Bit of catching up still to do after an amazing few days away. Lots of great experiences. Lots of animals. Lots of birds. Lots of photos to share.
But…
A 20 hour day – which included a 4 o’clock start, a 4 hour game drive through Kruger Park, a 6 hour road drive through Mpumalanga and numerous encounters with its utterly mad drivers, and then a 2 hour flight back down to our little corner of Africa before we could get home – is still taking its toll.
A foolishly fast run this morning seemed like a good idea at the time, but probably wasn’t.
As our local internet took a bit of a dive earlier, I found myself looking at a story from Canada a couple of years back. And while I enjoy thorough journalism, I do think this was going a bit over the top:
I mean, honestly. What’s his relationship status got to do with this?
I’m a bit of both this week, and that’s my rather tenuous link to this project which compares the location of images shared on social media by… well… locals and tourists.
The blue dots represent local people’s images and the red dots are pictures taken by tourists.
Here – for example – is Oxford:
Down at half past six is Abingdon and up at 11o’clock is Blenheim Palace. Off to to west is Witney, but no-one really goes there. It’s no surprise (especially if you’re familiar with Oxford) that all the tourist stuff is happening up the High Street and down Broad Street:
Pretty University buildings, innit? That sidearm heading off to east is the road out to Headington, with a nice bit of red around Oxford Brookes.
Oxford is a good example of how divided a city can be, both in real life and on these maps. London is bright red around Westminster, the West End, the river and its bridges.
But perhaps unsurprisingly, no-one goes to Croydon.
It’s worth looking through any cities you know. It’s amazing how many bridges are key tourist spots: see London above, Budapest and San Francisco, for examples.
My only gripe with this project is that it only makes it into Africa as for as the Pyramids, while places like Minsk still get a map. And no-one’s being Belarus-hing there lately.
Yeah. Today’s the day. But unfortunately it’s not a happy birthday this time around.
But we choose to remember the joyful moments, not the sad times.
I know I’ve shared a similar image from the same day a few months ago, but this does just capture the free spirit and the happiness of the family beagle.
Gazing out into the fresh air, Lady of all that she surveys (most of the South Atlantic out towards South America), ears flapping, happy, sturdy. Loving life.
Like plans for the day, I mean. Although… each to their own.
Here’s a half hour watch from the Matt Gray Is Trying series on Youtube, in which Matt Gray tries being on a Mountain Rescue team.
This fits in well with this post from a couple of weeks ago and demonstrates – again – just how essential, how well-organised and how poorly funded these organisations are.
Nice easy watch, loads of information, some decent humour, and an interesting end…
