rest assured, we’re safely in Surrey.
The flight was fun, although the kids weren’t hugely happy about being cooped up on a plane for 12 minutes, let alone 12 hours.
I finally got some sleep at lunchtime today – just 10 minutes, followed by another 4 hours. And I feel the need to add to that now…
I won’t be able to see Devil’s Peak. Or my favourite Cape Town sunsets.
If you look carefully, you might just see the plane I’m on right now, flying somewhere in this picture. Or not.
The 2009 Kids in Tow Tour has begun and I may already be drunk.
This post was written on 1st July 2009 and pre-programmed to appear on 2nd July 2009 through the magic of WordPress.
(Not to be confused with my original Out of the Frying Pan post from February last year)
I’m in two minds whether to fly this evening. We’re packed, we’re all checked in, our hosts are ready and waiting, the weather looks good and the boy can hardly wait and is literally twitching with mounting anticipation, but then I read this:
Official crime figures show the UK has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa – widely considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries.
Seriaas? Seriaas.
Well – sort of, anyway – it is from the Daily Mail.
Completely violent: SA beaten back into 3rd place in hysterical Daily Mail article.
It’s nice to see that while SA is only the third most violent country on earth according to this survey, it somehow maintains the perception of being the gold standard when it comes to criminal naughtiness. Give it a couple of years and everyone will be comparing their violent crime rates to the UK:
Oh yes dear, I know Dennis was mugged twice last week, but it’s still nowhere near as bad as the UK.
And it’s not raining.
But I’m seriously considering a last minute change of destination to somewhere safer, like Baghdad or Kabul. Or maybe being adventurous but taking just a bit less risk by heading to Salzburg, famous as the historic birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Knifecrime.
EDIT: It’s a good job that forum is down for repairs. They’d be having a cadenza over this one.
Excuses central: more buts than a goats’ night out at Teazers. Hahaha!
The 2009 Kids in Tow Tour is almost upon us and I know that there is one burning question on your collective minds:
How will it affect us, the reading public of 6000 miles…?
It wouldn’t be right if, like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown, I didn’t put you out of your misery, so here’s the deal as I see it.
And that’s pretty much it. We fly tomorrow, Kids in Tow and, anticipating un jour ‘ectique, I’ve already pre-published a special KiTT send off post, which will appear here at 1800 CAT (or some other time, if I got my time zones mixed up) tomorrow. That post may appear mildly trivial (although reading it now, rather prophetic) if there happens to be a nuclear holocaust between now and then; but then you probably won’t be reading it if there’s a nuclear holocaust between now and then, will you?
I leave you with the ever popular Simple Minds 1985 hit Don’t You (Forget About Me); firstly, because I love songs (with brackets in the title) and secondly, because I’m gonna miss you guys. *sniffle*
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAdaQhitdKg]
Listen to Jim:
Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, babyDon’t You Forget About Me
Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t
Don’t You Forget About Me
See you soon!
6k.
I’m feeling somewhat limited by my current camera, the 7.1MP point-and-shoot goodness that is a Sony DSC-W17 and I feel it’s time to move onward and upward and get something with a bit more power. Looking at the Flickr stats for the W17, it seems that I’m not alone in this. Following extensive research (of both cameras and bank balance), I have decided that while in the UK on the 2009 Kids in Tow Tour, I will be purchasing a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28.
Coming soon to a cute blogger near you: The Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28
Now, before you trash my ideas and tell me that I could get a bigger zoom this and a better lens that, that I should be buying Canon or Nikon, Sony or Fuji, I’d like you to take a step back. Because there are certain limitations here. Namely my skill as a photographer and my wage packet as a scientist. What I’m trying to say is, it would be pointless to buy anything more fancy, even if I could afford it.
And I’ve done my research. Plenty of it. I have been reading up on Brian Micklethwait’s thoughts for a long while now, although he appears to have about two limitations less than I have have described above. He is torn between Canon and Nikon, but the reviews of the Panasonic are excellent and this seems to be the camera to fit my needs, with a long extendy bit at the front (always nice), a button to press to take a photo and a little clip on either side to attach the strap to. All the boxes ticked.
And check out that DC Vario-Elmarit 1:2.8-4.4/4.8-86.4 ASPH. Leica lens. Whatever that means. Glorious.
The final clincher, however, was the name. Many hip-hop and rap artists from the 80s who have branched into photography went (obviously) with Kodak. But Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels and Jason Mizell were always a little different, a little ahead of their time and they headed for Panasonic.
What’s good for hip-hop is good for digital photography and the fact that it has taken them close on twenty years to bring this baby out tells me that it must be something special.