Resubscribe now!

Posted on

There are many ways in which you can be notified of a new post here at 6000 miles…

  • You could simply pop over to the blog, using the address 6000.co.za, and see what’s been going on since your last visit.
  • You might notice that a new post has been announced if you follow me on twitter.
  • Or if you ‘LIKE’ the blog on Facebook, we’ll probably appear somewhere in your feed each time a new post is published.

But what if you’re sensible and you don’t do social media? What then?

There used to be an email subscription option, but sadly it developed some security issues (not for the subscribers, I hasten to add: it was the back end of the blog that was in danger), and it got canned by WordPress at very short notice.

And so I have instituted a new one: you’ll find it towards the bottom of the sidebar on the right, or if you’re on a mobile device, simply scroll down to the bottom of the page. Look for the word “subscribe…”.

All you have to do is enter your email address in the box provided, confirm via the link delivered to your inbox, and you’re all set. You’ll get an email telling you each time a new post is published on here, you’ll get no spam – guaranteed! – and should you foolishly wish to unsubscribe at any time, it’s just a couple of clicks away.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using the other methods as well, but sometimes a simple email is the best way forward. And thanks to the “instantaneous” feature on the new plugin, you’ll be the first to know each and every time I put pen to paper pixel to screen.

(Re) Subscribe now! It would actually be foolish not to.

Goodbye MTW

Posted on

Friday evening saw the broadcast of the last episode of popular BBC comedy panel show Mock The Week, after 17 glorious years.

I will miss it.

Still, at least they went out with a bang…

Oof.

If you need your Dara O’Briain fix, he’s on the current series of Taskmaster on the UK’s Channel 4, and I’d highly recommend that show to top up your now much-depleted laughter bank.

Train trip excitement

Posted on

Took the steam train to Elgin today. I’m still on it. It’s all romantic and everything, but they have to attach a couple of diesel electric engines to it to get it up the hill at Sir Lowry’s Pass.

Sadly, this being South Africa, one of those diesels broke down, meaning that the train was pulling deadweight, the wheels were spinning, sparking, and causing fires under the carriages.

Thankfully, because we were going so painfully slowly, staff were able to get all alongside, putting out the fires as they occurred.

We’ve dumped a few carriages now, and we’re back underway.

Hopefully, we haven’t started any wildfires along the way…

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?