All is well again, with the minister of home affairs having returned home on Friday afternoon from her trip to New Zealand, which she enjoyed immensely.

Female Lion Looking to Her Side

We spent the Freedom Day long weekend relaxing at home to give her a chance to recover from the travelling, but yesterday went out on another photographic expedition, this time to the Lion Park. I think we got some really decent photos. It was very much worth the visit. Not cheap though! Entry is R90 per adult if you self-drive through the park.

The photo here is not one of mine, but a stock photo. I have discovered that anyone can steal photos if I post them here on Vox, so I'll systematically remove all of mine. However, you can see my photos on my flickr page, which has some security features preventing photo theft.

The Saturday morning weigh-in recorded a 0.4kg gain to 80.8kg. At least it was not another loss like last week! I'd be quite happy if it were to settle here now.

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I have been subjected to three rolling blackouts (the government prefers us to use the Newspeak term "load-shedding") of four hours each at home so far this week. During Tuesday night's outage I took the opportunity to take a photo, which for me has become the symbol of South Africa at present. You can see it here.

Candlelight

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The minister of home affairs departed for New Zealand last night - the plane was delayed, so she left only at 19h00. I miss her already - our house is not a home when she isn't here.

This morning I did the weekly weigh-in (table at the bottom of this post) and then went to the doctor at 08h00 for my next test. He confirmed that I had lost about 5kg, as well as 3cm around my waist. He also checked my eyes and glands, I assume to make sure that the weight loss is not related to anything untoward. Then it was off to the pathologist for blood tests, the result of which I'll find out about during the course of next week.

Root beer? More like biofuel!

After some breakfast I went to a technology and gadget expo, but when I refused to let the security people put a sticker on my camera (as if!), I was denied entry. So much for that plan. So I rode out on the Hartebeespoort road to a country shop called Home of the Chicken Pie because I had heard that they sell a locally made root beer there.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I love root beer, but it is not easy to get in this country. In any case, the shop does sell the stuff. It is made in KwaZulu-Natal. Naturally, I bought some. There is nothing like good root beer, and this was nothing like good root beer. It was probably one of the most vile beverages I have ever had the displeasure of tasting. South Africa cannot compete with America when it comes to root beer - the stuff tastes like petrol!

I got home just in time to receive a call from the minister, who had just checked into her hotel in Auckland (it was 22h45 there and 12h45 here). She had a good flight (via Sydney) and sounded very excited to be there. She departs for Palmerston North at 09h00 tomorrow morning, which will be 23h00 tonight, South African time.

I spent much of the afternoon in the garden - it has needed some work for a while now. With some of the rose bushes still in bloom despite winter knocking on the door, I did take the opportunity to take some photos, the results of which you can see on my flickr page. The plan for tomorrow is to continue working on the house. I'd like the study to be painted and some work done on the other rooms by the time the minister comes back home.

5 January: 85.7kg
12 January: 84.5kg (1.2kg loss)
19 January: 84.7kg (0.2kg gain)
26 January: 84.1kg (0.6kg loss)
2 February: 83.9kg (0.2kg loss)
9 February: 83.1kg (0.8kg loss)
16 February: 82.5kg (0.6kg loss)
23 February: 82.1kg (0.4kg loss)
1 March: 81.8kg (0.3kg loss)
8 March: 81.7kg (0.1kg loss)
15 March: 81.1kg (0.6kg loss)
22 March: [no weigh-in]
29 March: 80.7kg (0.4kg loss since 15 March)
5 April: [no weigh-in]
12 April: 81.3kg (0.6 kg gain since 29 March)
19 April: 80.4kg (0.9kg loss)

Total loss: 5.3kg

Difference from target (82kg): -1.6kg

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Dog Fight

Don't let the title of this post mislead you - the minister of home affairs and I were not embroiled in a conflict! We took our cameras to the South African National Museum of Military History, otherwise known here as the "war museum" or "military museum".

Both of us have so far concentrated on nature photography, so we wanted to challenge ourselves a little and see if we could take decent photographs of something different to what we are accustomed. War is pretty much the opposite of nature - the one is creation, the other is destruction - so we really jumped into the deep end.

I'm not sure I met the challenge properly, although I did get one or two more or less interesting shots. I put a whole lot on my flickr page (link on the sidebar on the right of this page) purely for the historical interest. I think as far as non-nature photography goes, I have much to learn. Practice makes perfect, though.

Photography aside, the museum is a fascinating place and well worth the visit. I'd recommend it unhesitatingly. Some of the things on display leave one wondering where on earth the museum acquired them. There are items from many wars in which South Africa has participated, including both Boer Wars (1880-1881 and 1899-1902), World War I (1914-1918), World War II (1939-1945), and the Border Conflict (1975-1989).

There are also artefacts from earlier periods, including uniforms, weapons, vehicles and so on. The display of swords from as early as the 1600s is also impressive.

If you can do so, go for a visit. At R22 per adult, it is worth it.

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What talent do you have that you wish more people would recognise?

I don't know really. I suppose my photography - I would not mind being able to get enough recognition to make at least a little bit of pocket money from it!

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The minister of home affairs and I took advantage of the Easter weekend to spend some time with my family down in the Eastern Cape province. As money is a little tight at the moment, we decided to drive down.

Being the avid statistics collector that I am, here are some of the details.

Gentle Surf

The road distance from our house to my parents' house in Chintsa East (near East London) is 995.5km. On the return trip we left Chintsa East at 01:57 and got back home at 13:15. The average moving speed was 99km/h and we stopped for a grand total of one hour and 16 minutes. Actual travelling time was 10 hours and two minutes. That's a bit better than the trip down, which took 10 hours and 18 minutes actual travelling.

We had a great weekend. We left Johannesburg on Friday morning at 01:30 and arrived in Chintsa East at lunchtime. The weather going down was awful - a lot of heavy rain - but for the rest of the weekend we experienced lovely weather.

It was so nice to spend some time with everyone (and to take photos of the beach and my parents' lovely garden).

We left yesterday morning, at, as I say, 01:57.

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One of my photos on flickr cracked the nod this weekend. It appears the photo of the rose, which I also posted here last week, featured on flickr's "Explore" page for "last 7 days".

Whoohoo!

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Is your lens edible?

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Panasonic-lumix-fz50

I am truly excited - partially because the timing is perfect, as the minister of home affairs and I are going to the Johannesburg Zoo tomorrow. So look out for some animal pics on the blog next week!

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I have entered three photos in a local competition and I'd really appreciate votes. I am not telling you what score to give - just asking for an honest vote. So please vote on my pics - 1, 2, 3.

Thank you!

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