long ago and far away

Ideology

2011-12-07T00:54:00.005+04:00

My favourite communist once told me "If you're not a liberal when you're in your 20s you haven't got a heart; if you're not a capitalist by the time you're 40 you haven't got a brain"

I have it arse about face. I went from being to the right of Attila the Hun to capitalism to socialism. Blame it on my Calvinistic upbringing.

Now? I'm older and wiser now.

Anarchism! Everything else sucks.

Christmas rant

2011-12-05T19:02:00.005+04:00

Spousoid and I registered for this anonymous Christmas prezzie thing. You register online, and you get sent the name and brief profile of someone you need to send a prezzie to. In return someone else sends you one.

Now it gets interesting. Take two packages to post office. "Sorry Sir, American new rules say no packages more than 400g. More 400 grammes, you have send by Courier"

Back in the car, and off to the courier company.

At the courier company, a very pleasant Egyptian gentleman helps out..
"America? We have to phone Customs. Very sorry Sir, I think America not like us anymore.Too many rules"

What is in packet?
- A tshirt
Where was it made?
- I don't know! I bought it in the souk in Kuwaiti street
Sorry Sir, American customs rules..
- Well it was probably made by child slave labour in North Korea
Sir?
- Tell them China
Ok sir. Sir, they want to know what is it made of?
- Tell them 100% cotton.
Sir, the stitching?
- Do I look like a textile engineer? Tell them nylon.
Sir the beads on the shirt, what are they made of?
- plastic
Sir, if it was not made in UAE, do you have certificate of origin?
- No
Ok Sir, maybe problem, but we will try.
What else is in packet?
- cushion cover
Sir, for cushion cover I have to phone customs...
Sir, what is stuffing made of?
- It is a cushion cover, not a cushion - no stuffing
Sir, what is the material?
- do you really need to know?
Sir, if I dont write, they will not accept package for America.

This process gets repeated - until I get to the spices.
Sir, no spices allowed. Sir sorry Sir, but I think America very angry. They want not even Americans to send parcels home.

So I've taken my parcels back home. Rudolph the fucking reindeer isn't visiting fucking America this year.

Djibouti

2011-12-05T00:20:00.002+04:00

I was in Djibouti last week. Before I left, all I knew about Djibouti involved desert, sand, and the French Foreign Legion. Their infamous 13th Demi-Brigade was here. And of course the desperates - those who have so little they try to escape to Yemen. Imagine just how bad it must be if Yemen is the promised land.

Now I know a bit more. The rulers of Dubai have built a Kempinski on the beach to protect you from the harshness of reality. But it doesn't work cos the hotel is full of troops. The Kempinski troops were from Spain and Japan and Germany. And America. Not the Foreign Legion of course. They actually like living out in the desert.

There's a new container harbour - also built by the men from Dubai. And a brand new road to Ethiopia.

The architecture in the old town square is Arabian Nights meets French Colonial. They're worn and old and faded - but shit you could fix one up and turn it into a stunning boutique hotel. Or a bordello.

But it won't work. No one goes there unless they have to. Except the Foreign Legion of course. They actually like living out in the desert.

An Arab Spring

2011-12-04T23:27:00.003+04:00

The Arab Spring is more of an Arab Winter my Lebanese friend Alexis is fond of saying. I think she's right. I've heard three reasons for the civil war in Libya - freedom is a very low third on the list.

I'm convinced Nato and the US had more oil security in mind than freedom of the people when they helped the revolution from the air..their enthusiam of commodity poor Syria is distinctly lacking. America seems to have a history of propping up strongmen, only to get egg on their faces later - Seso Seko, Saddam, Mubarak, Muammar. The same politicians who made the deal with Muammar now sprout forth their everlasting support for the battle for democrasy. Denmark and rotten comes to mind.

Whether the new regimes will follow suit remains to be seen. The guys who rode the battlewagons to Sirte, the protestors in Tahrir Square - that's not what they fought for. I'm not sure they want democracy either - or at least not the American version of it.

We live in interesting times.

Mud City

2011-11-17T13:21:00.001+04:00

Took this pic in a dry river bed in one valleys just north of Wadi Biyh.

11 November

2011-11-11T11:42:00.002+04:00

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Faded Glory

2011-10-23T19:05:00.006+04:00

About 15 years ago when I first arrived in Tanzania I was based at Mwadui. Once the richest diamond mine in Africa it had faded over the years. We were told there was an old club building at Songwa dam.

So on one of our rare off days, we drove down to the dam on a crappy dirt road and came across this. A palace of a place. Empty and discarded. But stunning. Under the deck we found some sailing boats from the 60's, and in the tower - a full size snooker table, lovingly covered with some old sheets. Legend has it the snooker table was imported all the way from the UK, and a technician accompanied it to make sure it was assembled correctly.

A few Sundays of hard work, a fiddled time sheet or two for some of the labourers in camp and we had the place cleaned up, sails put up on the boats, and the pool table gleaming. It became quite the place for a while. Memebership fees were set at $20 a year. We discovered that we had reciprocal rights at the Dar es Salaam Yacht Club, which swelled our club numbers remarkably. $20 was so much cheaper than the $1000+ they charged. Of course they put a stop to it when the found out what our place really looked like...

Times changed.The expat commnity at Mwadui is once again small. The new tar road has cut travelling time down from 5 hours to just over an hour. The old photos are still on the wall. As is an old painting by one of the club members. But once again the light is fading on the Songwa clubhouse. I'm glad I had a chance to take some pics. Now I have to figure out how to get that wind vane off the roof...

Sunset sounds

2011-10-14T22:47:00.005+04:00

I was sitting on the roof of the house just before sundown. The roof area in our case is used to house the satellite tv dishes (yes, four of them), the central aircon units, and the water tanks. The real reason for me sitting on the roof was to try to make sense of what the pucking flumber had done to the water tanks. One of them had sprung a leak, and he had confidently (and wrongly) assured me that he could fix it by melting some plastic cover to the outside of the leak.

The imam's started their call to prayer, and I looked up. A dozen mosques surround the house, and the sounds intermingled with that of the last remnants of traffic - everyone was headed home for supper. Dusk was settling on the town, and I suddenly realized that the worst of the summer heat had dissipated. Haydn's Sonata came floating up the stairwell from where my teenage daughter was practising her music.

