Smoke On The Water

Fire In The Sky


Wow the symphony of fire was really HAWSOME.

We met my family (extended) at the power boat club at around 19:00 after fighting our way through unbelievable traffic and almost impossible parking. We had to act quickly as the tide was going out and the boat wouldn't be able to get out of the harbor during the spring low. The problem was that my parents hadn't quite arrived yet. It was touch and go for a few moments but eventually they arrived and we got under way.

The weather was really great, nice and warm and almost zero wind. We anchored our boat and started the drinking and snacking. Only problem was that nobody had brought any drinks. Through a comedy of errors everybody thought they were bringing the food and the others were bringing the drinks. The snacks were great by the way. We managed to barter some of our excellent snacks for a few cans of cool drink and I had brought four mini bottles of champagne so in the end we got sorted out. Then the pyro show started.

ZOMFG!!!!!

We couldn't hear the music and out vantage point wasn't the best (we were kinda looking at the side of the show so a lot of the effects were hidden behind others) but being out on the open water with loved ones made it all worth while. It was so cool

I took hundreds of pictures, but the long shutter speed required didn't exactly sync well with the motion of the ocean and the overlapping of effects didn't help either. Still, a couple of shots came out really nicely. I personally think that one of my best was when I used the flash which filled the foreground and still captured the fireworks in the background, the foreground was my cousin and her boyfriend sitting on the bow of the boat cuddling while watching the show. It was just perfect, my depth of field was just right and everything was in focus, I even managed to keep the camera still for the 40th of a second the shutter was up and the framing was decent too. The only problem is that my cousin's damn thong is showing something mad and ruins an otherwise technically perfect shot. Total bummer (pun unintentional).



The show lasted for 30 min and got so loud at the end that my ears were ringing, I think we floated closer during the show, so close that the smell of explosives was overpowering. Afterwards we generally floated a bit and had a mini party.

The tide was still to low to take the boat out of the water but lucky my uncle had thought ahead and booked a berth at a fancy floating caravan park.


Here are some of the fancy floating caravans



I'm not joking, it's just like a caravan park, there's a place when you plug you floating caravan in and ablution blocks and everything. The only difference is that the ablution blocks have 2ply tp.

I had great fun and even as I sit and type this it feels like I'm swaying back and forth. It's weird and making me feel kinda sick actually.

IN THE NEWS

The judge in JZ's rape trial says that he can not kick the case out, he has stated that according to the evidence presented JZ will be found guilty if the defense does not put forward a convincing case. In light of the fact the the defense has played almost every card available to them this bodes not well for the exc-dep-prez.

This article reads more like a resume for bachelor number one than a description of the new director general of the NIA. It's kinda weird that they think the fact that he like whiskey and golf are hard hitting news.

In a wild turnaround Cosatu has spoken out in support of Helen Zille's halt on awarding contracts for the 2010 stadium. But Cosatu is famous for changing their minds, especially on the matter of their support for JZ. When you consider that the total bill for the 2010 event is going to be well over R250Bl or roughly half the entire countries governmental budget you've got to ask if we can really afford it.

I don't normally quote whole news stories but this one I just have to.

Berlin - German police discovered a truant teenager at home in bed with her boyfriend after a neighbour spotted a man climbing into her window and reported a burglary, authorities said on Wednesday.

Thinking he had witnessed a break-in, the neighbour called police, who sped towards the would-be crime scene with their siren blaring.

When officers arrived, the girl's mother told them the room belonged to her 15-year-old daughter who was at school.

Further investigation revealed the mother was wrong.

"She wasn't looking at school books, she was in bed with her boyfriend and was presumably learning something else," Frankfurt police said in a statement.

"Further investigation revealed the mother was wrong." and "presumably learning something else" are just priceless lines.

WELL THAT'S ALL

You've had enough pictures and I haven't seen any movies lately so all I'm going to do is remind you to vote for your favorite contest and the leave. Vote for your favorite, at the moment two of the contenders are exactly even with a rather significant portion of the votes, only you guys can change the outcome. Send me your votes.

schpat out.