Some (nearly) end of year admin I'm going to take a bit of break from blogging for the next week or so. But obviously, you won't know that unless you've read this, because I'm going to pre-write some posts. Maybe that's already been happening for a while, but you didn't notice. Anyway... There are…

Happy Day Whatever your plans today. Wherever you are. Whatever you believe. I hope you have a nice day. I mean, I hope you have a nice day on all the other days as well. It's just that apparently for a lot of people, this one is a bit of a biggie.

Driving home I prewrote a post for today. I prewrote it at about lunchtime on Monday 22nd. I... er... I won't be continuing with that post now, because about an hour after I hit the SCHEDULE button, this sad news broke. British singer Chris Rea, known for hits including the Yuletide classic…

A Chilli cop-out Yeah, I'm going to admit it. I'm a bit chilli sauced out, and so I'm cheating a bit with my SmokedOke chilli sauce advent calendar review. Two days still to go (I haven't opened today's yet), and we'll surely get to them at some stage, but wow - I'm actually a bit overwhelmed.…

Foolish Fortnight Yeah. Ke Dezemba in ZA and we all know what that means. But the revelry it brings isn't new and it certainly isn't exclusive to South Africa. Kegeesh Ommidjagh - the foolish fortnight - begins (began?) on Oie'l Thomase Doo (Black Thomas' Eve) (that was 21st December) on the Isle…

That advert, though OK. Brace yourselves. Here comes a shock announcement. I went to the cinema. Yep. First time in several (or more) years, simply because it's not my thing (and it's expensive, and full of people on cellphones and people talking through the good bits of the movie, all of which…

It’s beginning to look… ... a lot a bit like Christmas. Of course, it never really feels like Christmas here, because it's usually somewhere around 30oC - this year is actually forecast to be 28oC - which negates the snowy scenes, cosy fireplaces and roasting chestnuts therein. But the local…

Sorry for your loss… ...but this is sum play on words. Very nice. The number of times I've thought about doing a blog post with this, I just add to. More tomorrow. (Words, not necessarily quality.)

Olive Seen once before here but still a pretty elusive visitor to the back garden: an Olive Woodpecker (Dendropicos griseocephalus). Never easy to shoot (just look at that post I linked to above), because they are so agile and so ready to slip around a tree trunk or branch just as you are getting…

The weekend that was I've finally recovered enough to share a few images and a few words about a great weekend away near Montagu. Yeah yeah, the place says Robertson, and it's probably closer to Robertson as the crow flies, but cars and people can't fly (yet), and so Montagu is the town of choice…

Jaded It was an amazing weekend away, but it's also that time of year and I am looking forward to an early night after several days of indulgence. Last night was a lot of fun too, but I am feeling partied out. I have looked at some of the pics from the last few days and yes, we had a great time.

Veni, vidi, vici Heading back home to Cape Town today. There's an end of year footy dinner to get to. What a weekend. I came, I saw, I conquered. OK, maybe not completely on the last one, but there was some braai'ing. And I'm sure that counts. Of course, that's the English translation of the words…

Dollar Dollar bills, y’all Well, more like "Rand Rand banknoot, almal", but still. Inflation being what it is, and the economy being what it is, people are always on the lookout for ways to earn a bit of extra cash. Especially in South Africa. Thankfully, I've seen a couple of adverts for…

Fake courtesy No-one ever reads the bits at the beginning and end of your emails. And yet, if you don't include them, suddenly the whole thing suddenly sounds a bit rude and impersonal. That's because email conventions have led to us expecting to see alleged "courtesy", even when we don't…

Away again – Klein Karoo edition Not Sheffield United (although we are), but us. Away with friends for a long weekend out towards the Klein Karoo. It's a remote farmhouse up in the hills that I visited with other friends about 18 months ago. That was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to…

The SmokedOke Advent Calendar Update As mentioned here (now with an improved photo because I finally got my lens back from my daughter). And here. So what have the last few days brought us? Olive Chili Tapenade - I'm glad that this said "chili", because I wasn't 100% sure. A salty, smoked olive…