At moments like this you discover again that in spite of all the hardships and stress that go with living in a foreign country - life isn't too bad either.

Cape of Storms

2011-10-05T19:27:00.000+04:00

It has many names. Cape of Good Hope is the politically correct version decided upon by the Dutch East India Company when the sailors started mumbling about the Cape of Storms too regularly. This was taken early in the morning from the top of Bantry Bay at the tail end of a viscious south-easterly that sprung up at 3 in the morning. I like storms.

Geiranger

2011-09-07T00:11:00.001+04:00

Looking out over the town of Geiranger in Norway

The death of you and me

2011-09-01T00:14:00.003+04:00

high tide, summer in the city
the kids are looking pretty
but isn't it a pity that the sunshine
is followed by the thunder, with thoughts of going under
and is it any wonder

why the sea is calling out to me
i seem to spend my whole life running
from people who would be
the death of you and me
cause i can feel the storm clouds
sucking up my soul

high tide, life is getting faster
and no one has the answer
i try to face the day though
in a new way
the bottom of a bottle
is every man's apostle
let's run away together

you and me
forever we'd be free
free to spend our whole lives running
from people who would be
the death of you and me
cause i can feel the storm clouds
sucking up my soul

let's run away and see
forever we'd be free
free to spend our whole lives running
from people who would be
the death of you and me
cause i can feel the storm clouds coming

i'm watching my tv, or is it watching me?
i see another new day dawning
it's rising over me, my mortality
and i can feel the storm clouds
sucking up my soul

UAE to UK

2011-06-01T01:06:00.003+04:00

Dubai, Persian Gulf, Doha, Umm Qasr, Baghdad, Ba'qubah, Mosul, Diayrbakir, Elazig, Sivas, Cankiri, Black Sea, Constanta, Bucharest, Brasov, Cluj-Napuca, Budapest, Vienna, Brno, Regensburg, Nurnberg, Wurzburg, Frankfurt, Koblenz, Liege, Calais, London. The pic was taken over Regensburg, but most of the journey was clear. You could see the villages and the mountain passes of Eastern Turkey so clearly. I looked up some of the towns on google earth, not the ones I've been to.. the others. The ones I probably never will get to.

I was wondering - those people in Sivas and Ba'qubah, what did they think when they looked up and saw the glint of the sunlight on the plane? Did they also wonder about the lives of others? The separation is only 10km - but we were world's apart.

Carpets

2011-01-16T20:15:00.000+04:00

The carpet seller from Kabul... he comes to the UAE once a year to sell his wares. We've bought some carpets from him over the years, and he recognizes us now. We cannot escape without some chai and a chat.

Old tree

2010-11-21T08:38:00.000+04:00

This valley is not well known at all - access is through a narrow ravine, and the valley is full of old abandoned houses. On top of one of the hills is a whole abandoned village. Will post some pics of that later.

Dubai

2010-11-14T12:51:00.000+04:00

This was taken on the beach right next to the Burj al Arab - in the this neighbourhood of million dollar homes there are still little pockets of old Arab homes left over. They are fast disappearing though. The land is so valuable that change is inevitable

Sunset on the creek

2010-11-12T21:49:00.000+04:00

Arabian bees

2010-11-11T17:47:00.000+04:00

This is the strangest looking beehive I've ever seen, very unlike the African beehives I grew up with. We have three hives like this in the garden. And the bees are not aggressive at all....

11 November - Remembrance Day -

2010-11-11T09:14:00.002+04:00

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant

Do they remember?

2010-10-02T23:11:00.000+04:00

"Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence."

Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye

2010-06-28T01:18:00.001+04:00

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but now it's come to distances and both of us must try,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time,
walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me,
it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

How not to get shot

2010-06-20T12:52:00.002+04:00

A mate of mine does bomb disposal in Lebanon. We served in the same unit in South Africa many years ago. He wrote this recently. I thought it made sense...

The following is intended to serve as a useful guide to various activists, protesters, migrants and other completely non-violent folk who happen to be packing knives, guns, rocks and crowbars. You will encounter soldiers, border patrol officers and various law enforcement and military personnel-- this is how not to get shot by them.

First of all it's important to remember that if you attack an armed man in a uniform, he will very probably shoot you. Even given the most restrictive Rules of Engagement in the world which forbid him from opening fire unless he is outnumbered 600 to 1, there is a nuclear war in progress and only when he has been given specific authorization by the UN to use deadly force-- there will still come a time when he will open fire on you. This will occur when he feels that he or his comrades are in danger. At this point there will be bullets headed your way, and no matter what you learned at your Madrassa or in Protest Studies at Evergreen State High University, you are not bulletproof. Really, you're not.

The good news is that there is a very easy way not to get shot. It starts with you not attacking the nice men in uniform. That means not trying to disembowel them with your peaceful knife and not throwing rocks at their head. Because while you might think that legal activism includes attempted murder, the nice men in uniform think that attempted murder should result in sudden death. And when that happens you will realize that fanatical passion for your poorly thought out cause and a medieval weapon are no match for trained men who have guns and are comfortable using them.

Thinking of you

2010-03-17T22:30:00.001+04:00

The autumn leaves are falling like rain.

Although my neighbors are all barbarians

and you, you are a thousand miles away;

there are always two cups at my table.

Abandoned

2010-03-17T20:12:00.001+04:00

Just down river from where we're working there are two ships close to each other. This one didn't listen and was sunk. The other one hit a mine, and is lying on it's side.

Skipping stones

2010-03-13T22:02:00.002+04:00

I still kick the round ones to the compound and back, but since we sculpted the beach with these I've re-aquainted myself with the joys of skipping rocks. Childish I know, but I'm at the shore at dawn when the water is like glass and there are a million flat stones just waiting there for me. How can a man resist? My childhood record of 8 skips has now improved to 13...... and my men reckon I really need a break right now.

Southern Cross

2010-03-11T22:55:00.003+04:00

If you grew up south of the equator, you’d recognise this. And you’d know where to look to find it. It’s the first thing my Dad taught me about the stars – and it made an impression on me all those years ago.

All those years of living in the bush, sitting around the campfire in the middle of nowhere, I always knew – if I followed the Southern Cross, I’d get home. I may have to walk for months, but I’d get home.

