Foto Friday

It's time for another Friday, time for another photo.

Another new photo too. This was taken last Sunday in central London. It is Chinese New Year, the Year of the Pig. My year!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

More about me... A-Z version..

I got tagged by friend Isi while I was on holiday. Here goes

A - Available/Single or Taken?...
.... taken
B - Best Friend?...
.... my mate, Chris, who I see every 5 years or so.
C - Cake or pie?...
......pie, unless it's carrot cake
D - Drink Of Choice?...
.....coffee for the mornings, red wine for the evening
E – Essential Item You Use Everyday?...
....my computer and internet...
F - Favourite Color?...
... Blue
G - Gummy Bears or Worms?...
....given the choice, definitely gummy bears.
H - Hometown?...
... Mmmmmm, born in Port Elizabeth, grew up in George, both in South Africa. Been living in London for 10 years now. Also lived in Italy for 3 years, Greece for 6 months and Israel for 4 months
I - Indulgence?...
.... mountain biking and mtb gadgets and magazines.
J - January or February?...
.......February - I'm always broke in January! No fun!
K - Kids & Their Names?...
..... 2 boys. Nicholas and Joshua.
L - Life is Incomplete Without?...
...Deb
M - Marriage date?...
... not married
N - Number of Siblings?...
......2 younger brothers.
O - Oranges or Apples?...
.... Apples
P - Phobias/Fears?...
.... Heights. Give me sweaty palms. Even now just talking about it!
Q - Favourite (movie) Quote?...
...... "You can't handle the truth" (Do you know the movie?)
R - Reason to Smile?...
....I'm always smiling. Ask any of my friends.
S - Season? Spring or Fall?...
...... Spring, I love spring.The expectation of warmer weather. More mountain biking. Days at the beach.
T - Tag 2 people?...
... Tag yourselves - I'm not that mean!
U - Unknown Fact About Me?...
... I have never broken a bone in my body
V - Vegetable you don’t like?...
.... I dislike brussel sprouts. With a passion!
W - Worst Habit?...
....Ignoring people while watching TV. And watching TV is a pretty bad habit too!
X - X-rays You’ve Had?...
... Wisdom teeth, ankle (sprained not broken)
Y - Your Favorite Food?...
... Anything Italian. Pizza, pasta, wine. And I also have a soft spot for seafood
Z – Zodiac sign?
... Pisces

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

Back to photo Friday, finally.

This week's photo was taken in South Africa at the beginning of this month. It was taken in Camps Bay, Cape Town at sunset.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Swimming with sharks

While in South Africa, I decided that I wanted to do a shark dive. You know, when they put you in a cage, chuck you overboard and then chum the seas with blood and guts to cause a feeding frenzy whilst Great Whites circle the boat.

Anyway, I made a few calls and asked around. The price had risen from R45 (about £3.80) when my brother did it 3 years ago to R1200. Now that's inflation! And apparently, there's no guarantee that you'll even see a shark. A bit harsh I thought.

So when we stopped in at the 2 Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town and they offered a chance to dive with their Raggies (Ragged Tooth Sharks) for a mere R450, I jumped at the opportunity.

I arrived at 11am in Wednesday morning. We were read the riot act (no touching the sharks or rays, no scratching the aquarium windows), signed away our lives and then kitted-up on the aquarium roof. Iain, our Scottish instructor, lead the way. He also held our only means of defense, a 2 foot long, wooden pole - "for pushing the sharks away if they get a little hungry". GREAT!

We lowered ourselves gently into the water, not wanting to upset any of the inhabitants of the aptly named "Predator Tank". Sharks tend to attack things that are on the surface, so we had to be very careful.

Soon we were finning around the bottom of the tank with the greatest of ease while Iain kept a weary eye out for Bella, the 3.5m long 'mamma' of the tank. The fish were quite inquisitive and came right up to us. We were also sucked into entertaining the humans on the other side of the 11m glass wall. People waved, blew kisses and took photos of us as we swam past them. The loggerhead turtle kept looking for food as she glided by us. The musselcracker, yellowfin tuna and leervis couldn't have cared less.

Eventually our 40 minute session was up. We slowly made our way back up to the surface, keeping an eye on the 4 raggies.