The R318 Heading out this way again soon. It's an epic road with some epic landscape surrounding it. It's going to be 38oC the day before we go. The last time we were out there, it was much nearer 38oF. Here are those trees from above: This time, I'm hoping for some fun in the sun. And I think…

Wish you were here? I love a good storm. And there's a really good storm over the British Isles at the moment. I've had the Isle of Man webcams open on my second monitor, and while it's amazing to watch the Irish Sea doing its thing as we approach high tide: I'm missing the noise and the smell and…

It’s all gone a bit Eskom I was trying to top up with electricity this afternoon. Most of South Africa operates on pre-paid meters, and so it's very easy to buy units from shops, but it's even easier to buy it online from your banking app. Except when it's not. Because, shockingly (no pun…

Human to Human Rabies Transmission Come for the unusual medical case study, stay for the line about the skunk. Yeah - this is an unfortunate case of human to human transmission of rabies via a kidney transplant, resulting in the death of the recipient. (The donor was obviously already dead, but…

Are we back? Five games unbeaten, 13 goals in the last four. It does feel a bit better. This was a very pleasant 90 minutes. Almost unexpectedly so. But I'll take it. Right... back to Stranger Things - still catching up. No spoilers, please.

Worth a watch This is about Nelson Mandela Bay (Gqeberha), but there's no shortage pf poachers around Cape Agulhas and Cape Town. They are very well funded, and treat the coastline and the law with complete impunity. And, because of SA's issues with poverty, even when a poacher pops his clogs and…

Hot stuff – an early report I'm not sponsored by this guy. Hey, I'm not sponsored by anyone, but if you want to give me some money, please just let me know. But... I did get this advent calendar, and I have now opened 4 (four) boxes. So how's it gone so far? Pretty well. Day 1: Chimichurri - I'm…

Good run Managing expectations is an important skill in any business. Always aim to under promise and over deliver. Get that the wrong way around (and I'm constantly fighting with companies that do), and no-one is going to be very impressed. Me. I'm one of those people. So this was ostensibly just…

Apologies There were plans for a nice big blog post today. But then suddenly, there was some impromptu horseriding (not me), and then I accidently lit a braai and opened a bottle of red wine. And suddenly it's 9 o'clock. And now I want to settle down and watch some Premier League footy. So, let's…

Best deal? I think we did ok on Black Friday. It was fortunate timing for replacing items after this. But we don't splurge. We select the deals which work for us, and we use the opportunity of a discount to purchase things we were going to get anyway. Except, well... There was this on Simonsig's…

Advent I'm usually the one that organises the advent calendars for the rest of the family. And I did that again this year. What a great excuse to enjoy some chocolate. This year, one got organised for me, too: It's from smokedoke.co.za, and it's a mixture of chili sauces and condiments: one each…

Is this a message? Long day. Good day. Lots of fun around the braai and watching a bit of sport. No win for a racehorse, nice win for United, big win for South Africa in the rugby. Eben Etzebeth remains a complete twat. (Was there ever any doubt?) But despite those positives, it does seem like the…

If you never try, you’ll never know… Indeed: The mantra "If you never try, you will never know" captures the spirit of exploration, growth, and fulfilment. It encourages us to "break free from the shackles of fear", step into the unknown, and embrace the opportunities that await. Wow. They make it…

Roll This is equal parts dull and mesmerising. It's a guy rolling a tyre down a hill, which is ostensibly very boring, but weirdly, you get drawn into the video and you want to travel with the tyre, down the mountain. Where will it go? Who will it meet? Will it survive? Amazing scenery, great…

Actually speechless So thank goodness I'm writing this down. Regular readers - yeah, plural because I'm an optimist - might recall that on Monday, I was wondering whether to stay up late for the football. I decided to be sensible and not to. But then circumstances took over anyway. Because sadly,…

Lighthouse Directory Oh wow. Remember when the internet used to be like this? Pure HTML. No fancy languages, scripts or tricks. Better still is that this site is still regularly updated, and it's all about lighthouses. I haven't had time to exhaustively search it just yet, but it does seem to bear…

Don’t be silly See, the issue is that aside from the December holiday/festive season marking the end of the year like up North, here in SA, it's also the summer holiday. So all of those fun times that you would normally have in summer in the UK (both days if you're lucky), and all of those fun…

A Grand Day Out This was nice to watch. I usually enjoy a bit of a contest when it comes to football, but the odd one-sided affair is always welcome: A messy, scrappy game, but sometimes it's more about the result than the performance, and a local derby is always one of those occasions. Happy days.