I’m on the wrong side of the equator now, and the sky is foreign to me. But every evening before I go to bed, I go outside. And I look to the south..

Global vagrants

2010-03-11T22:12:00.001+04:00

I am but one among a vast army of bold adventurers who have chosen between a life of certainty on firm soil, and a life of surprise on shifting sands. We are the troubadours, seafarers, merchants and explorers of our age. We are vagrants and vagabonds. We have no houses: the world is our home. And wherever we go, we envision. We instruct. We construct. We forge alliances across continents and oceans. We beat the drum to the great march of progress - Kuberkat

Life in the Garden of Eden

2010-03-02T21:53:00.002+04:00

The Shamal is blowing, turning the whole world into sepia and covering your life in layers of fine dust.

The elections have resulted in a toal security lockdown. Movements in and around Iraq are virtually impossible. And of course the main contractor forgot to renew their contract with the security company so technically we don't have security to protect us.

And one of the "thick as two planks" excavator operators drowned his piece of equipment in the Euphrates. Took two days of $150,000 a day time to get it out. Needless to say thick-as-two-planks is on his way back home already.

This is the border between Iraq and Kuwait.

Dusty days

2010-02-23T12:32:00.002+04:00

We had a dust storm yesterday, the wind was whipping up what seemed like pebbles and sandblasting everything. The wind died down overnight, but all the fine dust hasn't settled.Woke up this morning with a fine layer of dust all over my face. What's left is a murky brown fog of dust that gets in everywhere. Took this pic this morning from one of the barges

I wonder what happened to the corner office with the pretty secretary and the thick carpets and the golf on Wednesday afternoons and the mansion on top of the hill overlooking the ocean??

Iraq, pizza, and elections

2010-02-21T09:31:00.004+04:00

I finally received my MNFI card from the American Army yesterday after numerous bouts of form filling, retina eye scans and security interviews. The card enables me to move freely in and out of Iraq, and also within the country. So if you thought Iraq was an independent country - nope it's not. It's controlled by the US Army.

The card has other uses too. Important ones. It lets me buy pizza at Camp Bucca. At one stage the camp housed 28,000 prisoners. They have no more prisoners and the camp is being broken down, but at least the Pizza Hut is open. The food in our compound is good, but once in a while junk food is necessary.

Election fever is building up in Iraq. Camp Bucca and North Port in Umm Qasr was mortared, and a bit more worrying, an arms cache was found in the Iraqi Navy area where we work. Not sure if democracy is ready for the Middle East yet.

The pic isn't mine

Pebbles

2010-02-10T20:46:00.005+04:00

The compound is just over a kilometre from the workplace, and although I have an old LandRover I can use, I usually walk to get some exercise during the day. It adds up to 6 or 8km by suppertime.

The dirt road turns to snot when it rains, so they've dumped a load of river gravel on it to manage the issue. To keep myself occupied I choose a pebble in the road and then kick it ahead of me as I walk. Sometimes it goes in an unexpected direction, and then I get another pebble and off I go again.

The last pebble I had lasted almost a week. I'd kick it to work, them kick it back to the compound at lunchtime. The same in the afternoon. But the fucking thing bounced strangely this morning and I lost it. I was getting quite attached to it.

This is my new pebble. I'm calling it Fred and we'll see just how long Fred will last...

Garden of Eden

2010-02-04T22:32:00.003+04:00

One of the few advantages of starting work at six in the morning is that you get to see the sunrise.

You want the definition of bleak and desolate? Come see this place. Yes I know the garden of Eden is just up the river, but either they set their benchmark very low, or things get very different upstream of Basra. But at sunrise it all changes. For a brief moment every day, I actually like the place.

Taken on the way to work from the little Iraqi tugboat.

Prague

2010-02-02T21:50:00.005+04:00

Prague has become a city where British lager louts go for their stag parties and find a pub with bangers and mash and why the fuck do you want to travel to a beautiful exotic place and then go and eat somewhere so you feel like you're at home?

Prague has a brothel. Yes, I know, it has a lot of brothels - to cater for all the stag parties. This one is different. It's very upmarket. And it's free. It's called Big Sister. You go there, pick a girl (or three) and have the night of your life. And they're happy if you brought your partner/wife/girlfriend along...

The catch? They have cameras in every room. And your activities get streamed live over the internet.....

Would I do it? Well, if I ignore the fact that spousoid would bobbitt me.....
The internet part of it wouldn't bother me at all...

Would you?

Portrait Photography

2010-01-30T22:36:00.003+04:00

I'm an introvert, so I tend to shy away from people - which is probably why I never really tried portrait photography. One of my favourite portrait photographers is Andrzej Dragan. My portraits don't look anything like his.

Iraq

2010-01-27T17:35:00.004+04:00

I would under normal circumstances never pose for pics of myself holding a gun - it's a bit like telling everyone at the Embassy dinner your favourite musician is Kevin Bloody Wilson. But you can't work in Iraq and not do it - after all, when you go to Prague you will take a pic of yourself on Charles bridge...

There is another sadder side to the pic - this is a war zone. And you never know when you need to use one. So for the first time in 25 years, some practice was in order.

Me on the left.

Abandoned

2009-09-29T15:39:00.000+04:00

Taken in a little village called Carsington in the Peak district. The countryside is beautiful. But I am sure living there is as depressing as hell. Tiny houses, small bedrooms, smaller windows, kak weather. Nah - I'll give it a miss I think

The man is right...

2009-09-08T20:45:00.000+04:00

Prague

2009-07-05T13:19:00.003+04:00

I’ve lived in the bush for most of my life, lived comfortably in a tent under a tree with no one within 500km of me. Yet I have an affinity for cities. Maybe because it is a place I can observe people (don’t give me that look, we’re all voyeurs). Cape Town I love because it’s home, I love New York for the hustle and the rudeness, and Vancouver is stunning nestled as it is at the foot of the Rockies..

Prague I find difficult to describe. It’s not perfect, it’s old and worn and poor, but it has something that I’ve not experienced elsewhere. Prague has style. It’s a bit like comparing an Italian pasta or French cuisine with the British, who just boil everything they eat.

Prague is a mistress, all high heels and sexy skirts and timeless elegance. Not the girl you take home to meet your mother, but the one everyone else envies.

I dwelt in a city enchanted,
And lonely indeed was my lot
. . . .
Though the latitude's rather uncertain,
And the longitude also is vague,
The persons I pity who know not the City
The beautiful City of Prague.
- William Jeffery Prowse, The City of Prague

Hajar mountains

2009-04-06T16:31:00.000+04:00

Apologies to all my friends - I haven't been on here for ages. But sometimes I don't have much to write about. I've been writing,sporadically, trying to remember things that happened during my days in the army. It's posted elsewhere - at some stage I might import it here. But nuff said. I went to the shops to buy bread the other evening - ended up driving around the foothills of these mountains just behind us for almost two hours, taking photographs.

Leonard Cohen syndrome

2009-02-14T13:28:00.002+04:00

I don’t suffer from depression, but sometimes I look at things from the dark side. And everything makes more sense. Feeling sorry for yourself is counterproductive, but fuckit, I deserved it. Tired of working too long and too hard, tired of looking after everyone else, tired of solving everyone else’s problems. So last night I felt fucking miserable. Feel much better today.

Desert trip

2009-02-01T11:39:00.002+04:00

I may have mentioned in one of my previous blogs, I collect deserts. I love the space and the harshness and the beauty of it all. Spent an afternoon working our way over dunes - this is where we ended up.

We just don't listen

2009-01-30T14:46:00.000+04:00

So what have we learned in two millennia?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

---- Cicero - 55 BC

...Evidently nothing, then.

11 November - Remembrance Day

2008-11-11T13:22:00.003+04:00

This day is a special one. It is starting to lose its significance, which is sad. I still use it as my day of remembering my friends and brothers in arms from long ago and far away. They're still young. And I'm getting old...

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Nepal

2008-08-20T13:42:00.004+04:00

I've just come back from Nepal. It's typical of 3rd world countries - poor and grubby and overcrowded and corrupt. Yet if you look carefully, the culture and the scenery and the people shine through. A very colourful, beautiful place. Worth a visit. Took this pic at the temple where they cremate the bodies before they toss the remains into the river.

Kathmandu

2008-08-03T12:19:00.001+04:00

When it's above 50 degrees every day, and you work outside, it saps your energy. I get home, lie on the bed, and fall asleep. Its just too hot to be outside - even the pool water is 36 degrees, so it doesn't cool you down at all. Thursday was a public holiday here, so a group of us decided to be pro-active, and we went and played some golf. Not a very good idea. It was 47 degrees on the course. I think I drank about 5 litres of water. The only thing that saved us was this little golf cart that came around every 15 minutes, dishing out frozen face towels.

I originally planned to brave out the summer (the official government says its only 4 degrees warmer than the historical average), but I'm taking a week off and going to Kathmandu. Its colder, its green, its the middle of the monsoon and pissing with rain - everything the desert isn't. Oh, and they have strange people I can look at. Gurus, and clever people, and others that hang rocks on their dicks. It might just be an interesting experience....

....

2008-07-15T21:19:00.000+04:00

Now the question on the table...
...is how drunk is drunk enough?
And the answer is, it's all a matter of brain cells.
Brain cells?
That's right. Every drink of liquor you take kills brain cells.
But that don't matter, we got billions more.
First the sadness cells die, so you smile real big.
Then the quiet cells go, so you talk real loud for no reason at all.
That's okay, because the stupid cells go next...
...so everything you say is real smart.
And finally...
...come the memory cells.
These are tough sons of bitches to kill.

Sepia rules

2008-06-24T14:40:00.005+04:00

I haven't taken photos for a while. The shamal or northerly winds blow at the start of summer, and this year they've been exceptional in their duration. The winds bring dust and heat and humidity. Everything changes to sepia. This pic has not been retouched except for a slight sharpening. It was taken in front of my office.

American girl in Italy, 1951

2008-04-30T12:24:00.000+04:00

I love street photography. This is one of my all time favourites. Ruth Orkin (1921 – 1985) was renowned for her candid photos of Europeans and New Yorkers, and for the views she documented from her Central Park West apartment window for 30 years.

This is the life

2008-04-23T20:03:00.000+04:00

Heard this on the radio this morning..

Sunset skyline

2008-04-15T21:52:00.002+04:00

I know its cheesy, but its such an imposing part of my town's skyline, you can't ignore it. I keep coming back to take more photos of it.

Monster

2008-04-08T22:25:00.000+04:00

Art..

2008-04-04T21:57:00.001+04:00

Tim Noble and Sue Webster are artists. These are self portraits. They used piles of general household rubbish onto which a light is projected. I think this is absolutely stunning. The older I get the more I appreciate out of the box thinking.

Street photography

2008-03-28T18:54:00.002+04:00

Who's looking?

2008-03-25T15:01:00.001+04:00

Create your own visitor map!

Arab Architecture

2008-03-23T14:21:00.004+04:00

I took this pic yesterday when I took sprog to his golf lessons. The little man has talent - the theory is when he plays with Tiger I can take 80% of his earnings as a management fee..

The architecture is probably best described as "Arab Modern" although the only difference with "Arab Old" would be that these have aircons installed and the windows are bigger. The little towers on top are copies of the wind towers still in use in the older houses. These towers catch the breeze, and funnel them down into the house, cooling it by 10 - 15 degrees in summer. Its an ancient design - with looming power problems all over the world, more and more people are starting to look at them again.

The people you meet in life

2008-03-17T22:01:00.000+04:00

A quiet afternoon on the creek, farting about in little boats. So what do you think these people do? In no particular order - an airline pilot, a physics lecturer, the commodore of a yacht club, a chemistry lecturer, the owner of a mercenary company, and a woman I don't know..

Desert Rock Festival

2008-03-09T21:50:00.001+04:00

Desert Rock Festival

2008-03-09T21:48:00.002+04:00

Desert Rock Festival

2008-03-09T21:31:00.002+04:00

Last year it was Iron Maiden. This year it was Korn. I took the kids, and it was gratifying to see that both of them have some of the old man's genes. They both loved it. I didn't realize there were so many hard core rockers around - and once again the old guys like me were there too. In a place where sex and drugs and rock 'n roll are foreign concept, they are pretty good at organizing it. My very first rock concert was Led Zep (yes, I'm that old). The biggest difference between then and now? We used to hold our lighters up in the air. Now its digital cameras.

