Saturday
Dear Elsie
Today was the day I went birthday present shopping for YOU! That was fun. In collaboration with your Mom I bought the things we think you will love. They are now mostly wrapped & ready to be taken to you. We are excited to spend your 5th birthday celebrating with you.
The wind continued to blow today. It started with a black south-easter – now there is no sign of rain and the wind is a howling Cape Doctor. Watching the sea from my rocking chair I am reminded of what it looks like from the ship. This was it at lunchtime today.
At 3.30pm, it looked like this, so the wind has certainly picked up since then…
The waves rise and don’t quite break fully. Instead their tips turn to foam and then they are sucked back under to create the next swell. In doing so, they leave a sea of white dots & lines across the surface of the water. It goes on and on until it sweeps into the shore, masses of gushing white foamy water crashing onto the rocks, with the wind sending great clouds of salty mist across the coast. The birds meanwhile have their work cut out for them. Swooping and diving and fighting the wind, mad flapping of wings, searching for their next meal. Quite often flying on the spot, eventually, they turn around and let the wind carry them effortlessly back to where they started. They look like they are being battered about relentlessly. When they are tired, they can just land on the surface of the ocean. Yes, a windy day brings out nature’s busy-ness – everything moves more – the sea, the birds, the trees, the clouds. Windows rattle and the wind whistles through our double-glazed doors.
There was a lot of chatter last night on the street whatsapp group about the Cape Doctor and how strong it is. There are a few newcomers who have moved to Cape Town from Johannesburg and this is an early encounter with an autumn gale. May usually brings with it calm days and cooler weather, having left the summer south-easter behind. One of the long-time residents reminded the group of this event…it wasn’t a SE wind but rather an early winter storm from the north.
I remember that particular storm. I had only been in Cape Town about 18 months and was visiting a friend in Kenilworth. The winds were so strong and the storm raged right through the night. I really didn’t feel safe driving home so I stayed the night and left early in the morning to return to Somerset Hospital nurses’ home. I remember there being a lot of debris on roads out of Kenilworth (Rosmead Ave particularly). I also remember thinking I may get into trouble having stayed out for the night (I was only 19) and thought maybe they would wonder where I was. Unbeknown to me, the night matron didn’t really have a record of who was in and who wasn’t & I was relieved to find I wasn’t missed. Funny what you remember. The biggest Cape storm in 50 years – I was safer to stay off the roads at 10pm at night.
We are expecting this blow to come down a bit by tomorrow night – then hopefully we’ll return to autumn’s gentleness for a few days. I have just taken a look at Windguru and it forecasts winds of up to 90km/hour in a northerly storm expected on 26th May. We’ll see if that comes to pass.
I have to admit, I love winter!
Psalm 96.12
Let the fields be jubilant and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx