24.3°C at 10pm in the middle of winter?
The bergwind is up, and it’s deliciously warm. Sure, that’s the precursor of a cold front (and that’s coming in on Monday).
But in the meantime, it’s lovely and balmy outside, and I’m absolutely here for it.
In a country where every conversation since May has begun with some comment about the cold, wintery weather, HOW FLIPPIN’ GOOD was it when I opened up the back door at 6 this morning to a 19oC bergwind?
Delicious.
Every house in Cape Town has flung its windows and doors wide open to get the cold out and the warmth in. I bathed the beagle and painted a wheelbarrow. All the outdoor job bases covered then.
It would be lovely if it could continue through the upcoming weekend, but that’s just a pipe dream. Still, it’s a balmy 21 out there as I write this just before 8pm.
More like this, please.
It’s not been a great start to the day. No one single thing that’s brought me down*, just a collection of unfortunate events and occurrences that have made the morning worse than it really needed to be.
At the present time – well, any time, I guess – I could do without these sort of mornings. But really, right now, we need the cream cheese of hope and positivity on top of the carrot cake of despair which is daily life in South Africa at the moment.
That mild, sweet veneer keeping your thoughts away from what lies beneath.
Mornings such as this one act as granny’s invasive finger, swooping in over your shoulder and stealing the thin layer of optimism, leaving you with the realisation that all that is left is the god-awful, soggy, weird vegetable gateau below.
I’ve never been a fan of carrot cake since being forced to eat it in Mrs Finch’s History class back in the 1980s in the homeland. Apparently, it was a staple during wartime rationing. Christ, I’d have switched on all my lights and waved welcomingly to the Luftwaffe. Horrific.
On the plus side today, we have a lovely bergwind. This is nature’s way of telling you to open all the windows and get the damp winter out of your house, of getting you to do all your washing because it will dry in minutes, and of warning you that there are probably a couple of days of very wet weather on the way.
That would be the weekend.
I am already prepared with firewood and some Wonderbag potjie plans.
And on the other plus side (two in a day?!?), things are moving fast towards our trip Up North. Mrs 6000 is away next week on a work thing, then there’s just a week until she heads away again, and then just one more week until we go and join her in the top half of the world. It’s soon.
See? Replacement cream cheese. We’re all good**.
* Although bumping into the Greenpeace loonies at the shopping centre didn’t help
** T&Cs apply