Now I'm suitably deaf, and very glad to have spent a normal day in this very very strange land.

Little black numbers...

2008-03-09T21:28:00.000+04:00

I've been here too long - this is starting to look stylish.

Restaurant

2008-02-20T20:52:00.001+04:00

This eatery is typical of restaurants in this part of the world. If you don't want to eat, but just feel like a cup of coffee, you park outside and hoot. A waiter will come running out, take your order and come back in about 15 secs with a paper cup of surprisingly good coffee. And it will cost you 1 dirham (25 USD cents). I took this pic last night when the spousoid was next door buying paint. Click on the pic to see a bigger version.

End of the day

2008-02-16T20:21:00.002+04:00

Took this just after the sun set, right next to the palm island. These three construction workers were waiting for the bus that takes them back to their compound.

South Africa - Quo Vadis?

2008-02-11T14:59:00.000+04:00

The South Africans reading this will know, but some background for the buitelanders/foreigners/gaijin…

South Africa was warned about 10 years ago that electricity needs will outsrip supply by 2007. The far thinking government thought they’d worry about that in 2007. The power has run out. A week ago, all the gold and platinum mines closed for 5 days because electricity supply could not be guaranteed. Some economist just worked out that closing the mines for one day a month is enough to tip the country into a recession. Loadshedding is now normal. The effect on the economy has been instant and catastrophic. If the government goes on a spending spree of nte and gets top class construction companies to work 24/7 – it will still take 6 to 8 years before they can generate more power. So in the short to medium term, we are fucked.

Just spoke to a mate of mine in Jozi. Mittal Steel (the old Yskor) have declared Force Majeure, and will not be honouring their steel contracts. Because they can’t make enough. All the major steel distributors/traders have done the same. The supply they think will be 40% less than last year. Ja no well fine. You can imagine how a 40% reduction in steel will affect the economy. And of course steel is not the only thing affected. The whole economy is.

Is this the start of the long slow slide into mediocrity? Me thinks the slide started a long long time ago, even before 1994 and the new South Africa. Is a turnaround possible. Of course it is. But not if you’re going to be politically correct about it. I have this theory. After visiting/living in/working in so many third world countries, I’m sure if someone ran the country like a business things would be better. The MD (Thabo) gets a Toyota. If the country does well, he gets a bonus. If it does badly, he gets fired. Every department has to make a profit. Hey, they’re doing it in Dubai, and It’s not from oil revenues which are only 4% of their income. The dept that hands out visas for visitors is making $600m a year. Just because they’re efficient.

But I’m not sure if it’s possible where corruption is regarded as acceptable and medical officers olive oil and onions cure aids… then there’s the millions that don’t have work and have to steal to stay alive. How do you convince them that working 10 hours a day for $250 a month is better than earning a $1,000 for 5 minutes work when they steal the Beemer at the traffic lights from a Sandton Susan?

So what option do we have? Bitch and moan like pomms? Piss off like most of the educated? Or adapt, mutate and use the system – sell cheap Chinese generators to the masses, grow dope in your garden, sell submarines to Zuma, get a contract to supply the dept of health and welfare with olive oil and onions… and hope to hell this doesn’t become Zim two..

Deep in thought

2008-01-20T21:03:00.000+04:00

Church

2008-01-16T21:12:00.000+04:00

I don't spend much time in church, not since the compulsory six times a week army version of kirk we all endured in the 1980s. But I love cathedrals - I can spend hours in them. I know its nerdy, and its not just the architecture - there is a feeling of spirituality there, of tranquility. And peace. This was taken in Vienna. I have a huge attraction for this city.

Desert rain

2008-01-15T19:01:00.000+04:00

Having spent most of my life in various deserts of the world, rain has a special meaning. Its been raining for four days now. Work is impossible, but rain is regarded as a valid excuse. So instead of work, I went for a drive in the desert.

Empire State

2008-01-13T18:00:00.000+04:00

Street photography

2008-01-11T22:14:00.000+04:00

I took this photo about 18 months ago in New york, just south of Times Square. One of my favourite New York pics.

2008

2008-01-05T06:06:00.000+04:00

The Christmas tree is back in its box, the baubles are wrapped in paper again, the New Party hangover is gone and I'm back at work. Here we go again... hope its a good year for all of you

The Desert

2007-12-31T00:00:00.000+04:00

I've always like deserts. Since I was a kid. I still remember drinking a warmish coke at a small garage on the other side of Sesriem, and thinking that deserts are cool. There's space there. Nadine Gordimer once wrote - “A desert is a place without expectation”. She's right. The desert just is. Took a trip into the dunes yesterday afternoon. Even the grumpy teenagers asked to go again.

Street Photography

2007-12-30T23:41:00.000+04:00

Street Photography originated in Europe, and is traditionally black and white. But colour is so much part of the whole fabric of society here, I couldn't do it in black and white without losing something in the translation. These were taken in a souq in Dubai, using only available light.

Late afternoon

2007-12-23T12:53:00.000+04:00

Late afternoon is my favourite time of day. One of the advantages of living in the desert is that you don't have to drive far to get away from everyone, and still have a pretty cool place for a braai at sundown. And nobody gets to see that it's beer you're drinking instead of lemonade. This dune field is about 10km from home. The people in the pic are the two sprogs, the spousoid, and the BIL.

Jingle bells

2007-12-22T10:01:00.000+04:00

To all of you that have been kind enough to read my blogs through the past year, may your Christmas be peaceful and safe.

Dreams are ten a penny..

