First & Last

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Nice idea this. The very first and the very last frames of popular series.

I’m not a big fan of these sorts of dramas – I’ve only ever watched one of these (Twin Peaks), and I can confidently say that I’ve never watched a single episode of any of the others. Too much commitment.

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You’ll have to watch it at least twice, because you miss details from either one or the other when you watch it first time.

You can see that Lost and Sons of Anarchy knew that someone was going to do this one day.
Good call.

This Has Been A Good Day

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What a day.
Several hours on this beautiful beach in Struisbaai, under dramatic skies:

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And then the drive home, any negative feelings about leaving Agulhas expunged by having almost the entirety of the newly-resurfaced R316 to ourselves.

Other photos will have to wait, I want red wine and football this evening. Priorities, ne?
But if you find yourself desperate for some 6000 imagey goodness, firstly, have a word with yourself, and then secondly, head to my Instagram.

Got it!

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I’ve been after this photo for a while. And then, yesterday evening, as we headed down the dirt road from Agulhas to Suiderstrand, I finally got it.
It was one of those few moments that was worth halting the journey for, albeit that it was only for a few moments.


This is posted unadulterated and raw. No filters, no cropping. As it was. Lovely. Try it with the lights off for an even better view. That thing poking towards the bottom right hand corner of the sun is the forecastle mast of the wreck of the Meisho Maru 38, and on top of that is a cormorant, wings unfurled.
All planned, obviously. Obviously.

Sadly for you, I’ve been taking quite a few photographs since we’ve been down here, and you can look forward to them late tomorrow or on Monday.

Chicken

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I’ve got a massively busy day ahead, including several (or more) experiments in the lab and then a fairly long drive later. There will be beer and brandy at the end of the fairly long drive, but that doesn’t help you much if you’re after a 6000 miles…  blog post.

In times such as these, I head for the quota photo cabinet, usually immediately delving into the lighthouse section, and today is no exception.

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This is the Chicken Rock lighthouse, perched (appropriately enough) upon the Chicken Rock (well, where else would you put it?), just off the SW coast of the Isle of Man (and we’ve seen it before on the blog).

The 44 metres (144 ft) lighthouse is constructed of tapered granite and was designed by David and Thomas Stevenson, after the lights on the Calf of Man were insufficient at warning ships away. Construction finished in December 1874, with the first official lighting day taking place on 1 January 1875.

Thomas, by the way, was the father of famous Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson.

If you’re interested, there’s some interesting Chicken Rock Lighthouse history here.

Oh, Autumn

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You sly dog, you.

We were out at dinner last night, attempting – amongst other things – to plan the weekend. But there’s no point in planning outdoor stuff when the autumn weather forecast is decidedly autumnal. So I checked on just how bad it was going to be.

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OMG! Batten down the Beagle!

Looks like it’s not quite time to pack the sunscreen away just yet.

The only down side (there’s always got to be a down side because there are no clouds to have silver linings), is that we are kinda desperate for some rain. And even though we got a bit last week, the damn dam levels are now down to 32.8% (from 34.1% last week), and just 2.8% above the critical level of 30%.
I’m not sure what happens then, but apparently, whatever it is, it’s not “panic”:

Without rainfall, the Voëlvlei Dam would only be able to supply the metropole until July and the West Coast municipalities until the end of May. However, the council said it did not want to “unleash a panic” and it has the situation under control.

I wonder what they have in mind? A time machine and a DIY Desalination Plant kit? Cloud seeding? Vague hope?
This assurance from our local city council comes after the government minister for Water and Sanitation went onto the radio and asked religious individuals to “pray for divine intervention” to end the drought.

That plan is evidently yet to kick in effectively.

Enjoy the weekend, and please don’t water your garden.