Flying things on flying things

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I’m travelling again in a few weeks time. And it will be the first international flight I will have done since I got Florence, my little Mavic.

It’s been a wonderful few months together. I can’t imagine being without her, and so, obviously, she must come with us in September.

The rules for carrying drones on planes are pretty much universal. The danger here (such as it is) comes from the lithium ion batteries. Because of its compact size, the Mavic’s batteries are only 43.6Wh a piece. But you still need to follow the protocols, so you discharge them, you cover their terminals and you take them on in your cabin baggage.

Easy.

But we are (thankfully) flying Emirates. And their rules are slightly different.

Now, Emirates are the only airline I have heard of that have this policy. I don’t understand why they need to be different, but (and I am saying this in hushed tones) I’ve never really worked out how you were allowed to take a drone on a flight anyway, given that it could be easily used as a dangerous weapon (those propellers can get up to 8000rpm). Eina.

Still, having checked with other drone owners online, there are various anecdotes about getting through DXB and not getting through DXB with a drone in your cabin and/or hold luggage. And I’m not massively happy about Florence being gooied around in a suitcase. I’ll give the airline a shout.

One thing we won’t be taking with us is the beagle. Three reasons here:

1. A week apart is good for everyone concerned (most especially me).
2. The beagle is not a falcon.
3. We’re not going to certain destinations in Pakistan.

Wow.

Presumably, this isn’t just any falcon. You can’t just turn up with a falcon you snatched from your local National Park the previous day. Or with a beagle disguised as a falcon.

So majestic – see how it soars on the breeze! Such effortless grace!
[crashing sound, frantic barking, further crashing sounds]

I can’t believe you can take a falcon into the cabin, but not a Mavic.
It can even go in a cage if it needs to.

I’ll give the airline a shout.

It’s only words

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…and words are all I have. To take your heart away.

What? No. Nothing like that. Calm your loins, pet.

Linguistics. Linguistics and language, and this introduction:

Some data visualizations tell you something you never knew. Others tell you things you knew, but didn’t know you knew. This was the case for this visualization.

to this data visualization:

from prooffreader.com.

And yes, when you look at the individual letters and think about where you might be most likely to find them in words, you realise that you knew all this already, it’s just that no-one had ever presented it to you in data visualization form. Just like the quote at the top of the page.

There are several (or more) other interesting data visualisations on the prooffreader site, if you have some time to spare.

A Day In The Life

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As I point out fairly regularly on here, I’m hardly a full time blogger. I do blog every day, but it’s not my job and I certainly don’t make a living from it. [cries internally]

There are, apparently, some similarities between me and a full-time blogger though. I saw this post earlier, and I noted the chord that was struck by his 10am and 10:15am comments. (I left the 9:30am one in because, you know, I’m still always hopeful.)

Of course, because this isn’t my full-time job, when I can’t think of anything to blog, the only loser is you, the reader. I’ll stick up a photo that I took in 2008 if I have to fill the space, and it does neither me nor my bank balance any harm.

And hey, you might get lucky and get something (only) a little more imaginative, like this.

But I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Hermanus thoughts

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Some further thoughts and recommendations following our Hermanus trip this weekend.

We stayed here. After a rather rocky start, it got better. Comfy, cosy and close to the beach, it’s a bit out of town, but nice enough.
So. Many. Windows. I imagine that in summer, it would be magnificent.

We went here. A decent Saturday morning market. There was wine, beer, food, crafty stuff. You know that other Saturday morning market you go to? Well, this is like that.

We ate here. It was really good. Really, really good. Great staff. Eclectic decor, coupled with a really interesting fusion of Asian and local cuisine with some completely unique dishes (the Bun Cha has to be top of your list here).

We walked here. So accessible, so well signposted and maintained, and some excellent views as well.

We did one of the shorter routes, but if you’re fit enough and have the time (and if you don’t have young children attached!) there are some exciting looking longer walks as well.

And then – as described yesterday – we dropped in here on our way back to Cape Town. And look, I know that Boulders has its plus points: proximity to Cape Town, nice sandy beach etc, but for me, the penguins and the other wildlife make Stony Point a much better all-round experience. Don’t @ me.

Hermanus gets too busy for me in the summer, but out of season, it’s a great local getaway and – especially if the weather is good – there’s plenty (or more) to do.

Note: This isn’t a paid review (unlike some blogs, I always tell you if I do paid reviews), we just had a good time and it would be great if you could too.

Return

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We went to Hermanus with very few concrete plans. See a friend there, stay in a B&B there, and that was about it. I was skeptical that it was going to be a huge success, but obviously, as usual with these things, I was wrong. We had a great couple of days; busy, but fun. Some good family time. Beach visits, a market which had beer on sale, some flamingo stalking, a spot (or two) of fun with the Mavic, a walk in the nature reserve, some decent food (some not so decent food) and then an impromptu stop at Betty’s Bay on the way home.

… where the penguins and dassies and cormorants were all only too pleased to pose for the camera, and where the foreign tourists (German and Spanish) refused to spend R20 (£1.16, €1.31, $1.49) to see the all the chicks, because there were two just before the hut where you had to cough up your admission fee. The admission fee that goes towards looking after the penguins and preserving their future.

Sometimes foreign tourists can be tight bastards. All they seemed to want to do was stand around near their tour bus and smoke cigarettes (and guess where the fag butts went, fewer than 24 hours on from this?).
Most of the tourists we see in the Cape are having a great time and are amazed by what they see. These ones, not so much.

Anyway, photos here. Not of the foreign tourists, obviously. Ugh.