Back once again

A much nicer flight home yesterday, passing over the Blyde River Canyon, OR Tambo International Airport, Ellis Park, the FNB Stadium, Fraserburg, Inverdoorn (and its nearby wind farm) and the Matroosberg Nature Reserve.

(There was a lot less snow yesterday.)
We probably went over a lot of other stuff as well, but I either wasn’t looking at it or didn’t recognise it.
As we swooped in for a northward landing, I did notice that there was Congestion Before Victoria.

Obviously.

A good trip in general, I think. I hope I got everything that they wanted. Many kilometres were covered. A few challenges, but there are always going to be a few challenges.
The cutest little airport. One dodgy hotel. One amazing hotel (thankfully in that order).
HEAT! Wildlife. Birds.

Potholes. Scenery. Friendly people. Interesting stories. HEAT! Much fruit. Some cracking biltong.

And now, back to it. A good night’s sleep last night, some catch-up at gym this morning – hard work after a week off – and while I did well over 10,000 steps each day, the opportunity and environment were wholly unsuitable for a run.

And today? Some decent coffee, maybe a beer or two, and the intention to watch a lot of football this afternoon.

Empty

The last of the pre-written posts for this week (cue sighs of relief from the regular reader), as all being well, I’ll be heading back home today.
And it features this, which makes perfect sense if you think about it, but if you think about it in a different way, could suddenly get quite deep in a philosophical sense.

Is there a more meaningful side to this stenciled statement, or is it just a straightforward and sensible instruction that I’m reading too much into?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

How did we get here?

With all the analysts, experts and common sense telling us that SA is about to go to even more pot after the upcoming elections; with the UK in danger – allegedly – of becoming a failed state; with wars in the Middle East and the ex-Soviet Union (and everywhere else that we don’t get to hear about); with Trump looking like even a possibility for re-election in the US, you might be forgiven for wondering how on earth we ended up in this situation.

Alasdair Beckett-King (you may remember him from such posts as Day 417 – King Lear redux) is also rightfully incredulous:

The thing is, even though it’s quite clear what has actually brought us to this (Alasdair inadvertently touches upon it above, in case you were still wondering), realistically, it’s not like our collective idiocy is going to change anytime soon.

“Surely it can’t get any worse, though, right?” he asked for the 8,114th time in the last 5 years.

Quota OBS

Since I’m away, and hopefully working hard, I’ve lined a few posts to tide you over while I’m gone.

That’s not to say that I’ll not post stuff if I get chance. It’s just that I likely won’t get chance, so I’ll pop some posts up just in case.

For example, here’s a quota photo of an Orange-breasted Sunbird (Anthobaphes violacea) at Kirstenbosch, earlier this year:

As autumn closes in (although not here), it’s a lovely reminder of those vivid summer colours.

And an easy way to preserve my post-a-day record.