I was just bending over a tomb in Holmesfield this lunchtime (as you do), trying to read the small print:
when suddenly, this:
Oh! Let my sudden doom
A warning be to all;
E’en while thou bendest o’er my tomb
Thou may’st as quickly fall
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I rapidly unbendedeth before I as quickly fell. No-one likes that sort of warning from 161 years ago. I was quite shaken and needed a beer at the pub next door.
…although time seems to be going impossibly fast. I managed to upload some photos on the fast internet as well.
What it does mean for you guys (I’m afraid) is more quota photoage, and this one sums up the autumnal sunshine here quite nicely, I thought:
So yes, the weather here hasn’t been so bad.
Meanwhile, my kids were in the pool in Cape Town this morning. It was 7.6ºC here.
Yes. Weekend readers will know about the difficulties I encountered this weekend in blogging what I wanted to blog, when I wanted to blog it. And yes, I do have mobile interwebs at home, but until we get the new cell tower we’ve been promised (and which some people in the neighbourhood have objected to because of a natural news article), it’s not that great.
But anyway, here’s that amazing photo, from Chris Wormwell (yes, this guy and this guy):
That’s St Michael’s Isle in the bottom right hand corner of the Isle of Man. It’s a place of great historical significance:
There is evidence for human activity on the island from the Mesolithic period onwards and there are two ancient buildings situated on the isle. Both are in a state of ruin and closed to the public, though there are a number of walks which allow visitors to explore the surroundings.
Obviously, one of them (St Michael’s Chapel, built in the 12th Century) is evident in the photo above. You can learn more here, or if you need to know the best bus to catch to get there, try here.
As for the photo: the atmosphere, the peace, the place, the solitude, the muted colours.
Beautiful.
Thanks Chris
UPDATE: On seeing this, I realise the photo is a bit fuzzy. But then, so is the dog. Accuracy abounds and needs must.
I had a wonderful Isle of Man related quota photo lined up for today, but the will have to wait, because we’re struggling with internet connectivity today.
The reason for this outage can be seen in the photo below. Attached to the front end of the dog (I’m no expert, but I think it’s the other end from the kinked tail) are the teeth that chewed through the Telkom junction box, effectively cutting us off from the rest of the world.
“Least said, soonest mended,” he seethed.
The photo above, with all its lovely hues, was taken this morning in Tokai Forest. Tokai Forest was still full of (other people’s) dog mess. Everywhere.
Before we had a dog, I figured that there must be some technical or logistical reason why dog owners didn’t clean up after their pets. Now that I am a dog owner, I realise that it’s just laziness, a lack of responsibility and a complete disregard for other people.
I suppose that it’s good to have that clarified, if nothing else. Tossers.
But while we’re on that (rather distasteful) note, does anyone know how long it takes for a Telkom PZ50 switch to “pass through” a beagle, please?
Not the Skunk Anansie one, although that would have been pretty apt, given that it was about a year ago that she rocked us at Rocking The Daisies. Their lineup this year is underwhelming at best.
But I digress. Often.
Quota photo time, lest there be no chance of getting anything up later (careful now) and I rushed to my Flickr and somewhat randomly chose this one:
Folds of giraffe skin, still very much on the giraffe, at Paarl’s Giraffe House earlier this year. This was a fully grown giraffe, but it still appears to have a fair amount of spare skin. I thought that was something that animals grew into, like Colin has been doing.
Unsurprisingly, if memory serves me correctly, it did seem quite taut on his neck though.