It's the New Year Baby...

Well almost anyway.

So while us three crazy kids are partying like it's 1999 (2 together in Africa and one grumpy orphan back on muddy island), we leave you with a song that has summed up 2011 for us.

And remember: Pain is weakness leaving the body

- so no pussying out of the party on Saturday!

xxx

Merry Christmas!

Tis the season to be jolly and all that! I'm back in the southern hemisphere and enjoying a gin in the sun by the pool - whoever said Christmas should be cold has missed a trick!

Here is a little festive cheer - probably best enjoyed after four gins and an afternoon reminding yourself that Santa does in fact exist, one doesn't want to accidentally tell a three year old that Santa is actually a massive marketing trick embraced by corporations to sell more presents. Hmm...perhaps time to lay off the gin.....

Chez Penny Pitstop

17 days on the road is no joke. So the team is going have to think long and hard about what home comforts need a space in our car and what we'll have to do without. (No hairdryer you say???!!!)

So while we work that out here are a few putfoot homes we wouldn't mind finding under the Christmas tree:

Happy Fursday folks!

Meeeeooooowww! I’d love to see the cougar that drives this beauty..

Business on the outside, party on the inside?

It’s a long weekend for those of us who are in SA, rave safe ya’ll :)

Top Ten Tuesday - Treats for the Road

Must have treats for the hours in the car:

1) Biltong - we can't possibly make it around 7 countries without dried meat
2) Niknaks - orange that comes off on your fingers, salty non-specific deliciousness, each nak different from the last (somewhat akin to snowflakes really) - food AND fun all in one.
3) Soft Gums -awesome name to say and just the right level of sugar without being tooth rottingly, ear-achingly, saliva-inducing sweet
4) Coke - caffine, sugar, bubbles ... what more can you ask for from a beverage really? And given it's alleged hangover curative powers I'm making sure we have at least a few cans in reserve AT ALL TIMES.
5) Fizzers - I still can't really explain what these are to people that have never enjoyed the pink/green/blue flavoured glycerine strips. With hours of sitting ahead I forsee fizzer melting competitions taking on new complexities.
6) Sausage Rolls - enough said
7) Ceres fruit juice boxes - yes perhaps we should have something "healthy",  do these count as one of your five a day I wonder?
8) Simba crisps  - there is sure to be some debate about flavours allowed in the car but with 17 days of car journey to look forward to I think you can all expect a pretty thorough blog post on my favourite crisp flavour and why - it may even be worthy of a sonnet.
9) Fruit? - I know at least one member of the car will insist on this. I would argue however that fruit goes off, processed treats do not. Fruit - 0, processed foods - 1. How about jelly tots? These are fruit flavoured...
10) Cheese sandwiches - perhaps a throwback from a childhood of long car journeys but nothing says adventure like slightly stale white bread and sweaty cheese.

Mammal Monday - it's a thing

I went to an exhibition at the Tate Modern this weekend and one room was devoted to the work of Vito Acconci and his performance pieces. The one that really struck me was entitled Sedbeed and given the nature of this blog it's probably improper for me to detail what the performance contained but in summary I'll tell you it was about an empty room, an artist under floor boards and the creation of human seed - for full details let the great-wise-wiki tell you more.

Now this exhibition happened back in 1972 and it got me thinking about how on earth anyone knew about anything before the advent of the internet. Nowadays you can't move for blogs about this, tweets about that and facebook event invitations, but before all of this how did people really get the word out about anything? And beyond this how did you know what anyone (except the critics and journalists who got to write about it) thought about exhibitions or shows or anything really. It's another question altogether whether we really care about what every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks about a thing but the scope of access we now have is pretty darn incredible. Only problem is, and you knew I couldn't be rejoicing in the interwebs without a little niggle, how on earth can one ever do anything original. Google even the whisper of an idea and you'll find someone's already done it, and probably better than you'd even begun to think of.

With this in mind we introduce (to the greater body of work already in existance) our contribution to #Mammal Monday and given that the Put Foot Rally is this year raising funds for a Rhino initiative we thought we'd start our with these little guys. How can you not support a charity for them!

Thursday Furday

Some fur inspiration from the 2011 Mongol rally..

Hmmmmm... Mongol rally 2013 perhaps?