When everything goes wrong....

I was watching how the Springboks got a beating by the Scots yesterday and decided to go take a walk in the garden to see if could find something to distract my mind from what I would think is nothing but a humiliation. I am a Bok supporter, but when they play like they did yesterday then I don't want them to lose by 3 or 5 points, I want them to be thrashed completely. Maybe then they will wake up. But then again, so what if they lose, life is not about winning and losing for me. Besides, in a week's time yesterday's beating would've been forgotten in any case. And at the rate they are playing one game after the other, I can image that at some point they will have to lose as well. But well done to Scotland's team, they showed character yesterday after their previous game against New Zealand. I can image how they must've felt after the game. very pleased with themselves. And they obviously deserved it. Let's see if the Boks can feel the same next weekend.

Anyway, to make matters worse, when I walked in the garden I saw the bright orange sky and decided that I would feel much better if I could drive down to the beach quickly and maybe get a good picture of the sunset. At least this would give me something to feel good about about, seeing that the Boks didn't allow me that pleasure. By the time I got my camera and got to the beach, needless to say the bright orange had also disappeared, leaving me with a bleak orange that was comparable to the Boks' bleak performance. I took some pictures nevertheless, but when I looked at them on my laptop I decided that a black and white version would do it more justice. So let's just keep it gloomy, seeing that nothing else was going my way yesterday...

Aberdeen Beach

You never know your luck in a small town in Scotland...!!!

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Solstice in Northeastern Scotland

Yesterday it was the longests day and shortest night in the northern hemisphere. I happen to be in Scotland at the moment, and probably the first time in my life that I have been on such a hight lattitude during any solstice. Aberdeen is lying on the 57 degree N lattitude, making the day much longer than it it is experienced in Cape Town during the December solstice. My "chum" took me for a long forest walk after work, and even though the route took us on a 10km track in the "wild", it was still light by the time we returned home. As a matter of fact when I went to bed last night just after midnight it still felt like someone had forgotten to turn of the light. This morning at 5 when I woke up the sun was shining again. It feels like someone has stolen my night from me, but at least I got my bit of sleep in.

We took a stroll through the Gartly Moor Forest which is a couple of kilometres (or miles as they prefer to use in Scotland) from Insch. I was amazed by the tranquility of the forest. Being a commercial planted forest this is obviously not really in the wild, and the only wildlife we encountered was a little field mouse which my friend had mistaken for a baby hedgehog. He obviously does not see much wildlife in Scotland. I have to admit, it didn't look much like the mice we have in South Africa, and the poor little thing didn't even run away. But what is there to run away from in such a beautiful forest anyway...except kestrels maybe. No matter the type of wildlife, Scotland is beautiful and I hope to post more pictures soon.