Breathe deep in the Deep South

Back in Simon's Town after 11 months in London. Friday afternoon a steady north-wester blew, with a medium swell at Muizenberg, water temperature around the ambient air temp of 15 degrees, cold but no problem with a wetsuit. It was great to be back on the paddle-ski for the first time since April. Working out hard at the back you start panting a bit and that's when you notice the richness of the air. Sure Cape Town gets its fair share of smog but the brisk winds blow it away pretty quickly and compared to London the air is so-oo clean. It's like drinking babbling mountain brook water vs the stuff out of the tap. There's an extra deliciousness to it. In the World Bank's Air Pollution index Cape Town scores 15 against Greater London's 23, the highest in the UK. But in the 'Deep South' of Cape Town (e.g. Simon's Town) I'm sure the index is much lower given our proximity to the sea, exposure to breezes and lack of industry. The UK's overall ranking of 19 is actually below SA's of 24. SA burns a lot of coal for its power stations and also in urban areas for cooking. Topping the pollution country list are a number of African countries like Sudan, Mali, Niger, Chad and Egypt. The QSL is from Chad National Radio, received way back in 1969 and heard on 60mb broadcasting on the odd frequency of 4904.5 kHz. In those days the Francophone broadcasters were pretty reliable QSLers.