TLH 2010 – some admin stuff

As you will have heard, I’m away for a while in the frozen Northern hemisphere – seeing family and friends, but primarily to be at one of a-ha’s final ever concerts in Oslo. Obviously, normal service on the blog (such as it ever is/was) will be somewhat disrupted, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t just forget about 6000 miles… and go and find something of equal or greater quality elsewhere.

For that reason, I’m going to keep posting as much as I can. Apparently, despite its backward reputation, there are some places in Europe where one can access the internet. Of course, many of those posts will involve news and photos from my trip and some may be of a personal nature to my family back in Cape Town.
Not too personal, obviously – you shouldn’t expect to read stuff like “but thankfully, the rash has cleared up now” or anything involving the word “discharge”. I do have some standards.

So, please bear in mind:

  • Comments may be a bit slow to be cleared
  • Emails may be a bit slow to be read.
  • Twitter and Flickr should be updated fairly regularly.
  • It’s difficult to type with frozen fingers.

And I’ll be back at some point in the very near future.

Sorry, Michael

With apologies to Michael Stipe and REM:

I looked ahead
I’m saw the mountain there
You don’t need me to tell you now
That nothing can compare

You might have laughed if I told you
You might have hidden a frown
You might have succeeded in changing me
I might have been turned around

It’s easier to leave than to be left behind
Leaving was never my proud
Leaving Cape Town never easy
I saw the light fading out

Flying out of Cape Town tonight – into the snowy UK – looking forward to the trip, but not so happy about leaving home and family behind.

Back soon.

2 go mad in Norway?

It’s turned into another scorcher in Cape Town today, with the mercury (actually, I use an electronic digital system, but you know what I mean) peaking at just under 30°C. Compare that with Oslo where the mercury is still sensibly hiding under the bedclothes and “peaked” at -9°C, but with a “feels like” reading of -13°C.
All of which leads me think that I am going to freeze my nuts off while I’m over there. But that’s fine, because I’m going to have a damn good time in the snow as well.
Although, for safety’s sake, I won’t be playing snowballs in the mountains.

© eoin ryan

This is from the wonderful SpaceAvalanche.com, which is well worth a visit if you have a bit of a dark sense of humour (like I do) or a few hours to while away (like I don’t).

One month…

This time next month, I’ll be boarding a large jet-engined aircraft – vuvuzela in hand – for my trip to Europe on The Last Hurrah 2010 tour. It therefore seems fitting that we should indulge ourselves with a little more a-ha goodness. This one is from their 1990 album East of the Sun, West of the Moon and it’s called I Call Your Name.

A great song that made it to number 45 in the French singles chart. Because they have no taste.

I should be at Grand West watching Crowded House tonight, but I’m not feeling great and the kids are still recovering from ear and sinus infections respectively, so I’ve stayed home to look after them. And me.
In an ironic twist of fate, Mrs 6000 took the babysitter along to the concert.

Nothing, however, will stop me from making an appearance at the Oslo Spektrum in a few weeks time. I could be oozing blood from every orifice (very African) and I’d still be there singing along.
It would be nice to just be healthy that night, though.

Should I pay or should I go?

File under: titles which sounded good at the time, Blog post

BA have asked me very nicely if I’d like to pay R225 (their version of £20, with the Rand’s current stupidly high levels) for the privilege of choosing my seat for my flight to London next month. And they also offered me the chance to pay the same amount again to choose my seat on the flight back.
Having long legs and being sat on a plane for 12 hours is no fun (although it’s really cool the rest of the time). If you have young kids, you get one of those bulkhead seats, which is better; but what the journey giveth, the journey taketh away, because then you’re travelling with young kids. I covered the trials and tribulations of that about a year ago. Good post, that.

I was almost tempted with BA’s generous offer until I found out that my R225 wouldn’t actually allow me to choose a decent – and by “decent”, I mean “exit row” – seat.
No – I have to cough up £50 each way for that. And that’s a lot of money. Especially when you convert it into a universal currency that everyone can understand: dollars beer. I can’t actually book those seats until 14 days before I fly, but working on BA’s current exchange rate, £50 = R562.50. And at bottle store prices, that’s more than 102 bottles of Carling Black Label.

Each. Way.

So, no. I’ll take my chances with the normal 24 hour online check in and I’ll settle for an aisle seat. Virtually any aisle seat. And if I don’t get an aisle seat and I have a dreadful flight, then I’ll reconsider booking an aisle seat for the return journey for £20.

And I have a good day to look forward to when I arrive. Tickets are in the process of being acquired for the undisputed Match of that Day, Bristol City versus Sheffield United, which I am very excited about and which means my journey from Cape Town to Sheffield will take about 26 hours. Plus check-in time. Plus getting to the airport early so the kids can come along and see me through the departure gate.
Bring forth those 102 bottles of Carling Black Label. And a couple of Red Bulls as well.

In other news (and somewhat off-topic), please take the time to look at this:
5 Things That Have Been Found In Fat People’s Skin Folds