Saturday afternoon: stunning, with warm autumn sunlight radiating down. The sun's azimuth is low now, refracting off the marina water beneath into a myriad of tiny shimmering speckles, pointillist-style. A robin flits into the bush below our deck, barely visible under the leaves. Its little head jerks back and forth, triangulating its surroundings, looking for prey or predator. It reminds me of the 'quick and the dead.' I remember being taken as a schoolboy with the story in Judges of the three hundred soldiers who drank of the spring with cupped hands, while the others got down on their knees. These latter were sent home because they had exposed themselves to a surprise attack. Going to the supermarket is a bit like war, you need to be quick and sharp. Plan your list in advance and move through the store, methodically. Unlike the streets at least, the rule of the road is pretty flexible and there are no stop signs - you can just dart in and out. I like to take a little break from the mass of shoppers. You find in every supermarket quiet sections where almost nobody goes: shelves with the novelty knives, double-sided tape and pool chlorine. Then back out into the jungle for the final sally. On the way home I stopped in at Noordhoek to check the surf. The wind had veered round from a strong north-wester to a south-easter. This left a large beautifully hollowed-out swell and a bunch of surfers were far out back being towed by a jetski into 20-foot peaks, spray whipping back off the top. I'm no fan of jetskis but this one made sense. A Californian dude walked up and we chatted about the surf. He was passing through from Indonesia and was later spotted tearing up the fast waves at Inner Kom. The QSL is from the US Coast Guard near San Francisco, heard in 1989 in Johannesburg about 10500 miles distant, in communication with an aircraft.
Saturday afternoon: stunning, with warm autumn sunlight radiating down. The sun's azimuth is low now, refracting off the marina water beneath into a myriad of tiny shimmering speckles, pointillist-style. A robin flits into the bush below our deck, barely visible under the leaves. Its little head jerks back and forth, triangulating its surroundings, looking for prey or predator. It reminds me of the 'quick and the dead.' I remember being taken as a schoolboy with the story in Judges of the three hundred soldiers who drank of the spring with cupped hands, while the others got down on their knees. These latter were sent home because they had exposed themselves to a surprise attack. Going to the supermarket is a bit like war, you need to be quick and sharp. Plan your list in advance and move through the store, methodically. Unlike the streets at least, the rule of the road is pretty flexible and there are no stop signs - you can just dart in and out. I like to take a little break from the mass of shoppers. You find in every supermarket quiet sections where almost nobody goes: shelves with the novelty knives, double-sided tape and pool chlorine. Then back out into the jungle for the final sally. On the way home I stopped in at Noordhoek to check the surf. The wind had veered round from a strong north-wester to a south-easter. This left a large beautifully hollowed-out swell and a bunch of surfers were far out back being towed by a jetski into 20-foot peaks, spray whipping back off the top. I'm no fan of jetskis but this one made sense. A Californian dude walked up and we chatted about the surf. He was passing through from Indonesia and was later spotted tearing up the fast waves at Inner Kom. The QSL is from the US Coast Guard near San Francisco, heard in 1989 in Johannesburg about 10500 miles distant, in communication with an aircraft.
No comments:
Post a Comment