Blog
Approaching mid-Winter’s Day
As the days shorten further, I cannot help thinking of Frank Hurley's exquisite photograph on 21 June 1915 of the ship Endurance beset in the Weddell Sea pack ice. Hurley illuminated the ship with 36 lanterns, the resulting image is haunting with the frost rime...
Road tripping, fishing and wildlife
The four talks I referred to in my previous blog included two in Stellenbosch, one at Boschendal and one at Vergelegen. On Dennehof Wine Estate a close friend hosted his wife's birthday party on the verandah of their home, overlooking the mountains. In terms of...
Road tripping in April
The past week has been busy and wonderful. GIBS (Gordon Institute Business School) in Johannesburg contacted me with 36 hours notice, requesting a presentation. Sadly, given other travel commitments, driving to Illovo was out of the question, so we shared the 90...
The tide continues to turn
Being a firm believer in dates/numbers/coincidences, it is particularly symbolic for me having worked my last day on a ship in Antarctica on 16 March 2020, that I presented live to the BizNews Conference delegates and partners at Champagne Sports Resort on 16 March...
The tide is turning
It is difficult to conceive that 11 months on from National Lock down on 26 March 2020, our tiny business survives and feels strongly that the tide is turning. What a significant time and mighty relief for us, acutely mindful that so many are struggling desperately...
Engaging Online Storytelling
In March last year I returned from 6 weeks in Antarctica to learn that ALL work for the remainder of 2020 had been cancelled on account of hitherto unknown Corona virus. It was clearly evident that live presentations and storytelling were going to be out of the...
Missions and more
November in the Midlands was a particularly wet month, thankfully, and December looks similar in many ways. What a joy to see the countryside green, rivers flowing strongly and most dams full. This week we had the opportunity to take a Trappist Missions tour, and look...
Keeping the flame alight
In my previous blog, I wrote of road tripping to Cape Town, along with trips to battlefields, Manyoni Rhino Reserve and the like. We love travelling, and this month were fortunate enough to take dear friends to their timeshare at Hazyview and enjoy some time in the...
October musings
It is often said that if one enjoys your job, you never work a day in your life? I certainly love my chosen vocation, and never cease to be amazed by the variety and challenges it presents. Clients engaged me to join them at Manyoni Rhino Reserve to share a story...
Hope Springs eternal
Traditionally in the Southern Hemisphere, Spring began on 1 September. Thirty years ago farmers in the KZN Midlands were planting maize by mid-September after the first rains. Climate change has seen the seasons retarded by 4-6 weeks, and indeed the Midlands is...
We can travel again…
No doubting Lock-down has been a challenging time for almost all South Africans. Perhaps less so for government officials, seen attending funerals puffing cigarettes, and others who have been on full salary, but for most of us a very difficult time. The President's...
Lock down extensions and so forth
The recent winds and subsequent movements of the grasses have given me much food for thought. The veld grasses in front of our home swirl and wave in the wind, rather like velvet. Metaphorically I think about our government, swirling and waving in the face of this...
The Passage of Time
Today marks 100 days since the first Covid-positive case returned to South Africa from Europe, and what a time it has been. Not only for South Africa, but for much of the world. It is often said that Time means little to a fence post, but a great deal to a human...
With frost, some Freedom beckons
I took a long walk early this morning, grateful that I am able to walk unassisted after my motorbike crash a year ago, and importantly to reflect on quite where we are at. I love the cold, and walking in a white, frosty environment this morning did my soul no end of...
Come what May
Thank Heavens for late season rains over much of the country - let us hope they assist in producing bumper maize and cereal crops. We are going to need them. Zimbabwe even moreso. With self-isolation after my Antarctica/Argentina/Chile trips in February and March...
Video making for beginners
Corona virus has forced so many of us to reconsider our vocations, or at least how we fulfill them. Our computer expert son takes delight in telling us that we are technological dinosaurs. We were clearly born BC - Before Computers. As a result the very notion of...
Lock down versus Open up
In these most bizarre times of our generation, there is much to ponder. One of my very special friends from Army days, now living in Nelspruit, suffered a life-threatening motor vehicle accident some 15 years back. His brother's health has collapsed completely...
Strange times we are living in
A little over 6 weeks ago I left home, on two wildly exciting voyages which included Chilean Fjordland and Antarctica. Coronavirus had just been announced in China, but who would have imagined how this virus was about to change global dynamics. In the interim...
Life’s great surprises
Today finds us in Puerto Montt in Chile, and I am taking a moment to reflect on this journey thus far and take stock - something I have been unable to do hitherto. The schedule has been full, with meetings, crew drills, induction training, online training, deck time...
Punta Arenas, Chile ~ 17 February 2020
After a wonderful overnight stop in Ushuaia, and glorious transit along the Beagle Channel (Glacier Alley) then Magellan Strait we stopped early this morning at Punta Arenas “Sandy Point” in Chile. Glacier Alley is extraordinary in having glaciers running down to the...
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