2007-12-09T10:56:00.000+04:00

What did you want to be when you grew up? How different is reality to what you thought it was going to be? We were all going to be successful and happy and live long exciting lives…. And then you discover that life is more complex than that. The girlfriend you love pisses off and marries some other doos, and the chic you do marry gains 30 kg just after you marry her and decides she doesn’t like sex anymore. What you study to be at university is suddenly not quite as good because of the downturn in that specific sector of the economy, and becoming a plumber would have made you a helluva lot richer than studying medicine for 6 years. And yes, you can now afford to buy the Porche you were going to drive when you were 30, but then the kids can’t go to university and the house will definitely not be paid for, and anyway – you now have a boep and you’re bald and the chicks don’t dig old fat people in sports cars. And on top of that driving the car to work every day in Joburg is not quite the same as parking it in front of the casino in Monaco after you’d raced it down all the way from Paris where you were going to have that little apartment overlooking the Eiffel tower. And you’ve given up on the small ship in the harbour because you get seasick…

Me? I was going to be a chopper pilot…

Wadi Biyh

2007-11-26T13:15:00.000+04:00

Wadi Biyh is a canyon system that heads into the mountains from right behind my house. After about 25 km it road goes right over the top in a series of hairpin bends, reaching almost 2,000 metres above sea level. It's at least 10 degrees cooler at the top. For me the most amazing thing is to find the terraced fields at the top. I gather they still plant a wheat-like grass there in the rainy season. Most of them are still inaccessible by road, and they would have to walk at least a day to get to them. And there's no water there.

Dubai at night

2007-11-25T21:33:00.001+04:00

My son and I sneaked up to the 47th floor of this apartment complex, then ducked into a service door that lead another 3 levels up. This is one of the pics I took. Next time I'll take a picnic...

Communists

2007-11-25T17:42:00.000+04:00

A long long time ago I was in the army. Besides fighting with everyone who didn't believe in our ideology, we also fought the Russians, because they were (i) evil, (ii) not Christians and (iii) we had to prevent them from attaining world domination. Or something like that anyway. I don't think the government was too sure of it all either. Except for one thing. Communists were very very bad people, and they were hiding everywhere. Even under your bed.

Friday mornings was Battalion Parade. Every able bodied soldier had to be there to march in parade ground order, be inspected, be shat on by the RSM. The RSM for those who haven't been in the army, is the guy who knows he is god.

The night before I had been to a restaurant in town with a few guys from the regiment. The restaurant's decor consisted of flags from all over the world. So we borrowed one, after a fair amount of red wine. And hung it on the parade ground flagpole at 3 in the morning.

The next morning their were enough officers around to take part in the parade, so all I needed to do was stand on the edge of the parade ground just behind the commandant. We were halfway through the parade when the RSM (he controls the parade ground) saw the red flag with the hammer and sickle. I honestly thought he was going to die. No sense of humour the poor man. The whole parade shuddered to a halt. He would personally rip the head off the responsible individual and shit on his lungs. And then fuck his sister. And then rip his balls of and eat them for breakfast. Knowing the RSM, I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable - because he was quite capable of doing just that.

The flag was ripped of the flagpole, and after another 15 minutes of ranting the parade dissolved and the RSM witch hunt started. He never found the culprits. But that evening in the mess, the commandant bought me a beer. Didn't say a word though. Except call me a communist.

Photography

2007-11-20T14:28:00.000+04:00

My father always took photographs. Its one of my earliest memories I have of him. We also had an 8mm movie camera that you had to wind up to use, but it was always an add on. Photographs are what I remember. When he could, my Dad took slides, and if we nagged him enough on a Sunday evening, we’d get to haul out the projector screen and watch pictures from our last holiday in Etosha, or my Dad’s trip to London or Paris. If we got lucky we’d even have popcorn with it.

I remember my Dad leaving on his overseas trips. He’d go for a month (flying was an event in those day), lugging a suitcase of photographic eqipment with him. I kid you not. He had a Hasselblad at the time (those who know cameras also know they only come in sizes similar to bricks). It had the advantage that you could swap between colour and black and white film without changing spools. Very neat. Then there was the tripod, and the wide ange lens, and 3 telephoto lenses. And the light meter. And the cleaning kit. And a separate box for the flash unit.

I was given the Hasselblad when I was thirteen. It crapped itself shortly after that, but it instilled in me a passion for taking photographs that is still with me. These days cameras are smaller, and easier to use. I don’t travel with a whole suitcase of equipment. But I always have a camera with me.

He took this pic years ago, when I was about 8. It’s a scanned copy of a damaged slide. We were fighting veld fires in the Eastern Free State, late at night. My Dad doesn’t take photos anymore. But I still send him my pics. And we still talk about travelling. That’s something else I got from him.

Careful what you wish for...

2007-11-17T21:28:00.000+04:00

Ever heard of Ulaanbaatar? Genghis Khan comes from there. These are the steppes, small barbarians on horseback, steak tartare and all that..

A while ago the spousoid came up with a suggestion. Lets move to Mongolia she said. My cousin lived there for years and he loved it, she said. I want to experience seasons again, not just hot, she said. And it even snows, she said. Life would be simpler, she said.

So of course a posting becomes available in Mongolia, and I apply. Less than 48 hours later, an email and a 15 minute conversation later, the guy says, ok, I like you. How much do you want? Now I'm getting cold feet already (and I'm not even in the snow yet), so I ask for an outrageous amount of money. Ok, he says – I'll send you an offer. Fuuuuuuuck.

I've had a look at some pics. The architectural style of the buildings is best described as Soviet grunge. It's not winter yet. This morning's temp was -16 degrees....

Will I go? I have absolutely no idea.. especially since I've just had another (tentative) offer to go and work in Moscow. Which one would you choose? Which one would you be sorry you didn't go to when one day you're 80 years old?

Careful what you wish for – you may just get it.

Expat Life

2007-11-17T20:40:00.000+04:00

A friend recently asked me about expat life, and why I do it. She made me think. For me it happened by accident – I was transferred to another country way way back and long ago. And never looked back. It wasn't a conscious choice at first. It just happened. Now its probably too late. A bit like pilots doing crop dusting. Once you do that, they won't hire you for anything else. Although it sounds glamorous, expat life is not for everyone. The theory is simple. You go live in another country for a while, gain some experiences, make some money, spend some money, go back home.

There are dangers involved. In the flashy places like Dubai, you get caught in a golden cage very easily. You don't pay taxes, prices are cheap – so with your disposable income you buy a Landcruiser or a Merc, a boat, stop cooking at home and eating out..and one day you suddenly find that you cannot afford to leave. Your standard of living is so high that you spend the rest of your life trying to maintain it. The more adventurous souls that venture into the the developing countries, face other dangers. In Tanzania I knew a few people who had definitely been there for far too long. They start refusing to go on leave, swear at head office people, come to work barefoot, start drinking more than a bottle of whisky a day....and end up living in a hut or somewhere next to a lake. Actually, come to think of it, that sounds like a perfectly sane idea.

