Our arrival on the South Coast, land of sunshine and endless beaches, began with a double tyre blowout in the Free State in the morning, and after a long day in the saddle, ended with the sound of waves crashing onto the beach in our ears.
Our impression of this coast, after four months, is a little undecided because, to be honest, the weather at times is contrary to what we were expecting.
We had gale force winds in the Free State threatening to blow our washing into the Drakensberg Mountains, but here it seems to be blowing us and our washing into the sea.
Here it is not unusual to peg the clothing to the wash line with eight pegs per item – and then the sheets end up being wound like liquorice around the lines.
As for the sunny weather we were promised and used to promote a housing estate in the hills not far from us, well we have not seen much of that.
In fact, grey overcast is the norm. Could the planet warming be a contributing factor?
Higher heat equates to more evaporation, which means more cloud and greater precipitation.
Actually, the increased rainfall here in KZN is most welcome because of the persistent water supply problems that plague the province.
Thank goodness for the jojo and the pressure pump, two items of hardware that we would never have thought necessary 25 years ago.
Had to laugh recently, when a government official attached to the water supply agency, stated that there is a shortage of water in KZN but “it was not a crisis”.
Really?
So when does it become a crisis, then?
When said official no longer has water in his house’s toilet cistern, or in his fridge to add to his glass of blue label?
As has been mooted, the next world armed conflict could very well be over access to water.
My question to those learned scholars is why spend billions sending a space probe to Mars when we could use that money developing cheap and functional desalination plants on mother earth – that would definitely be more sense.
Remember, once we get to Mars, how do we get there because our space technology, with regards to ‘warp speed’ propulsion is so in its infancy it has not even been born yet!
Enough whining, glad to be here, looking forward to some hot summer weather.
BIO
Trevor Barnes is a retired gentleman, who recently entered the club of septuagenarians. He was raised and schooled in Port Elizabeth at Grey High School until Std. 8 and finishing his matric year at Pretoria Boys High School. He trained as a cartographer and spent his productive working years on diamond mines or signage companies. His wife and he raised twin sons who presently are working in the UK and UAE respectively. His interests are history, exploring South Africa and meeting people.
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