Yeasterday (being Monday) was a VERY interesting for this lonely Terry Prachett fan out in the Namib desert. We had 30+mm of rain in less than 2 hours. In the desert this can only mean one thing. Flashfloods. It took us 50min to get from our mine site to town (25km) because of assorted rivers, rocks, sandbanks and general debris in the road. Allot of people do own 4x4's out here so it was passible for them, but those with small cars had to leave them at work and go with the 4x4's (one of them being the GM of the mine - he came in with his new Beetle-hehe). Town was looking just as worse. I have a leaky roof. It doesn't usually rain in the desert, so now I know about the roof. And half of other people yard in mine as well as water in my living room(wet carpets...yahoooo). All the dry rivers came down, all the roads leading in and out of town is gravel-they've all been washed away. But you know it was fun in a certain sense. It's this type of stuff that you will remember for the rest of your life and tell your grand kids about. I have photo's. I just need somebody to tell me how to post this on the net somewhere that I can put the link in here and you guys can see how it looks when it rains desert.
Try creating a yahoo account and uploading them either on photos.yahoo.com or flickr.com .. I'd definitely like to see them. I read about flash floods in the desert in a book called "Flyaway" by Desmond Bagley, and have been curious since. Incidentally, if no one has read that book .. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The only hitch is, you need to use eBay to buy it or buy it second hand from Amazon or something .. it's out of print.
Also, please type "thanks" instead of "thanx." While still easily understandible, it's a bit of an eyesore. And it's on that slippery slope towards leet and its ilk.
Sorry about that Force of habit I suppose... Also guys... I hope this works. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/skorpionz123/album?.dir=/35fb If it doesn't let me know(Smoking-Gnu can sms/text me and I will try an rectify it). I will be out of office till Monday - going on business trip.
Great pictures, I hope the floods don't cause too much trouble but I'd be very excited if I was there to see them, as long as I didn't own anything that got destroyed. P.S. You can upload photos here via the 'Albums' links near the top of the page on the message boards.
Dammit, my monitor's too old and crap to be able to see much on these pictures. I'll have to look at them at work. In the meantime, all donations to the Garnerite church will be diverted to the Popette's New Monitor fund.
Thanks for the pictures, Cynth. Incidentally, I note that the town you live in is called Rosh Pinah. Cornerstone. Interesting. Any specific reason for the town to be named as such, as far as you know?
Cornerstone? I know that I've lived in that country for the past 4 years, but where dit you get that from? Is it perhaps the translation of the name into another language, perhaps german? Anyway, I assume that the name is of no great importance, seeine as it is a mining community and can be classified as one of those towns that are only present because large open spaces on a map are so embarrising. I'm just guessing, but seeing as i am fammiliar with the country (yes yes, i did'nt know what the name ment, but thats just because it is in german, i don't speak german, or read or write and when i read a name i read a name. A name is just a name for me) I suspect that all that town contains is one convienience store, a cafe, a police station + firestation, a railway station, and maby a bar. The town itself is about 100KM away from anywhere (direct quote from cynth herself) useful and will bore you to death in a matter of weeks.
As I do not live in a desert I am used to rain but usually it does not flood. One year it did and there were a couple of roads in my county that got washed out. Here is what my front yard looks like in a flood.
[quote:b1682b1b83="Smoking_GNU"]Cornerstone? I know that I've lived in that country for the past 4 years, but where dit you get that from? Is it perhaps the translation of the name into another language, perhaps german? [/quote:b1682b1b83] Na, I think Roman translated it for you - Rosh Pinah - Cornerstone...In Hebrew, Rosh Pinah means "Cornerstone" (It would be translated into "Eckstein" in German, but that is [i:b1682b1b83]really [/i:b1682b1b83]an unimportant bit of info. )
[quote:00de81658f="Hsing"][quote:00de81658f="Smoking_GNU"]Cornerstone? I know that I've lived in that country for the past 4 years, but where dit you get that from? Is it perhaps the translation of the name into another language, perhaps german? [/quote:00de81658f] Na, I think Roman translated it for you - Rosh Pinah - Cornerstone...In Hebrew, Rosh Pinah means "Cornerstone" (It would be translated into "Eckstein" in German, but that is [i:00de81658f]really [/i:00de81658f]an unimportant bit of info. ) [/quote:00de81658f] Yea, it might be an unimportant bit of information, but i positively live on random bits of unimportant info, and it does awnser my question, so thank you very much!
Rosh Pinah is the name the original prospecter (yes he was Yiddish/Jewish) gave to the area and it became the name of the farm. Anglo American brought the farm from our goverment, i think. We have an amazing deposit of Zinc - where hence Skorpion Zinc the mine that i work at. Try www.skorpionzinc.com.na for more info. The site is a bit old but it will give you the general idea and a bit more history about the area and the mine.
