Ode to Autumn – in Durban - Travels with Verne and Roy

Weather-wise, May has to be the month to visit Durban. It’s not necessarily the best time to see the rest of the country, though: in the artistic KZN Midlands, they’re already wearing crocheted garments and huddling around artisanal log fires.

In the Cape, they’re opening yet another vyf-man-kan (five-litre box) of red, battening down the hatches against the wintry storms and praying for more of that cold rain to fill their direly depleted dams.

My last posting, from Perth WA, ended on the brightly promissorial note “Watch this space!” (which seems impossible to write without an exclamation mark). So I feel a bit guilty that more than two weeks has passed since Roy and I got to our place in Umhlanga Rocks, just north of Durban, and yet I’ve posted nothing. You might ask what we’ve been doing – not much at all, would be the answer.

Serenely contemplating his personal slice of the Indian Ocean

We have our excuses for hanging out at home. Roy is still recovering from that brutal knee-replacement op three months ago, so he’s well content to relax on his balcony, intermittently looking up from his Kindle or his Daily News to serenely contemplate his personal slice of the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, I’ve had and still have quite a bit of writing/editing work to do for Expat Living in Singapore, in between catching up with our friends and my mother.

Catching up with friends at Jeff’s birthday – just turned 70, and still a hottie!

Now it’s our turn. Look at the weather again – this is autumn?

Lunch with my mother, Sheila, at the new Casa Bella at the Pearls, Umhlanga; good Italian food, painfully slow service

Lunching today at Catch, up in the village – a jolly good fishy menu with unexpected stuff like sushi and dim sum

Ode to the View

I hope I never get used to waking up to this view of sea and lighthouse, swimming off these golden beaches, strolling up or down the hill for drinks or dinner at any one of over three dozen bars and restaurants. How lucky we are to just be here for as long as we like!

May already, and it’s like a warm summer’s day in New Zealand

Last day of summer?

Today being the 6th of May, it’s got to be officially autumn. Yet these photos were taken at sunset a couple of hours ago. It was a balmy 26 degrees Centigrade, hardly a breath of wind to be felt and the ocean horizon a crisp, clear line.