A good watch I downloaded a few videos to watch while I was away, and this one entertained me during some restful moments on the beach. I really enjoy Rory Sutherland stuff. I'm not a marketing person, so I don't know how relevant this sort of thing is in the day to day lives of actual marketing…

All the boxes ticked Spotted while we were away: plenty (or more) Phelsuma ornata. And while some other creatures' common names don't quite follow through on the description - a Koala Bear isn't bear, a King Cobra isn't a cobra, a Jellyfish isn't a fish etc etc - there can be no complaints here.…

Old Keane, New James Wow. It's like the 1990s and the early 2000s never went away, because: I dunno. But lying on a tropical beach overlooking the Indian Ocean took me back - way back - to our honeymoon several (or more) years ago. And I'd just got my first ever iPod, brought over from the UK by…

The journey back Wow. That was a great few days away. Lovely company, great place, amazing weather, superb service, friendly people. It had it all. But can I admit that I was rather disappointed with the flight back? Heading out to Mauritius, I went via Joburg and landed (pun intended) with my bum…

Rabbits I don't know why the weapons were taken away from rabbits at the end of the Middle Ages. I don't even know why they were given weapons to begin with. But that is a great image of a flying kick. For reference: The British Library describes manuscripts from the 14th century showing rabbits…

Capital tour I have absolutely no desire to visit America. The United States thereof, that is. I didn't have much desire to visit there before Captain Cheeto came along - maybe Monument Valley, and Washington State, but the rest of it: nah - and I have a good deal less now. Yeah, I'm sure that I'm…

Bum bum Warning: Juvenile post ahead!(As if you hadn't guessed from the title.) But seriously, Little Miss 6000 recently did her Grade 7 vocal exam. And the natural progression is now to Grade 8, although there's a consensus that there's not going to be too much hard work towards that in the…

Blue Flag I might be on a nice little island with some lovely beaches, but are any of them Blue Flag Beaches? Well, actually, no. While Mauritius is making efforts to achieve Blue Flag status for its beaches, and some beaches have the potential for it, there are no universally recognized Blue Flag…

Last time out I haven't been out here for 9 years. But I'm hoping that at least some things won't have changed. Like this: I'm not 100% sure what was in this particular cocktail, but I will have no issue in experimenting out here until I manage to get something like this shot again. Perhaps with a…

A travel day I'm away for a few days. Traveling all day today - well, the daytime hours, at least - for a few relaxing days away with Mrs 6000. Actually, she's already there, so there are plans for a romantic rendezvous on the west coast of a tropical island this evening. As for the blog, well…

Big Dreams My plan for the next little while (in conjunction with Little Miss 6000) is to find some more female artists or female-led bands to listen to. This because we've looked at or listening habits and discovered that we don't have many of those demographics in our most-listened to lists. I'm…

Terrifying dinosaur On our patio, nogal. OK. Not so terrifying. He's a Cape Skink (Trachylepis capensis) and he's completely harmless. Not uncommon around here wither. You may remember them from previous posts on 6000 miles... We have a family of them living in the back garden, and with the warmer…

Boat Race No. Not that one (although it does get a mention). I'm talking about the annual boat race between the football clubs of Sevilla and Real Betis. No, I hadn't heard of it either. But, thankfully, The Tim Traveller is there - once again - to help us out with a short, but entertaining and…

Early night Lady night was unpretty. And so in an effort to make tonight a little prettier, I'm going to make the process start a whole lot earlier. Night night. (It's 6:47pm.)

The chances of… The chances of being attacked by a carefully concealed Hadeda in your back garden are small... ...but they're never zero.

Boring Fund OK, so this one is only for UK readers, but I do like the idea, and I'm sure if something similar were set up here in SA, it would be massively oversubscribed hugely popular. And yes, I was drawn in by the bright colours and the beagle. It's a sidearm of Christina Poulton's business,…