Then you get career expat. A much rarer, tougher breed. I'm not talking about people that move to another country, and then settle there. They decided to do this for a living, moving from country to country as the demand for their particular skill set moves. They tend to be oil people, engineers, miners, soldiers, and as countries become more settled, finance people. There is a high demand for people who have international experience. And the rewards are there. But you have to manage the rewards (international travel, good holidays, buckets of money) with the downside (3rd culture kids, diseases, extreme climates, lack of friends, language problems, getting thrown in jail for having a “kiss my ass” bumper sticker). The divorce rate is sky high – for exploration geologists for instance its around 83%. The trick is to find a hugely understanding wife. One that likes moving too. Like me. It's becoming more common now – people even write books about it – Raising Global Nomads, A Moveable Marriage, and the classic Third Culture Kids are just a few.

The moment the cons outweigh the pros, you need to get thew hell out of Dodge. If you don't – better not bitch too loud. Its all your own fault anyway..

Rocks

2007-11-11T13:51:00.000+04:00

We had one of our scheduled blasts today. In the foreground is 40,000 tonnes of rocks that will be loaded onto trucks over the next two days. And then dumpred in the sea to make islands. The truck in the backgroun has just been loaded. Every rock on the trailer weighs more than 6 tonnes. I went and checked at the weighbridge after the truck left. It had 63 tonnes on board. In Europe the maximum is about 25 tonnes. Here? If it can move, its allowed.

11 November

2007-11-09T22:58:00.000+04:00

Problem solving

2007-11-03T18:03:00.000+04:00

I'm back. Spent most of the time babysitting the boss. Not a wasted trip though. We went to South Africa thinking we had a solution to a problem, but ended up with more questions - and other solutions. We need to move 1.5 million tonnes of sand. Every day.For three years. With the cirrent worldwide mining boom there is not enough free equipment available to move a quarter of that. To build a new dragline (a bucket excavator that can lift 200 tonnes at a shot) takes three years. And they want to start moving earth by December..

Anyway, the pic is about something else. This is a square in Sandton filled with hotels and restaurants. The pretty people hang out here. The steak was good. And the Shiraz was even better.

See ya later, alligator

2007-10-30T05:57:00.000+04:00

I'll be in South Africa on business till Saturday. See you when I get back.

Kak day

2007-10-27T22:18:00.000+04:00

This just about sums it up...

Industrial Wasteland

2007-10-17T21:11:00.001+04:00

Dubai - again

2007-10-15T21:49:00.001+04:00

I've started experimenting with low light photography. It's a lot more difficult than I thought, but a huge amount of fun. I've never had much success with flash photography, so I try and avoid it at all costs. The results are almost always more interesting.

Helluva job

2007-10-12T22:51:00.001+04:00

I have just sorted,catalogued, and added keywords to just over 11,000 photos. Been long overdue, but its almost done. Another 1,300 to go then its all over. Will get back to blogging and commenting again soon. Right now I'm a bit frazzled.

There is nowhere quite like it..

2007-10-05T22:04:00.000+04:00

Building in Dubai just doesn’t stop. This is the Dubai Marina.High density living personified. Two years ago there was nothing here. Now this. Its all part of the grand plan. From the Palm Islands to Media City and Sports City and University City and Business Bay and the new 140 square kilometre Free Trade Zone at Jebel Ali and 40 others just like it. Each one of these developments is bigger than Manhattan. And they’re all being built at the same time. One of the Group companies is busy with eight building of over 90 stories - that’s besides the Burj Dubai that the already the tallest structure in the world. Nothing quite like this has happened anywhere before. There is no financial model to work from. Where its going to, nobody knows. Everyone is coming to look, to learn. Where else in the world is there a country where only 15% of the population are citizens? Where high tech lives side by side with traditional dhows still sailing the trade winds to Muscat and Zanzibar as they have for 4,000 years. This is an interesting place.

1421 - The Year China Discovered the World

2007-10-01T20:59:00.000+04:00

"...On the 8th of March, 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen sailed from its base in China. The ships, huge junks nearly five hundred feet long and built from the finest teak, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals. Their mission was 'to proceed all the way to the end of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas' and unite the whole world in Confucian harmony. The journey would last over two years and circle the globe.

When they returned Zhu Di lost control and China was beginning its long, self-imposed isolation from the world it had so recently embraced. The great ships rotted at their moorings and the records of their journeys were destroyed. Lost was the knowledge that Chinese ships had reached America seventy years before Columbus and circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan. They had also discovered Antarctica, reached Australia three hundred and fifty years before Cook and solved the problem of longitude three hundred years before the Europeans..."

Read this book. It makes you think. This one was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me. It read like a novel, and makes you realise just how far ahead of the rest of the world the Chinese Empire really was. The research is ongoing, and reported on their website. Many scientists call it crap, mostly I think because (i) it messes with their theories and (ii) a non-historian thought it up first. The various "for and against" arguments are in Wikipedia.

Things that keep you busy...

2007-09-27T10:36:00.000+04:00

I haven’t been online much lately, cuz I’ve been playing in my sand pit. Building things….

The Emirates have now started on their third palm tree shaped island. This one will probably be about 4 times the size of the original one. At the moment they are throwing 1.2 million tonnes or rock into the sea every month to make this island. To keep on track they need to throw 1.8 million tonnes of rock into the sea. Every month.

This is what this tower is for. It sorts rocks into different sizes, from 1kg all the way to 3 tonnes. At the rate of 2,000 tonnes an hour, 20 hours a day. Its going to keep us busy.

Globalization

2007-09-21T20:10:00.000+04:00

You think of all kinds of crap while you mindlessly flip the meat over on the braai (BBQ for less civilized countries). I ended up thinking about globalization. There is a groundswell of movement against it. But its a fact. Like a cow.

