I HAVE been quiet for a while as the hard work of many weeks
culminated into a semi-final and final round of a musical battle that,
surprisingly, ended up leaving a swell of pride in my chest. Yes the sound was dodgy and the engineers were shocking, yes
there was limited seating, yes yes yes… But it is the process that counts, the
adventure. Well done to everyone. It was a bittersweet ending to a long
journey filled with excitement, listlessness, anger and growing pains.
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| Goodbye the bright lights and the late nights |
Our pastures on the farm have officially turned and we are
buying bales like mad. The end of summer is also bittersweet, no more grass and
balmy nights, but no more AHS, West Nile or
other bugs either.
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| A kiss to build a dream on |
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| Ponies at the bale |
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| Ponies stare me down |
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| Soon to be bleached yellow |
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| The 'forever pasture' turning, slowly |
Finally, I have to make mention of the bittersweet passing
of a beautiful and talented young ocean-goer. A national-team body-boarder; a
Springbok. Sun-bleached hair and youth and talent snuffed out in Cape Town’s icy waters by a
white shark. It means the end of filming permits and hopefully chumming, which
is a contentious topic, hotly debated by pundits. I don’t like the practice and
I celebrate its end in our waters, but mourn a life well-lived but cut short. RIP David Lilienfeld, you beauty.
Well, I am guessing that you had something to do with the organization and success of the concert, so I will say "Congratulations!" :-)
ReplyDeleteLove seeing the pictures of your part of the world. So interesting to compare.
Sad news about David Lilienfeld. I understand that great whites are quite common in your parts so I guess he knew the risks. What is with the chumming?? That doesn't seem to be a very safe activity when the beaches are full of swimmers and boarders...
With the recent success of cage diving as a tourist attraction and documentary film-making the practice of chumming has obviously increased. So too, has the incidence of shark attacks over the last few year - while sharks are common shark attacks were fairly uncommon. Yet recently we had two in one week! It is obvious why our swimmers and boarders blame chumming - though it is contentious: David was boarding 20kms from Seal Island, where sharks hunt seals - there is a natural slick (blood and guts if you will, that gets carried on the tide) from these hunts. However, they were chumming off seal island the day before, and this too produces slick. If it wasn't a growing concern, I do not think they would have cancelled film permits - effectively making chumming redundant in the area. I hate chumming because it lures sharks out of their comfort zones and into our world, I think this is tampering with the eco-system and that it will have negative effects eventually. It is tantamount to me going on safari with a half rack of lamb tucked into my back-pack...it seems stupid to me.
ReplyDeleteThe concert was a 'battle of the bands' that raged for months and eventually petered out into the semi-final round, where my favorite band didn't win but the winners were excellent. Because of work I was in some way involved with the organisation, and I was there every week. I hardly know what I am going to get up to every Tuesday night! :-)
Hope you are well Wolfie, was so good to read your Stu update!