Gibraltar - the end of the world

Gibraltar has a long history and changed hands more than once. Neanderthals, Carthaginians, Phoenicians and Romans all had their time there. According to legend, Hercules, Superman of antiquity, smashed a gap through the Atlas Mountains, then at the end of the world, thereby connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and forming the Pillars of Hercules, of which the Rock of Gibraltar is one. There's a dispute about the other one. Now you'd have to say that both Britain and Spain are behaving as if it's the end of the world that they don't get their way with this tiny sliver of land at the southern tip of Spain. A day after a belligerent Spanish fishing boat armada advanced on the territory, the Royal Navy frigate, HMS Westminster, pulled in. Of course, it was only a routine visit, but then aren't they always in such circumstances? A concrete reef has now been laid alongside the airport runway to deter Spanish fishermen. These days the old pink on the maps of the Empire has shrunk to minute proportions but Britain continues to hold onto little dots like Gibraltar, the Falklands and St Helena/Tristan da Cunha. Suits me, they all count as separate radio countries! We spent a day there a few years back and enjoyed its mix of Brits, Spaniards and many other ethnicities, basking in the temperate climate. We too have our pics of the cute macaque monkeys jumping onto our shoulders with the Rock as backdrop. Britain has held the space since 1713 and despite the current spat looks likely to hold on for some time to come. The QSL is from Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation, heard on AM during a trip to Portugal in 2004: a little island of English-speaking radio in a sea of Spanish and Portuguese.

From Coast Guard chase to Nigerian thunder

A US Coast Guard cutter is visiting right here in Simon's Town naval harbour. Or it used to be a CG cutter, now it's part of the Nigerian navy. It has arabesqued from US CG cutter Chase into NNS Thunder, as of 2011. This Hamilton Class cutter was launched way back in 1967 in New Orleans and has a long pedigree of operations in the Vietnam war, Middle East and off the east and west USA coasts, at one point making the second biggest cocaine bust in Coast Guard history. Today the NNS Thunder and one of SA's corvettes have been criss-crossing False Bay on manoeuvres. I spotted them between waves at Muizies, glinting in the broken sunlight. The dust has still not settled from SA's big navy corruption scandal, involving the four state-of-the-art corvettes and three new submarines. The sad thing is that our navy is completely ill-equipped with the skills to manage these boats and few of them are ever at sea. The presence of NNS Thunder is a reminder that a much smarter move would have been for the navy to have acquired a fleet of smaller ships, of the type used by the US Coast Guard, to patrol coastal waters. The corvettes are way over-specced for our needs, to say nothing of the subs. You don't need over-the-horizon missiles to catch perlemoen poachers. On a more stylistic note, I also am not too fond of their light grey colour. A navy boat looks that much more threatening and convincing in dark grey. The Thunder's black and dark grey combo is the real thing. The QSL is from US Coast Guard in New Orleans, using just 1000 watts and an omni-directional vertical whip antenna, heard in Johannesburg up on 8 mHz in 1989. The Coast Guard are among the best and friendliest QSLers around the world.

Blue Flag no guarantee against E. coli

Several days of strong winds had whipped up a big swell. I got to Muizies at 0830 and found a prime parking spot, guided by Charles Mbalanda, the car guard from Congo Kinshasa. Charlie tolerates my rudimentary spoken French, so we always have a little chat about the state of the world. Everyone knows him. He has permanent residence in SA but is still hassled by the police. Bigger waves are harder to catch and also tend to close out along the face. So I moved across into the Corner proper, just below the station where the rocks are. The reef tends to create wave peaks, allowing for more left and right rides. Paddling out was hard work and every now and again a big wave would pitch over just as I reached it, flipping me back in a somersault into the white water churn. Inevitably you swallow a bit of water as you roll around. True, Muizies is a Blue Flag beach but after heavy rains, winter stormwaters bring extra bits of untreated sewage. Once or twice in the past after a day of wipe-outs I've ended up with a spot of dysentery. Hopefully not this time. E.coli is E.coli but so far I haven't grown any extra digits or organs. It's not that I'm precious at all. Rather, I'm in the camp of those who believe that if you drop a bit of food on the kitchen floor you should have no compunction about picking it up and eating it. The best way to fight bugs is to build up a bit of immunity to them. In London we felt that parents were way too hygienic about their kids, many of whom seemed to get sick rather easily.  E. coli was discovered by the German pediatrician, Theodor Escherich, in 1881. He was born in Ansbach, not far from Nuremberg. The QSL is from the Bayerischer Rundfunk, broadcasting from Munich and Nuremberg and heard in Cape Town on AM way back in 1971.

Air Van men bewitched over Hex River Valley

We started to taxi down the long strip at 4.47pm and the little RV-7 was quickly airborne, rising rapidly. The control tower had been a little naughty, letting us go less than two minutes after a Mango Boeing 737 had departed. So we picked up a bit of turbulence and Matt soon banked off to the left, just a fraction before the tower instructed him to do so. Within minutes we were up at 2000 feet, with the Western Cape spread out magnificently below, heading north-east towards the Hottentots Holland hills, Cape Town's wine country. Beyond lay the snow-capped peaks of the Hex River Mountains, towering 2000 meters into the blue sky. It was a perfect winter's afternoon: virtually windless, sunny, cool and clear. We pushed up to 3000 feet, sending regular radio messages out to surrounding traffic about who we were and where we were going. Western Cape airspace is not busy like London's but we heard a few calls from other pilots nipping around the hills and valleys, enjoying the stunning flying conditions. The RV-7 is a tiny two-seater but very quick for its size. After warning me, Matt put it into a dive and we both rose in our seats with negative gravity, our heads brushing the perspex top of the cockpit. As we neared the snow peaks we climbed to 7500 feet and it grew much colder. The mountain tops looked bleak, white and pristine, snow glistening in the sun. Soon we were headed back towards Cape Town International airport and made a perfect touchdown. Matt had clocked up another hour in his training schedule. The Van's RV-7 plane is a kit aircraft made by Van's Aircraft in Oregon. The QSL is from KPNW, Eugene, OR, heard in Los Angeles in 1987. Pic shows the snow-covered Hex River Mountains.

Zimbabwe - it's the devil you know

I saw a bus marked Harare heading out of Simon's Town today. Not the capital of Zimbabwe but Harare in Khayelitsha, a sprawling Cape Town suburb. It was a reminder of how many Zimbabweans you meet here, to say nothing of the Congolese, Malawians and more. Years ago we had a gardener, quaintly named Million, who was originally from Plumtree in southern Zim. He actually had a permanent residence permit to live in SA, unlike many Zimbabweans who have simply skipped the border and found work. Speak to any Zimbabwean and he'll tell you that he'd love to go back. But not yet! So long as president Bob Mugabe is still there, raping and pillaging the economy, most would rather stay here, even if they do pine for home. Mugabe is set to become the only current state leader to have attained the ripe old age of 90, following his latest landslide victory in Zim's snap election. This really is a case of sticking with the devil you know.... Of course, there are emigrants all over the world who talk of going home and often don't. In London, we first became aware of the strong Polish presence in the late 1990s when big Polish newspaper bills started appearing outside local newsagents. Polish is now the second most widely spoken language. Afrikaans-speaking South Africans used to be few and far between. On the tube, you would hear them sharing all sorts of indiscretions about London, the Brits and all, secure in the knowledge that no one would understand them (or hardly anyone!) These days it's less common because there are so many more around. The QSL is from the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation, pre-independence, heard on 998 kHz medium wave in Cape Town in 1967. The beautiful Sable antelope adorns the card.