Last legs

We’re back in Cape Town, but a sleepless night and a busy journey home have left me exhausted. Major events since we arrived back included the beagle being delighted to see me until I bathed it, and then me slicing deep into my left thumb while chopping biltong.
Sheffield stainless steel really does hold its sharpness. Unfortunately.

I still have some packing (ok, all my packing) to do for an overnight hike on the mountain starting early tomorrow, so there’s really not going to be much from me here today.

In fact, I think this is it.

(Not much) more tomorrow. But Tuesday should be a belter.

Be prepared

Ironically, we attended a Scouts and Cubs AGM this weekend, but I was anything but prepared when it came to blogging.

It’s been a busy one with chores, social engagements, some late night drinking and rowdiness, a bathed beagle (grey water was saved for future use) and – despite the fact that there have been 17 matches on – absolutely no football. Weird.

It also seemed to go very quickly.

Other (better) blogs would have had posts ready as back up, but I’ve not been that organised. So suddenly I’m playing catch up and throwing together a few lines about a weekend I wish I could start again and do better.

School night rookie error

Last night was great fun. A few friends round for a braai, several (or more) beers and an awful lot of really good wine. There was much merriment, some really well-cooked fillet and everyone had a really good time.

But partying on a school night? Rookie error.

This morning, as perhaps you may already have imagined, was less good. Mild dehydration coupled with a distinct lack of sleep and sprinkled with a topping of new medical waste disposal guidelines and international conference calls at work.

Never party on a school night. Move either the party or the school.
Because it is plainly clear that you really can’t do both. Not at my age.

The consequences of my foolishness are several-fold:

– I’m really rather grumpy and have shouted at the new medical waste guidelines quite a lot because they are rubbish. (In my defence, they were already rubbish before last night’s shenanigans.)
– I have drunk almost all the coffee in Cape Town. And as any fule kno,  that’s a lot of coffee – mainly because of all the huge coffee plantations and associated agriculture just downstream from the Theewaterskloof Dam.
– I’m almost certainly not going to be able to stay up to watch the Magic of the FA Cup 3rd Round this evening. The Tall Accountant tells me that “Liverpool will clobber them” (“them” being Everton). I’ll just have to find out in the morning.
– It’s gone 4pm and I’ve only just remembered that I have to write a blog post today. Even though I have to write a blog post every day.
– I am tired in all eleven official national languages and I still have 3 pages of technical stuff to read, digest, cogitate and forget. Back to it.

Lesson learned.

Until next time.

What I’m not doing…

Sleeping. I’m not sleeping.
That could actually be the root cause of all the other things I’m not doing. Although maybe there are causes for that as well – it’s been hot and we have a beagle (so heat and stress) – so lack of sleep might not be the root cause in the truest sense of the phrase.

But when you’re not sleeping well, a lot of other stuff starts to slip as well.

For example: I can’t remember the last time I picked up my camera.  And that’s disappointing. I didn’t get a lot of photography done over the summer break, but I thought I’d make some plans in the New Year. The New Year isn’t very New anymore, and I actually haven’t done anything.

And then the drone. The drone is slightly more problematic, in that the infernal South Easter is being regularly infernal once again.
Time enough, sure, but there it sits there on my desk, taunting me. I look at the Mavic Facebook groups and I look at the often incredible videography and photography on there and I want to do it. Even though I’m still learning how to fly, I am getting to that point now where I can begin to concentrate on the more creative side. I need to have that ready for our next visit to Agulhas, but I need some calm weather to get in a bit more practice. It’s not happening.

And the sleep comes into that again because instead of using the light early morning winds this weekend, I decided to try and get another hour or two in bed, and missed out. Idiot. Tired idiot, but idiot, nevertheless.

Football. That’s also an issue. Anything from the UK is on late at night. 10pm kick offs mean that you’re going to be watching til (almost) midnight. And then you’re up at Foolish o’clock because the kids need to get to school. Bring on BST (still 2 months away).

At the moment, I’m not quite sure how to break this cycle of no sleep and constant tiredness and lethargy and getting nothing done.
Just know that I am aware of it, and I’m working on it.

Starting tomorrow.