Premature evacuation

Posted on

Careful now.

Yep. We’re back home, having been whipped off Robben Island on a very bumpy ferry journey at just half an hour’s notice. Ferries to and from the island have been cancelled today and tomorrow because of the weather, and so it would have been at least Sunday before we could have got back if we didn’t make it onto last night’s last boat out.

So a disappointingly sudden, but rather exciting end to the trip, especially given that we were (literally) at the top of the lighthouse there when the news came through that we had to get off the rock. Like… now.

Quite how we managed to get 40 kids back to their dorms, their things packed and off to the harbour before the boat left, I will never know.

As ever, it was an incredible visit, and we were once again treated to behind the scenes access with our amazing, knowledgeable, patient, enthusiastic guide.

And yes… I managed to get my morning run done, and yes… it was incredible:

Phone pic, because this was about the experience, not the photography. I made sure I took time out not just to grab the shot, but to enjoy the moment as well. It was a breathtaking morning.
Very special.

More pics to follow, both on here and on the ‘Gram, but even after a good night’s sleep, and even with a surprise extra day at home, there’s still so much to be done and so little time. And I’m off out again tomorrow (not to Robben Island, though) – more on that tomorrow, maybe.

2 albums out today

Posted on

And probably the most eagerly anticipated two of the year from my point of view.

But I’m still away on Robben Island, so here’s what other people have had to say about them:

The Car – Arctic Monkeys

The Car is Arctic Monkeys’ weirdest album, and it’s their most overtly melancholy work too — like James Bond themes for a terminally depressed spy. It’s certainly the saddest-sounding music Turner’s put his name to since the dusky tunes he contributed to the soundtrack for Richard Ayoade’s Submarine in 2010.

and (of course) True North – a-ha

“There’s no audience, it’s us, the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and a live band,” he expands. “But what we wanted to realise was an audio-visual experience where the music was at the centre. It seemed a nice change from what we’d done before.”

Alongside the 12-track album, therefore, came a raw and powerful film directed by long-time a-ha collaborator Stian Andersen, shot in Bodo, 90km above the Arctic Circle in the north of Norway – already screened and positively received in selected cinemas around the world last month.

I have a Stian Andersen print on my wall just behind me (I’m writing this on Tuesday), bought from the man himself, and featuring yours truly at a recent a-ha concert.

Lifestyles of the rich and the famous, hey?

Steps

Posted on

This week, I’m guess that I’ll be doing upwards of 20,000 steps each day while I’m away. That’s a lot, but I do more than 10,000 steps just about every day anyway.
I did do 10,000 steps every single day for almost three years until I got Covid.

I stopped for a bit then.

But while the 10,000 figure was allegedly a thumbsuck from a Japanese fitness company, there’s new research out which seems to suggest – and hold onto your hats here – that more steps each day… makes you fitter.

I was also amazed.

They found taking at least 8,200 steps a day was associated with lower risk of obesity, depression, sleep apnea, and acid reflux, and the benefits increased with each 1,000 additional steps.
Walking was also linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure

But if you thought that was incredible, there’s another surprise for you when you get to the next line:

Walking at a faster pace may increase the benefits even more

Wow. Just wait until they hear about running.

Overhead

Posted on

Away to Robben Island today, so here’s a QP of an SAAF Oryx helicopter that flew rather low over our roof the other evening.

Yeah, I know you were probably expecting rotor blades and wheels and camouflage (the staple ingredients of any helicopter), but it was dark out and this rather abstract image is what came of an 8 second shot (with a camera) at the roaring beast above us.

Watch out on Instagram for #ShotsFromTheRock

Getting there

Posted on

It does finally feel as if I am back to where I was pre-Covid. It’s taken a lot of patience and a lot of hard work – and it will continue to take a lot of hard work – but I do feel like I’ve crossed some sort of threshold.

My last three runs have all been inside 6:00/km, which is really as fast as I’ve ever managed to go anyway, and I’m not very close to dying like I was when I did that back in April. In hindsight, that was a fairly foolish effort, and I’m only half proud of what I achieved.

Run-wise, at least. Staying alive was a quite a coup.

Football is fun again, rather than impossible, and my legs ache because I’m exercising, rather than because they’re full of interleukins.

It’s only taken 15 months.