If you look at the pic, and our meal tonight - these are the countries involved:

China - the BBQ tongs, and my slip slops (sandals)

USA - the BBQ, and the charcoal

Tanzania - my Bulyanhulu Gold Mine shirt

Malawi - my kikoi/skirt/wrap

Namibia - the beer

Mexico - the other beer

Australia - the beef and the potatoes

New Zealand - lamb

Holland - capsicums (red and yellow peppers)

Turkey - dried apricots

Saudi Arabia - onions

South Africa - Aromat (BBQ spices)

Lebanon - parsley

India - spices

United Arab Emirates - bamboo skewers foro the sosaties/kebabs/mishakaki/shashlyki

Ramadhan Kareem

2007-09-13T22:45:00.000+04:00

If you want to see a lovely description of Ramadhan, go read Kismet's Chronicles. It is a time of introspection, and spiritual revival, of family, and giving, and looking after the less fortunate. The photo is of the big Mosque in Ras al Khaimah. Sheikh Zayed, the first ruler of the UAE, had one built in each of the seven Emirates.

My home town...

2007-09-11T12:15:00.000+04:00

This is where I live - for now. So I call it home. I am slowly building up a collection of photos of this dorpie, but want to add the side that is not as glamorous. Part of the town consists of the old Arab houses, which are build of coral and mudstone, and poor quality cement bricks. With no town planning. And small little alley ways. And hundreds of satellite dishes. Will be posting some more soon.

COME YOU MASTERS OF WAR...

2007-09-09T18:45:00.000+04:00

You that build all the guns

You that build the death planes

You that build the big bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'

But build to destroy

You play with my world

Like it's your little toy

You put a gun in my hand

And you hide from my eyes

And you turn and run farther

When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old

You lie and deceive

A world war can be won

You want me to believe

But I see through your eyes

And I see through your brain

Like I see through the water

That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers

For the others to fire

Then you set back and watch

When the death count gets higher

You hide in your mansion

As young people's blood

Flows out of their bodies

And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear

That can ever be hurled

Fear to bring children

Into the world

For threatening my baby

Unborn and unnamed

You ain't worth the blood

That runs in your veins

How much do I know

To talk out of turn

You might say that I'm young

You might say I'm unlearned

But there's one thing I know

Though I'm younger than you

Even Jesus would never

Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question

Is your money that good

Will it buy you forgiveness

Do you think that it could

I think you will find

When your death takes its toll

All the money you made

Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die

And your death'll come soon

I will follow your casket

In the pale afternoon

And I'll watch while you're lowered

Down to your deathbed

And I'll stand o'er your grave

'Til I'm sure that you're dead

(Doug)

The Ten Universal Laws of the Warrior Code

2007-09-08T20:55:00.000+04:00

1. Pay attention.
Stay in the present. It's the only place anything is really happening.

2. Take responsibility.
This is your life, take it back. Either you get to own it, or you blame someone or
something else for it. Choose.

3. No Kvetching.
No whining, no sniveling - it takes you out of the present and lets you abdicate
responsibility.

4. Don't take any shit.
It's very bad for one's self esteem to take any abuse. Stand up to your tyrants
both internal and external. The cost is too great not to.

5. Do it anyway.
Hard choices temper our strength and our integrity; they make the difference
between a life of mediocrity and a life of excellence.

6. Don't quit.
Look at what stops you, at where you give the effort up. That is the edge between
becoming a victim or a warrior.

7. Keep your agreements
A warrior is only as good as his or her word. The way we build self-trust and
trust in others is by making and keeping our agreements.

8. Keep your sense of humour.
Otherwise whats the point? Humour helps us stretch beyond ourselves and our
own limits.

9. Love one another
Its the way we remember we are not alone in the universe.

10. Honour your connection to Source.

War

2007-09-07T19:53:00.000+04:00

bring up the Twelve Pounders!

- all the horses are dead here, sir

bring 'em up by mule then

- all the mules are dead here, sir

well bring 'em up by hand, boys

- all the battery men are dead here, sir

well I need them Twelve Pounders

- there ain't no artillery left here, sir

Bring Up The Twelve Pounders - (Paul Kennerley)
White Mansions, 1978

A better holiday

2007-09-07T13:45:00.000+04:00

Not many people know about the Konigsberg. She was a German battleship, based in East Africa in the first world war. Bigger and better than anything the British had, she was a threat to stability in the East African region. She holed up in the Rufiji River delta due to engine troubles. The English found her and blocked the river - it took several months, 21 ships and a number of battles before she was finally sunk in the muddy water of the Rufiji. Animated maps of the battle you can see here.

But the story doesn't end there. Some enterprising German major called von Lettow-Vorbeck took the main deck guns off her. He added some wheels and dragged them around the east african bush for four year. He beat the crap out of the South African, British and Indian troops. We had 125,000 troops looking for him - he had 2,500, of which I think only 600 were German. The rest were Africans. Ran rings around us he did. Innovative man he was - promoted African troops above his German soldiers if they were good. Unheard of in his day. One of those guns now stands in front of the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

The Konigsberg was last seen in 1965. Most of it was cut up for scrap metal by people over the years. The Rufiji delta is as remote today as it was 90 years ago. Few people go there - swamps, malaria, crocodiles - they all keep the riff raff out.

Sometime next year I want to take some sidescan sonar equipment and see if i can find the bits that are left. Who's coming with? The beer will be cold..

Dragan effect

2007-09-05T21:29:00.000+04:00

This is my first attempt. I have a lot to learn about photoshop.. I can see where to improve now that I've posted it. This is going to take some work. Thanks Chi..

Censorship

2007-09-04T16:00:00.000+04:00

School has just started for the midgets. This is my daughters 2nd day in high school (the year starts in Sept here). On her 2nd day, she had to take in her brand new science text book, which cost about R250. So that the teacher could tear a page out. WTF??? We aren't told about this, I only found out by accident when the kids talked about it. The page has a drawing of the male and female sex organs of a human on it. This is not acceptable and is in contrast of the moral values of the country/teacher/fuckwit that thought this up. Now of course there's a teeny weeny problem. The exams are external, and set in the UK. So the questions are from the UK, and the exams are marked in the UK. And they have to know the pic for the exams - Now what? Sometimes morons should not be placed in charge of schools

Andrzej Dragan

2007-08-31T23:11:00.000+04:00

Fuckit, some people leave me gobsmacked. Andrzej Dragan has a PhD in quantum physics, is a prizewinning music composer. But a while ago he started taking photos. This man is a genius. Go look at his stuff. Picked this one up from Chihuahua's blog