Unlucky thirteen...

No matter how hot the fire burns, a Protea always survives.

So it seems after a year, things really start to get busy*. I'm partly aware of the fact I now have less than a year left of my contract and that life needs to get busy if I want to carry on in academia (which I do). The upside of this for you, the reader, is that I haven't got time to try to make a whole post that rhymes (sorry about that, call it a product of little sleep).

Actually, I have very little to write about full stop. I have spent most of the month working with two days off (sleeping), working on a cluster proposal and a Coulex proposal for iThemba (SA), and another proposal for CERN. I can pretty much sum it up in a few photos, a little bit of the new standard of life I guess (which is far above what I'm used to and still amazing):

Food (although this market was so bad)...

Culture (I went to see a film in French!)...

Seeing friends (I feel like it's important to be friends with sharks when they come with friggin' laser beams)...

Wine tasting (obviously)...

Rooftop bars with Airbnb guests who bring salted liquorice, yum yum (see above (HA)).

So as I said, same old same old. Fortunately I never wrote up the visit from when my mum and Clarissa came in August, and given that one of the purposes of this blog is that it requires me to go through and sort my photos out, I will take the opportunity to sum it up here! It will also serve as a good reference now I seem to have visitors coming thick and fast...

First up on any trip to Cape Town is penguins and Cape Point! It is a trip which always looks different, and although it's my third time it's still spectacular. From a beach just outside of Simon's Town:

Chapman's Peak drive also continually serves up a sky with a rich palette of colours, and is the only road I, as a Yorkshireman with strong principles, will always happily pay to use.

There's so many places to see by the beach, and whales seem to think so too. Hermanus is always a delight, even better when there's a food and wine festival and even better still when said festival has deep-fried double-chocolate Oreos.

Not all beaches have whales unfortunately, but drive up the west coast instead of along the southern, and you'll find the most amazing display of flowers and animals at certain times of the year. Keen readers will remember similar vistas when I first arrived last year!

Talking of animals, there is of course the safari trip to see African animals in Africa! They both enjoyed our trip to Inverdoorn, as did I, although the fact I got a R500 fine for not renewing my tax disc was a bit annoying. It became a lot annoying when I went to renew it and turns out that I had done when I had sorted some car paperwork out earlier in the year, but the fine is the same for not displaying an up-to-date disc.

Long days like this of course mean that one needs to relax properly in the evening; what better way than visiting one of Cape Town's many jazz bars? It was the first visit of mine to the Crypt too, which was a long time coming, and topped off by seeing our !Xhosa waiter step on stage and fire off an incredible version of 'Nessun Dorma'.

Some nights just need to be a bit quieter though, and if you want to experience truly incredible food, the Cape also offers a multitude of choices. One such choice that I purchased for the family's birthday was Test Kitchen, one of the top 25 restaurants in the world, and it was money well spent. If you're aware of the price of it, you'll know that those are not words I choose lightly, but unfortunately it's the only words I can come up with. The stories, the presentation, the wine pairing all led to an unforgettable experience, and hopefully I will get the opportunity to go again.

My mum finally met my PhD supervisor too, who was visiting with his family...and he also got to meet his supervisor, and my academic grandfather!

Of course this doesn't touch on trips to Bo'kaap, to Kirstenbosch, to Franshoek, to see the penguins or to visit vineyards or all the multitude of other activities, but then maybe you'll just have to come experience things yourself...next visitors are three Polish girls and hopefully pierogi. I've had a pretty rubbish month truth be told, but last month was so good as evidenced here it's basically pulled me through. Here's to October being better!

Song of the month: O Sole Mio, by the 3 tenors, as September was very cultured as discussed.

*Given it took me most of October to get to finishing this post with pictures etc, I wasn't wrong

It's been one year...

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

I've been a year in South Africa now,
Which has flown by so fast, I don't know how
Since I've written twelve of these posts I decided to vow
This one'd be a poem, if you let me allow*

'My first wine tasting' (a children's book I'm working on) with Phil Adsley (who quickly escaped after my arrival)

The weather's been great,
The company fantastic,
There's not much I hate,
And I'm not being sarcastic
It's a hell of a journey
But the scenery's bombastic
Plus parts show placodermi
Are not all quite 'past it'

That was a reference to East London (not shown above)

In the first month or so here
I had a few problems
A flat tyre on the rear
And buying a car
Is pretty damn dear
But still it's awesome
Since the price of the beer
Puts it all on par

Which subsequently makes going to the cricket pretty cheap and enjoyable!

Magnificent wine and sumptuous meals
All back-dropped by splendid views of the hills
Plus the animals around, like the penguins and seals
Make even a 'normal' day here seem full of thrills

Some photos in this post are actually from this month!

