Blog takes a break, earth gets broken

You go away for a few weeks and look what happens. Libya explodes and Japan is devastated. All I did was travel around a few quiet places in Europe, seeing clients while in the meantime hell breaks loose. Try coming up with an investment strategy when the oil price goes ballistic and a tidal wave sets off a potential nuclear meltdown. It was good to get back to sunny Cape Town: late summer, with a return of the north-westerly wind. I went out early yesterday morning into perfect conditions. The full 'perigee' moon had tracked across the southern sky closer and bigger than for 18 years and not to be so close again for another 18. The tide was huge. Out back a number of paddle boarders had grouped in my favourite spot. On one wave one of these guys was up before me and tracked left instead of right (which was the way the wave was set to break). I stayed up and let him roll under my nose, checking slightly. Then with a quick pull on the paddle I picked up momentum again and turned out to the right, keeping the swell alive. I was so chuffed! The picture is of Ono-no Komachi, a famous Japanese poet of the 9th century. She is a symbol of feminine beauty in Japan. It came with a QSL from JOUB Akita heard on 774 kHz when I was on a trip to Seoul. Akita is situated on the north-west side of Honshu Island, 200km from Sendai. It experienced aftershocks of more than 6 on the Richter scale.