Chaos has been much on my mind the last few weeks. The devastation of the kitchen after I finished my share of the Christmas cooking, so unlike the neat and tidy kitchen Bearsy leaves!
I note that Araminta is in the middle of redecorations, and my daughter is having her kitchen re-done.
I looked at the bedroom after I pulled out all the boxes containing my ‘winter-wear’, a pile of electronic gadgets, and all the leads, chargers and other ‘junk’ to ensure that those essentials work in the UK.
So the theme for this competition is – Chaos. Deadline mid-night Saturday 4th February.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Ah an easy one; just about any where in my house should suffice! But perhaps we all should be looking further afield e.g. railway timetable, Houses of Parliament etc..
Interesting. Shame I have just put everything back in order since having the fridge freezer fitted….
I think I can find something suitable, Boadicea. I envisage chaos will be the theme for some time chez moi. 🙂
Here’s one from today.
The Wattage Workshop, or Project Man in Action. It’s usually messier than this.
that’s not chaos, LW. I bet you know exactly where everything is 🙂
I wish, it usually takes me twenty minutes to find the tools to do a five minute job.
AH!
I wonder if I could sneak into a teenager’s bedroom….both of the keep their rooms in a chaotic manner.
In order to provide LW with some company, I submit this entry. It was taken several years ago in Amboseli National Park in Kenya at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro. We were camping there and during the night it rained. And rained. A lot. It was impossible to see the track and it was not long before I had managed to get us stuck in a ditch. We were eventually rescued by a bunch of Masai tribesmen.
reminds me of a time the Range Rover in little African safari got stuck in a ditch….
I could win this hands down by going to the bottom of the garden and taking a snap of the pen creation grotto in it;s currently neglected state. I could, but I want El Dubya to take the triple. 🙂
Just to make up numbers, taken today, this is the middle of what was my dining room! I’m sure it will be fine when it’s finished. 😦
That ain’t chaos Minty MBE.
That is a craftsmans attention to detail. What a cracking bit of Oak panelling, looks like da real stuff too not the cheat stained MDF with strips of beading mitred to fit. The bod who did your cornice is an artist too.
Sipu!!!!!
Never mind Massai tribesmen, a bunch of Nonagenarian WI’s with terminal dissentry could have got that loose.
I have driven a defender through mud which was lapping over the windows, that minor puddle doesn’t even reach the wheel rim. I can only assume you are terminally gay.
Oh Furry One.
I fear you are right, although I have no idea what wood it is; I thought it was pine, but what do I know! It is most certainly not MDF, anyhoo.
These Victorians, although I’m not entirely sure what is original and what is not, knew there stuff, and so does my decorator. He’s a gem!
ahem, “knew their stuff. ”
Double bother!
Knew their stuff Minty MBE. 🙂
It might be antique pine looking at it.
Whatever it is, it is probably antique. I reckon we would have to take the wall down should we decide to remove it, but we won’t. It’s rather pleasing, I think.
It’s basically planks of wood with grooves cut in the edges which receive solid wood infil panels. In every case, the planks are attached to wood batons on the wall. Removal is a very simple process. Why anyone would want to however is beyond me. 🙂
Actually, I’m not sure.
Having removed the mantle above the fireplace, because we did consider opening up the fireplace in the dining room, it was not that simple. It had two enormous bolts which necessitated a serious amount of expense and re-plastering. Don’t want to go there again. We have the original plaster and lathe ceilings and walls and it is a bit tricky.
Ara’s photograph illustrates the problem with the topic for me: everywhere I think I see chaos I then see the order in the chaos – here for example Ara’s feeling of chaos is because her life has been turned upside down to allow in the decorators, whereas in reality there is strict order in the room, as pointed out by Ferret .
Even my sons’ bedroom floors have, I’m told a ‘system’ and that they know where everything is!
Nym.
Absolutely right, and not forgetting that this is just another phase of what really is organised chaos. We had the outside of the house done, followed by the kitchen and laundry, then the two front bedrooms and now the dining room.
And there is still a huge amount to do. We are moving things from room to room and it’s not going to end for some time. 😦
Ferret, you paint an interesting picture. I admit, it was not my most macho moment, but ‘terminally gay’ is over egging it. In my defence, it was not the depth of the water that was the problem, it was the depth of the mud under the surface. All four wheels were spinning and there was no purchase. Any way, here is another photo.
Minty MBE,
A mantel yes, that should have some serious fixings. But the panelling will be attached to batons. Now the batons on the other hand, they could well be anchored with extreme prejudice. Back in the day they built stuff to stay put.
Oh Sipu,
You know I’m only pulling your leg chum. But if there was enough gumption in the earth below the water to prevent the Landy from sinking then I’ll wager there was enough grip to get out under 4WD power alone. Did you select low range and all wheel drive? Did you try rocking the wagon or did you just plant your right boot, dump the clutch and hope for the best?
Yes Ferret, I know that you were ‘joshing’. I had to draw a fine line between admitting to be ‘terminally gay’ and to showing righteous indignation at such an aspersion. Either extreme might have lead to the wrong conclusion.
I/we (my mate and I) did indeed put it in Low Ratio, 4 WD and tried rocking, without any success. Here comes the embarrassing bit, after much fruitless pushing by the Masai, one of them eventually kicked me out of the driver’s seat. He put the engine back into high ratio, and 2nd or even 3rd gear and revved like hell.With mud flying everywhere, the Landie eventually emerged from the mud onto firmer ground. My mate, an ex Household Cavalry officer, i.e. a tank commander who should have known better, was behind the rear wheels and got covered in mud, head to foot. All you could see were his eyes. Not sure where the photo of that is.