Me waiting to be told I'm still broken, with 'severe ligament damage'

I'm settled in Cape Town finally and happy in my place
With the view of the mountains and their spectacular face
And I've found a system at work
Which isn't in itself too much work
Of course it's hard being so far from home
But it's not like that was something that was unknown
It's been annoying since I broke my damn bone
And I've not yet found anywhere that makes zabaglione

Some pretty amazing views though

I thought I'd create a list of my highlights
However it turns out when I tried to pick out the top sights
It's a difficult process to try to pick out the best days and nights
There's not even really been any downers or frights

The usual collection of trips and of markets,
and what not have endured along with sunkets,
And that goes along too with the braais and relaxing,
And the incredible sunsets

I'd had a lot of wine at this point, hence the slopeiness

Probably the best time of course is when people are visiting
Since we get to be explore, relax, and get to be inquisitive
Seeing some of the hidden secrets and share in superlatives
Pretending to be a tourist instead of trying to be native
On that note in August (this month) my mum came to visit
With my sister who just got to Warwick uni, ribbit ribbit
Which was one of the nicest times I've had here, exploring some new
Like Franshoek, new vineyards, and bunny chow (a kind of stew)

Mum in Franshoek

I finally did Bo'Kaap with the colourful streets!
Another wonderful addition to the attractions that Cape Town reaps,
The Rhodes Monument too,
And the Crypt Jazz restaurant woo!
As well as the usual suspects of course,
Sojourning with whales and flowers and a stripy horse

I'd be doing a disfavour
If I didn't finish on the flavours
Of the amazing Test Kitchen
Which is easily pitchin'
As the greatest culinary experience I've ever had
Since some of their ideas were totally rad
A tasting experience far exceeding,
Even if it left my wallet a little bit bleeding...

Oh, this is just shortbread with duck parfait, dark chocolate, and 24-carat gold, have you never had billionaire's shortbread?

...dry.

Here's to another great year! Thanks to all who've made the time here so good, as well as to those who've visited; to those who are coming to visit, I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am. Lekker may bruh!

Because I definitely haven't taken enough sunset photos

Song of the month: Look What You Made Me Do, by Taylor Swift, because I was forced to (though I didn't resist much)

*The rhyming scheme is...unusual

A TENtacruel post (and a misleading title)

Ubuntu ungamntu ngabanye abant.

After the longest time I've spent in a single country since 2011, it was time to catch an aeroplane again out of the country, for two months in another one...research secondment at CERN, Switzerland. I feel a bit iffy about writing this blog, since it encompasses 7 days actually in SA and those days were spent running around not actually doing anything fun (I didn't even do First Thursdays, which seems to have become a standout feature of the last 6 months), but I need to keep some sort of routine, and besides, this rounds out the number of posts since I started 11 months ago to the correct number.

This is bereft of quite a lot of content since my phone decided it would die for a couple of weeks, and I was unable to reactivate it since Telkom are useless in SA, but nonetheless...the important stuff started after having touched down, with a few beers in London (wanted a visit to Borough market, but events the week prior had put pay to that), a meeting with a fantastic magician, nice English gardens, and basically chasing the sun again after having to experience a few late Autumn days in Cape Town.

Landing in Geneva meant more catching-up with old friends and beers from Finland, and a visit to the races in York for a stag do (obviously no photos), and a quick trip to Liverpool. After that, it was straight to work, and so it seems necessary to include some photos of the ISOLDE hall and the MINIBALL experimental setup! It was a big deal for an African institution, and a big part of why I wanted to be here, and it was a great experience for all involved*.

Oh, and of course, the early morning continental pastry breakfasts...

Not much sightseeing was done in Geneva, due to work, and looking back at my phone it seems even less than I thought, but the usual jet d'eau (because if you don't take a photo of that, have you even been to Geneva?). Tour de France was in town, but after seeing it in 2014 in God's own country I focused more this time on just checking out the peloton itself...and forgot to take pictures. Pretty stunning scenery though in the Jura mountains! I was also lucky enough to check out the second largest jazz festival in the world, Montreux, which had been on my list for a while. It was amazing, and definitely well worth the trip, even if I had stayed up most of the night working. I think it was my second day off in a month, because clearly physics, as already seen, waits for no man.

There WOULD have been many more photos of Geneva's old town and of some nice little hidden gems I'd been putting on a list, but events took a turn for the worse; or rather, I didn't turn, and ended up worse. Broken elbow, strained wrist, lots of grazes, stitched chin, and two fractured teeth, were not the ideal end to a hard two months. I also broke my laptop and phone, but they just seem like normal George things. Thanks to the amazing dentists at Young's though, I seem to have managed to fix my face up just enough for a wedding of two good friends at the end of the week, in the same place as my parents had their wedding reception too.

Now back to SA, with my mum and Clarissa, refreshed and ready for the rest of the year. Hopefully I take some rain back...

Song of the month: The Final Countdown, by Europe, because it's by Europe...

*A nice piece on what was happening can be found here