Astonishing Cattle

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Yes. Really.

Herewith the photography of Daniel Naudé, who currently has an exhibition on at the Stevenson Gallery in Cape Town. Naudé has been taking photographs of cattle in Uganda, Madagascar and India, and some of the images are astounding.

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These guys are my favourites: Ankole cattle from Nyabushozi in Uganda.

In the days before Christianity arrived in this part of Africa, the Bahima people made offerings of milk to herdsman gods, and their language has many names for cattle that describe their characteristics. Even now, the keepers of these animals live pastoral lives, their culture deeply rooted in these cattle. The survival of the Ankole is at the heart of cultural and economic debates about indigenous African values and symbolism versus a Western emphasis on commercial concerns.

For this and much more fascinating information on the subject of sacred cattle, plus many more fantastic images, have a look at the gallery page, which also has opening times for the exhibition, which is on in Woodstock until 26th May.

Clever xenophobic bar chart of the day

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I know it’s wrong (because there are some really nice places in France as well), but I couldn’t help laughing at this:

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I’m still computerless and indeed now internetless as well (this post is being uploaded letter by letter by helpful pixies), but given just how shockingly bad yesterday was, today feels like a breeze. This is, however, being written before the guys servicing my car give me that call that the guys servicing your car always give you. So things could change.

When I get in tonight, and before the football, I intend to do things with weekend photos and a proper blog post. Watch this space (or at least the one just above it).

Monday morning

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The first day back after the long weekend, and the first day of an almost full week. Finally!
The kids were looking forward to school and I had a definite spring of productivity in my step as I headed into work. Even the traffic wasn’t too bad.

But that was then.

Now – two failed laptops, a broken centrifuge, a promised delivery that hasn’t been delivered, Afrihost’s DSL authentication issue and a kettle that needed a(nother) punch to get it working,  later – any remaining glimmer of positivity has been firmly extinguished. It’s not even ten o’clock and I’m effectively functionally stranded as everything around me falls to pieces.

This obviously isn’t your problem, and I very much doubt you even want to hear about it, but paradoxically, with so much to do, I need a few minutes away from everything just to get my head together. And I need to stay away from equipment and stuff before anything else breaks.

*deep breath*

Right. And now, with a clearer mind, it’s once more unto the breach (although I’d still much rather once more onto the beach).
Have a special day.