As I say, it was not my most macho moment, but a memorable one.
Just in time, here is my go. I was encouraged to take this when I dropped a USB flash disc down the back of my computer desk.
🙂
Please accept this link to my photo for the competition
I chose the top picture. No the bottom picture. No the top one.
Oh, it’s so difficult. The top one is more visually appealing that the bottom one more chaotic!!!! So which to chose?
Final decision: Bottom one in my post as it is more chaotic … I think
Sipu: Your #26. Did your mate have anything to do with this?
LW, you got him in one!
My goodness, that is some cock up!
Sipu: Off roading in Afghanistan is not for the faint hearted. I notice no one has had the gonads to go and rescue the 50 caliber machine gun from it’s forward mount. It looks like an M1A1 Abrams at about $25 million a copy.
Hmm… I could post a picture of my flat. It’s not filthy, mind you, just terribly messy. I have books, books, books, and papers, papers, and paper. I have so much around that I can’t help but giving up. My bookshelf is overflowing with books. Every spare chair is stacked with books. My desk is stacked with books and papers.
This is reported to be Durban’s beach on New Years Day last month
(more pictures here)
I think that it’s a fine example of our theme this month, unfortunately it’s not my pic so not an entry, I have a subject in mind but haven’t been able to get there yet, only 2 days to go, must make a plan!
Hi Soutie, I saw that picture and read the commentary that went with it.
“If you had read the newspapers in the last few days..LIKE I DID.. 69 children were left behind, by the end of the week , 31 still had not found their parents..and all parents/adults had gone home to JHB.
9 bodies washed up in the week after new year..none were ever reported missing, and none have yet been identified.
The beach was so full of defecation.. that they had to plow it in to the beach rather than pick it all up.”
Now, I have no idea if any of that is true, but like those Nigerian 401 scams, I have a suspicion that it is bogus. My reason? The spelling of ‘plow’. That is not how it is spelled in this country. The person researching the newspapers would have almost certainly used the same spelling as in the articles, plough. I suspect that text was invented by somebody with an axe to grind.
Of course I could be wrong. Because, if you watch the video here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ0wA8mMWXg you might wonder whether or not there is an element of veracity in the claims made.
Whatever the truth, the sad fact remains, that Durban once a holiday resort to rival Surfer’s Paradise, is rapidly becoming a slum.
Morning Sipu
I too received the ‘facts’ in an e-mail, I didn’t believe them either, which is why I linked my comment to a reputable site (The NSRI, that’s the National Sea Rescue Institution for members not familiar with our set up, an organization which I donate to monthly and have for perhaps the last 15 years.)
We have similar scenes on our beaches but only New Years Day and Easter Monday, those two days result in utter chaos on our beaches.
It’s a pilgrimage of sorts, I don’t mind, the other 363 days are an absolute pleasure 😉
Still think that the pic sums up Boadicea’s challenge perfectly.
I’ve written here before about the wonderful bus lanes that Uncle Sepp insisted we have for the FIFA world cup, to cut a long story short, our council spent millions upon millions creating the lanes (reported to be about SA Rand 150million) and buying the buses (12 big Volvo’s, never been put into service but costing over a million Rand each!)
We do however have the disaster of a traffic light system built specifically for our Volvos, I try and avoid the route when I can but now again I have no choice.
I was on one such route today, note the traffic lights showing both red and green, note the oncoming traffic proceeding as normal while the delivery truck attempts to turn right, the Kombi on the left is a ‘Black Taxi’ (mass transport vehicle) they generally ignore the rules anyway, chaos sums up the situation quite nicely!
It’s an Israeli Merkava Mk. 3 🙂
Bravo: Thanks, however the driver was probably a yank.
It probably did not happen in Afghanistan then either. (Unless it was stolen of course) 🙂
Just for Soutie:
I took this one about five minutes ago, it’s the surface of the creek, there is a little breeze in one direction, the tide runs in another, a few ducks are swimming in the distance causing some ripples. It has to be one of the most uninteresting photo’s ever taken, it’s chaos, one may think they see order there but it’s just your eye wishing that there was.
Having been up since the small hours and watched The Blitzbokke lose to Fiji (they’re over in Wellington, NZ this week) and scrape a 2 point win against Canada (Canada? yes Canada!) LW’s latest offering is exactly the sort of tranquility I need with my morning cuppa, in fact I might just save the image and set it as my desktop background 😉
Bugrit © TB.
I thought that the deadline was the 5th and not the 4th.
Whatever, in order to bring this photograph to you, I have had to replace the Cat 5 connection to my router with a wireless one, buy a new external card reader and a USB hub to plug into the back of my PC behind the temporary fence of chicken wire and spray the whole area with ‘Pet Behave Training Spray’. So, you’re getting it anyway even if I am too late.
A new puppy definitely brings chaos into your life. This is Dougal at the end of yet another day of causing complete havoc. It is totally un-posed and his playthings are where he left them.
I’m worried that he might have OCD.
Or hopefully
May we also see the puppy?
Pseu, top right, spark out in his basket after another day of fun. He’s a bit the same colour as his basket so I can see why you might not have spotted him.