What an experience! I definitely recommend it. And your money goes to a good cause, not some cash-greedy boat owner. Remember, sharks are also on the endangered list!
Getting out of Bella's way

"Smile for the birdie!"


PS: The son of the other diver in the tank with us spent 2 days at sea with a shark cage operator and saw nothing!
PPS: Bella and her mate, Billy, are soon to be released into the Indian Ocean.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Holiday snaps Part I

Hi all,

This is the first installment. As you can imagine, after a 3 week holiday there is quite a large amount of photos to sift through - 901 to be exact! (There were 3 of us taking photos and video!)

Anyway, Part I includes photos from our trip to Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape. It also includes a photo of the McNaught comet that y'all was boasting about (taken by yours truly).












Chat soon,
DelBoy

Braaivleis, rugby, sunny skies & wedding days *

Yep, we're back in the land of grey skies, jellied eels and warm beer after a fantastic three weeks in the land of milk and honey. Hope y'all didn't miss us too much.

Where to start?

Food: In our first week we braaied (BBQed) every day except for Saturday night when we had a potjie. We also pigged out on some delicious seafood while visiting Cape Town. Last Thursday, we enjoyed a scrumptious leg of Springbok and I think I managed to finish off about 15kilos of kudu biltong and droewors in the 3 weeks.

Rugby. What an overdose! Not like in the UK where you're lucky to squeeze a couple of games in between soccer matches. No! Last weekend I watched every single Super 14 game. Even the highlights of the games that were on during my brother's wedding! And I watched 2 of the 3 Six Nations matches too. And to top it all, the SWD Eagles managed to beat the Cheetahs convincingly and the Sharks are top of the Super 14 table!

The weather was magnificent! Our first day of rain was as we were leaving Jo'burg on Friday night. Other than that, it was between 20 and 40 degrees every day. I even got sunburnt - no, none of that Pom lobster look!

My brother's wedding was great too. We held it in my folk's back garden. The day was stinking hot, but the attire was casual, so no stuffy suits to sweat in. The wedding was at 11am after which we sat around drinking beer and champers in the sun. It ended up in another braai at my aunt's place, watching my team thump the Bulls. Told you it was a great day!

Photos will follow as soon as possible.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

* Misquoted from a very old TV ad in South Africa. If you remember this, you're probably about as young as me. ;-)

Time's up

Today is the day. Seven hours at work. Jump on the tube. Queue for 2 hours at Heathrow Airport. Show the nice man at customs my passport, then we're outta here.

You okes in SA had better be saving me some sunshine. I'm whiter than a mouse in a bag of flour.My skin, my mind, my body... all craving UV!

Bring it on!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

Today I'm going to post a few photos to make up for the next 3 weeks while I'm on holiday 'cos I'm not sure if I'll get to the net while I'm in South Africa.

And in keeping with the Africa/safari/animals theme, I thought I'd post some animal photos.

These were taken at the Melbourne Zoo last November.

Enjoy

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Sin City

Last night was our company Christmas party. Yes, you read right; Christmas party. Us hospitality types always have our Christmas do in the new year. This is actually quite early for us. Last year we had it in May!

The theme was Casino Royale, so the dress was pretty formal. Of course, I was dressed to the nines with a penguin suit (see photo below) and Deb wore a black dress and heels!

The night started off quietly. We got there early 'cos we had to leave early to let our poor baby-sitters go home. We had some delicious food and then hit the tables.

Deb managed to win quite quickly while it seemed that I couldn't do anything right. My first gamble was on roulette - 21 red. I won!! £350!! But it was downhill from there!

We then moved on to the poker table. Deb was straight into the cash, but my winnings dwindled quickly! I lost it all, but we still managed to walk away with £650. Now don't get too excited. The chips were only for play money so we actually had nothing.

By this time we were pretty thirsty so we headed back to the bar area for some more (free) drinks. The band started playing and by now everyone had let there hair down. We eventually dragged ourselves away at around 11.30pm.

Thanks to Isi & B for baby-sitting. Hope you're not too tired at work today!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

PS: Only 5 days left till I'm off on holiday!!

Foto Friday

It's photo time again. This week I have cheated a little. The photo was taken by Deb, but that's me on the right. I have had a play with the photo, making it B&W and fiddling with the colours a little.

The pic was taken in Perpignan in the South of France in January last year.

Chat soon
Del