Only just started

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We’ve been back from Kruger for almost two weeks, and I’m only just getting started on editing some photos. There a lot of them and it’s not going particularly well.

Here’s how far I’ve got so far:

This is the sunrise on our first morning game drive. Not even light enough to get any photos of anything else, and – being honest – a bread and butter shot because I was still a bit asleep.

But the sunrises and sunsets up North are pretty special, and this one was no exception.

Coming soon: some pictures of actual animals.

T&Cs apply.

Google Earth is 20 years old

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Google Earth is 20 years old. I may have mentioned that in the title.

Anyway, it’s not something that I use a lot, but it is something that I when I do use, I think is extremely useful. And they’ve released a whole… “thing”… showing how Google Earth can be used to measure change over time – where the time is… 20 years.

Here it is.

They say:

When we launched Google Earth 20 years ago, our mission was simple, yet powerful: give people a new way to understand our world. Since then, millions of people have been asking Earth questions, big and small, about the planet where we live. It helps us uncover new insights, tell powerful stories, and see the world — and our impact on it — in a whole new light.

Plenty of interesting projects on that link above to see just how useful Google Earth can be.

Go take a look.

Black Wattle

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A lot of people would say that throwing a 3kg chunk of firewood – specifically Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii) – at their own shin would be something that they would even consider. But that’s surely only because they’ve never done it.
That said, I did do it this morning, and actually, I can see right where they are coming from.

I wouldn’t try it either. Good call.

Black Wattle firewood because here in South Africa, it’s a nasty invasive plant, and so chopping it down and burning it is a good – and environmentally friendly – way to get rid of it. Unless you live in a dodgy area of Bristol, that is.

But in Australia, the home of Black Wattle, the tree and the wood are revered, and they are useful:

All very interesting, and very impressive. But not what we need over here. We have our own trees for that sort of thing. And so, with the greatest respect, we’re going to just keep on chopping and burning.

Especially on these cold winter days.

And when I say wet…

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It has been raining a lot. And it is still raining. And there’s more rain in the forecast.

But just how much has it been raining?

This much:

367.8mm in the last few days just down the road from us about an hour ago. And I’m only saying “about an hour ago” because it’s almost certainly more than that now.

The rain has only really been falling for the last 4 days, so we’re looking at almost 100mm a day. And our local ground really isn’t set up for that. Hence all the flooding.

We might have a couple of dry days (T&Cs apply) before the next wave(s) of rain head in.

Right now, I’m going to watch the mud-wrestling rugby from the stadium in town.

Birmingham, summed up

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United have a first round Carabao Cup tie away at Birmingham City.

And we described it on our website as:

Tip?

Interesting example. Anyway…

Look. I’m thinking that whoever did the title meant “trip”, but also that they had – at some point – visited Birmingham, and thus their subconscious took control of their typing fingers.

Hard to argue with it, though. I wouldn’t edit this at all.