Mr Fish!

I first have to tell you about the ‘Mr Fish’ otherwise you will wonder? And you will? …won’t you??

Now we all grow up with challenges in our lives and some we accept and others we deny. But when we have something that is in our minds, maybe a push-over challenge or just a lump of ladder then we belittle them like calling the pig just a piggie? Are you sure you want to call Mister pink belly just a pig?? Or do you first want to catch and control Mr pink… and then assess again before he whips your ass into pignalation!!

In a movie (and on stage recently) I was amazed by Mr Pig (aka Pumba) as I feel the same by calling the ‘Fish’ just another hike…The fish…should be called : Mr Fish!

The Fish River Canyon is not a day trip. 90Km’s of water, rock, sand, stone and blistering heat!!

Another fact that they happen to forget or not to mention is that it has claimed so many lives! But what a spiritual experience it turned out to be none the less, here we go:

Day one

It took us about 3 hours to climb to the bottom of the Canyon as one of our members was ill.

We had a relaxing swim in the river at the “Start” point and this was seen as lunch.

We only progressed another 2km as half the group was tired from the long hall down the Canyon and we were concerned that we might not find a suitable area to camp again before dark ascended upon us.

Our first night was at “First Rest Pools” and the name was fitting to the occasion!

Day two

This day took us to just passed the 10km mark so we took it as 12km in the first two days and started getting worried (slow going)! Especially when a group of people come hiking passed you and they are doing the hike in 6 days and not 5 like our selves!

It must be said that the river was very high indeed which forst us to do some boulder pioneering on the edge of the gorge and really slowed things down.

Another miss jugment was not crossing the river in time to take the first ‘important’ inside bend at “Wild Fig Bend”.

Day three

At this point we realised that we would be playing ‘catch-up’ from now on and woke up just before the sun rose and ended up having breakfast at “Palm Springs”.

We kept the pace aggressive and it would be the last time that we would see the ‘six day hikers’ but met with a new group of ‘Poms’ that were doing it in 4 days but started a day later than our selves which put them on the ball park with us! Gave us (me) some hope at that stage.

We had lunch (our last official lunch) break at “Reef xxxxxxxxxxx” and it was definitely one of thee greatest highlights of the Fish as it was a smooth rock embankment with lots of water and son. Here we played, washed and ate to our hearts content which I believe gave us the energy to press on with vigor!

We ended up at “Table Mountain” after a sand storm or two with the Pom’s about a K infront of us, we thought we had done about 18km and were at 30km in total.

Day Four

Realising we had 60km to do in 2 days we woke up in the dark and started packing! Breakfast was consumed along the way…

We pushed on well and kept an eagles eye out for our first short cut, we found it after a ten minute lunch ‘loop en sook’ and we took it! It is high so if you have a phobia of heights maybe ‘klapping a toon’ is better! There after we hit the second short cut soon afterwards and we took it with all eagerness! This one was a long shorty though and as much as we wanted to get passed “Four Finger Rock” we ended up at its base! We however saw the Brits summit this before sunset and knew they were still just a spit away.

Day 5

We knew that we had a bigger day than the day before ahead of us and the nerves were apparent and the tempers were flaring! But what held us together was the fact that we had come so far together and there was only one fifth left for us.

We passed the Causeway still in the morning and felt good about the road ahead, things got better when one of our leading hikers saw a “unofficial short cut” and we took it to our advantage!

We came out at the final “Official” short cut where we had a rest/lunch and then had our last Boulder climbing session of the hike just after the river crossing.

We were soon passed “Stock Kraal” and wisped passed the 80km mark with a tight left hander which brought us up to “Almost There”.

The last five kilometers were not tuff exept that the sand is soft and deep and that you think you are a spit away as the pipes to the resort from the river start just after your final river crossing! It was a long last 5km!!!!

 

The Power of Wireless

We all share the frustration with wires running to and fro from all our latest gadgets at home and the office. That’s why most of us have forked out the extra buck for a wireless mouse, keyboard, modem and network just to mention a few. There is nothing more unsightly than wires drooping out the back of your desk or workstation, especially if they are not cable-tied.

If I take my desk at home there are still a lot of cables hanging around the unfriendly neighbourhood of my feet. My ‘wireless’ mouse and keyboard still need batteries to operate and they both work off a base station that is wired in any rate! My modem still needs power as well as the router with individual transformers, so they are still ugly wireless objects. Then there is still a printer, camera station, GPS connector, monitor, speakers, earphones…I think you get the point…cable tiers nightmare!

The biggest, fattest, ugliest cable of them all (other than the monitors serial) is still the power cable to the computer it self. Any power cable is a nasty thing especially as mentioned above when it is accompanied by a transformer. So how about we just get our power from out of space!! Now that you are imbued with aching stomach muscles I just need to reiterate…lets get our sparks from the heavens and lets toss those ankle tapers in the bin (recycle bin if you have in your country).

There are two things that can make this a reality: a microwave and a crystal glass!
Well not quite but almost, let me explain. David Criswell (University of Houston) has spoken about sending electricity to earth via microwave. All that you would need is a lot of solar panels on the moon that will catch the rays and transmit it to earth, a few thousand receivers here and a rectennae to convert it to electricity and we’re set to go.

So how do we get the shocker to charge our laptops, cell phones and electric toothbrush wirelessly? Simple, with the crystal glass of course! Its called non-radiative energy transfer. If we all know what electromagnetism is then we are at a good start, the problem with it though is that it emits energy in all directions and the other coil needs to be very close for it to receive the electric charge. With non-radiative energy however it is transferred in resonance to another unit by using the resonance of its own coils to transfer more directly to another coil with the same resonance. Almost like a crystal class being twined and making the other glasses of same shape and disposition vibrate around it, hit the right pitch and they all shatter together! In this all the units with the same coil resonance will not shatter but receive a direct electric charge, with no wires attached.

Obviously they are still trying to increase the range of this but it is already sitting at over 5 meters. So lets all go down to our local store and get us one of these non-radiative energy kits hey? Not for the next few years I guess…we will have to face those revolting wires just a tad longer.

 

Jack!

What is this I feel?
In reality sinking fast
My feelings, emotions don’t deal
I see the room at last

Creaking floor
Tainted smell
Within my heart I claw
Climbing an anxious well

Seeing him I freeze
Who is this, is it he
Clothed in masqueraded frenzies
Those eyes well as may be me!

Inside I cry with no shame
I stand brave within domain
This man has no blame
He looks within, there is pain

I shuffle to see if he can see
My insides bleed to be conceived
Within a mask he looks at me
I see a beauty not believed

Stop Starring!
Stop Starring!
Love to all you bring
You are a true feeling

Now that day has past
You rip my heart apart
The tears of joy that you cast
And to the majestic “jy moet praat”

Remain the soul not the face
As in interlace we must give thanks
You will rise up in grace
As always in person you hold ranks

As the water speaks so do you
I know you’ll watch our through
You are one of future true
Our best confidante dear Jack is true