From suckuz to Manila

'Suckuz, does anybody here wan' ice-col' suckuz?' calls the frozen lolly man as he sidles through the compartment before the train leaves the station. The Metrorail from Cape Town to Simon's Town is a unique experience. You have to know the route because you can't see very well out of the windows, smothered in graffiti. In any case even if you could see out there are few signs on the station platforms and they're easy to miss, especially if the trains are full. The 39 km ride is scheduled to take about 70 minutes but it's pretty variable. A sign on the station wall states that 78% of the trains make it on time. Sometimes the scheduled train simply doesn't show up; at other times several arrive within a few minutes. The best section is the leg from Muizenberg to Simon's Town, along the edge of False Bay. I love this bit. At Muizies I can check the swell and surf, especially if the wind is right and see how many guys are out there catching waves. The stations have these names from SA's past: Dutch like Muizenberg, mixed Dutch and English like Fish Hoek and Kalk Bay, Scottish like Glencairn. The very last bit has several twists and turns and the old carriages creak, squeak, screech and squeal at a snail's pace. Then it's Simon's Town at the end of the line, back in the Deep South. Kalk Bay is a fishing harbour with an interesting connection to the Philippines. In the 1840s a Filipino ship was wrecked off Cape Point and the survivors settled at Kalk Bay to be joined by others over the years. Being Catholics they established the nearby St James church and their descendants still live in the area today. The QSL is from the Far East Broadcasting Co in Manila, heard on shortwave way back in 1966, one of my very first.

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.

Central Africa shows up at Olympics

When I see a long list of countries I find it irresistible to check it off against my 200 + country QSL (station verification) list which I've collected over the past 45 years. And so it was with the Olympic Games ceremony on Friday night in London. Among the 201 countries filing past that aren't on my QSL list is the Bahamas. ZNS-1 from the Bahamas Broadcasting Corporation on 1540 AM has been audible in Cape Town for decades and I must have sent a dozen reports but with never a squeak back. I know some DXers have got one so there's always a hope. It struck me how many countries have attended the Games over the years without winning a single medal. It is a tribute to human striving that they keep coming back with athletes who have made the qualifying standard in the hope of one day breaking their duck. The South African team is targeting '12 medals in 2012' but the London bookies are putting the odds on quite a bit less than that. Most of the athletes are camped in the Olympic village with its thin walls and cramped conditions, not ideal for being at your best on race day, so anything can happen. One country at the Games that I do have on my QSL list is the low-profile Central African Republic. Like South Africa, this country tells you exactly where it is! It was heard on 60mb in French in Cape Town in 1971. The form letter apologises for not having a QSL card.

The Gold just keeps on Roving

Back in Simonstown after nearly a year in London. We flew on the same night on three different aircraft.  Just logistical, not because we're the royal family! My son wanted to fly on an A380 so took a separate flight on Emirates. Coincidentally our two aircraft took off one behind the other from Heathrow and I saw him bank off into the clouds before disappearing. Our first three days were in bright sunshine with 20 degrees plus, a nice change from the torrents of rain in London. In the Mike-Lima outer basin at the naval harbour in Simonstown is the RFA Gold Rover, en route to the South Atlantic. This Royal Fleet Auxiliary replenishment ship is no spring chicken (built in 1973) with functions like patrolling, oiling and provisioning. Although  given a low profile the visit is probably part of the British response to the tension with Argentina surrounding the Falkland Islands. A few weeks ago HMS Talent, a nuclear-power sub armed with Tomahawk's also stopped by in our little harbour, en route to the Falklands area. The Gold Rover has spent plenty of its time sailing African coastlines, especially the Gold Coast of west Africa. Its last port of call was Ghana. The QSL is from the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, heard on 17megs in Cape Town way back in 1966.

A380 Toulouse in Farnborough

My son and I took in the Farnborough Airshow yesterday, in Hampshire. True to form in this year's English summer, it rained almost all day and the sun failed to show. For a joke we asked the hotel receptionist when the British summer was due to start, as if we were tourists. The low cloud cover meant that many of the flypasts had to restrict their routines which was disappointing, in most cases. But for the A380 it was perfect. The giant plane made a huge spray on the runway as it took off and then as it rapidly canted away into the cloud it trailed a huge stream of vapour. We last went to Farnborough in 2006 when the A380 made its debut and it was stunning then with its quietness and manoeuvrability. It was no less spectacular now despite its familiarity. The show appeared to suffer from the recession with fewer aircraft on view and in the flypast. We sat and shivered in the grandstand with the stoic crowd in the teeth of a chilly, wet north wind. Late in the day an F-18 Hornet did some spectacular angle-of-attack flying accompanied by massive noise volume. Thrilling, but I always wonder when one of these fighter jets points towards me at an airshow how I would be feeling if it was flown by an enemy. You are just so small and powerless on the ground. We were glad to make it back indoors after a freezing day. The QSL is from Sud Radio, Toulouse (where the A380 is assembled in a huge plant), heard in London on AM 891 kHz in 1995.

Angola's oil - not Dundo yet

If you cast an eye over a map of the Atlantic Ocean you will see how snugly Brazil might have fitted into the armpit of west Africa and down the western coast of the continent. And so it was about a 300m years ago. This was the supercontinent of Pangaea. We keep on hearing how Brazil has discoverd these great oil fields in the pre-salt sub-ocean depths in the Campos Santos basin. And no surprise that right across the other side of that same ocean another Portuguese-speaking country is busy auctioning off licences in its own pre-salt oil fields in the Kwanza basin. Angola, which already produces 1.6m barrels per day is set to boost that a lot over the next decade as it brings the next generation of oil discoveries into production. Some say that the convection currents in the earth's mantle will move the continents together again but in the meantime the Angolans are going to make off like bandits. The QSL is from Radio Diamang heard on 60mb and 31mb way back in 1968 when I was a schoolboy in Cape Town. What a nice full-detail card in Portuguese, French and English and a pic of a cool marimba band. The station is named for Companhia de Diamantes de Angola which controlled the gem-quality diamond fields discovered near Dundo in north-eastern Angola 100 years ago.

Who goes after Hugo goes?

Venezuela's presidential election campaign starts today. Incumbent Hugo Chavez is again front runner looking for re-election to a third term. In 2003 he won a vote to abolish term limits thus setting himself up to become an African-style 'sit-tight' president, in office for the foreseeable future. But it looks unlikely to work out that way. One way or another Venezuela is probably going to be looking for a new president before the next cycle is done, for Chavez is seriously ill. There is no Plan B within his party for succession so if he wins it's anybody's guess as to what will happen when he goes. Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles appears to be closing in the polls but Venezuela has a history of very spotty polling. In the 2004 'recall' referendum Chavez was said to be losing by 20 points but ended up winning by about that margin. It's hard to imagine him losing, with the economy having had a good run off the back of last year's strong oil price. That's set to change with the sharp fall in oil in recent months. Global oil excess demand has contracted at one of the fastest rates for ages. Venezuela's economy will head into reverse following the inevitable overspend triggered by the last surge in oil. It's been that way for decades. Already the currency is trading in the black market at less than half the official rate. The QSL is from Radio Capital in Caracas - a smart card in English and Spanish, full details, signature, logo, the lot - heard in Johannesburg early in the morning in 1986.