Khaki isn’t Khaki

Khaki (the colour) isn’t khaki . . . well, it obviously is, but it wasn’t what I thought it was. You’re probably saying to yourself “okay . . . so what . . .?”. [Go to the bottom of the post for a “lesson” in Khaki!] The reason I’m amazed to discover this is that […]

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams

In 1989 Douglas Adams (of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame) was asked by the BBC to accompany zoologist and conservationist Mark Carwardine, on a series of conservation expeditions. Their task being to investigate some rare and endangered species. The result of this was a BBC radio series, and also one of my favourite […]

The Movie versus The Book

I so often hear people say they loved a book, but were horribly disappointed by the film adaptation. Or vice versa. That’s if they bothered to read the book after seeing the film. I feel differently about it. I have always loved movies, and very often saw the film adaptation before I read the book. […]

More about me

Sunshine in London gave me the task of answering some questions about myself. I thought it would take me a while to get around to doing it, but I actually found it was fun to do. Sunshine, I hope you find my answers interesting! 1. If you could have any superpower, which one would you […]

Boy A by Jonathan Trigell

I recently read Boy A by Jonathan Trigell. It is about a “young offender” in a similar case to the Jamie Bulger murder of 1993, in which two young boys tortured and killed a toddler. In Boy A the story starts with the title character being released from prison as a young adult. Although published […]

Kalahari Series #3 (Big Cats II)

I have posted another installment  of the Kalahari Series on the Notes from Africa photoblog. This installment is Kalahari: Big Cats II and features what is probably my favourite Big Cat, the leopard. Until our 2009 Kalahari trip we had not seen a whole leopard. We had seen bits of leopard sticking out from behind […]

Kalahari Series #2 (Big Cats I)

I have just posted the second of the Kalahari Series on the Notes from Africa photoblog. The second installment is Kalahari: Big Cats I and features the ultimate “Big Cat”, the lion. So if you like cats (and even if you don’t) check it out.

Kalahari Series #1 (Colours)

Today I posted the first of the Kalahari Series on the Notes from Africa photoblog. The first post is Kalahari: Colours and shows some photos of the landscape.  I did try and look for photos without animals in them, but it couldn’t be helped  I’m afraid. See if you can spot the lions etc! So […]

The Ultimate . . .

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been on the hunt for the Ultimate Cheesecake.  Before this there was the Ultimate Chocolate Cake, the Ultimate Carrot Cake (don’t know if this is a particularly South African thing, or whether it’s eaten elsewhere), the Ultimate Muffin etc . . . you get the picture. It […]

Bedtime stories

I was going through a really bad patch a while back, when I found it difficult to concentrate for any length of time. Reading was impossible – I kept re-reading the first chapter of any book I picked up. Watching television – unless it was a short programme – was also difficult. One day my […]