What does Bartholomew Dias, John ll of Portugal and the Khoisan have in common? Keep reading and you will find out.

The Cape of Storms. That is what Bartholomew Dias named the Cape in 1488. Later, John ll of Portugal named it the Cape of Good Hope. Long before either of these explorers ever set a stockinged foot in Cape Town, the indigenous Khoi named it llHui ! Gais, meaning Where the Clouds Gather. And they are all correct! Because one thing is for sure. The Cape is windy, clouds gather out of nowhere, and you most certainly hope that it will not rain, because my brand new, extra sized, extra strong umbrella did not stand a chance in this wind. It took 2 minutes for it to flip the wrong way, bending the extra strong stretchers completely out of shape, the plastic nibs on the end popped off, and left material is now hanging limply from the shaft. It was only the second time I have used it. It was expensive because I bought it to last. Thank heavens no one I know drove past to see sad little me gather up my bits of umbrella and walking home in the rain, completely drenched. No Mary Poppins moment for me.

The weather down here has turned quite cold and did so somewhat suddenly. Our days are wet and windy, as only the Cape can be wet and windy. There is just no dignity in it. Back in Gauteng, winter days meant long boots, a coat, maybe a cute hat or a beret, and that small collapsible umbrella you got from the Blood Bank that fits into your handbag just right. Here in the Cape, it means a parka jacket with a hood – the type counterfeit smugglers wear in the movies, (of which the cord is pulled extra tight around your face to keep the hood on), mud encrusted walking shoes that will not get wet when you step into yet another puddle, back arched, shoulders hunched forward hands in pocket and off you go. Fighting the elements. And still, you will reach your destination soaked anyway.

So, what to do in this weather? We are going for a car picnic, I told our son, when he asked about our plans for the weekend. Not that he really cared about what we were doing, he just wanted to make sure that we were not planning to use Netflix. He had a weekend of binge-watching Netflix, home cooked soup, and blankets in mind. What is a car picnic, he asked. That, I said, is when you pack a picnic basket, drive out somewhere and sit in your car, having a picnic. Where are you going, he wanted to know. Oh, somewhere with a pleasant view. You do not have to go far for that in the Cape, he reminded me. And so, on Sunday, off we went, with a car picnic, planning to first stop off at Betty’s Bay, to check on the progress made during the week.

Oh, boy! Our site looked like it had been hit by a snowstorm, with bits of Polystyrene balls all over the place. We are using a special type of Polystyrene as insulation in the building. For a very long time, there has been a pile of this, neatly covered with a huge plastic sheet and anchored down with a couple of heavy rocks. This arrangement has stood the test of time for the past 18 months, until…somebody decided to move the rocks. Oh, my. Yes. The wind got hold of it. There Colin and I were: gathering all the sheets that had blown all over the show, trying to stack them back in place. According to my step counter, I walked just over two thousand steps, rescuing Polystyrene. At the end of this unplanned activity, both of us were too hot, too bothered, too wet, too windswept, and too exhausted to even think of having a picnic. Instead, we used the Wet Wipes to try and clean up our clothes, wipe clean our shoes, using the last one to wipe my face. Was that the last wipe, Colin asked. Now what am I supposed to use to clean my face with? He drove home with a dirty face.

Our favourite thing to do at the moment, is at the end of the day, we make coffee in our travel mugs, drive down to the beach, and sit in the car looking out at the sea. Now, this may not sound appealing to some of you, but a stormy sea, watched from the safety of a comfortable car (with seat warmers) can be exhilarating. The travel mugs were a Gauteng purchase. I used to make coffee in it to take with me in the car, so I had something to enjoy whilst stuck in N1 traffic. I was explaining to someone down here today exactly how bad N1 traffic between Jo’burg and Pretoria could get. How did you survive it, she asked? I could not find the words to explain to her that it was my normal, everyday. But no more! Now they are used for car picnics and end of the day coffees at the beach at the end of a day.

You see, live here long enough, and you will discover that if you sit beside the sea long enough, looking out patiently sipping your coffee, sooner or later you will spot a bit of rump, or a barnacled nose, or a tail, or a sprout of water to announce, the first whales of the season have arrived!

And that, makes it worth it.