Funny how one can remember random things you learnt at school. I remember snatches of things like the opening scene of Macbeth, the one where the three witches are discussing meeting again. The play is about the damaging physical and phycological effects that political ambition can have on those that seek power. Now, that does sound a bit like the South African political scene. Not so much the Macbeth bit, but certainly the witches and the cauldron. Our bunch of politicians sure are all about Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble. Other than this bit of Macbeth, there is of course: Romeo, Romeo, wherefor fart thy? This appealed to our adolescent toilet humour. And that, is about how much Shakespeare I can quote.

Another random memory is a snatch of a poem. The poem was written by A G Visser. Now this man, had a very interesting life. He was born in the old Cape Colony, went on to study teaching in the Cape. Life then took him to Edinburgh in Scotland, where he studied Medicine. He became close friends with another poet called Eugene Marais. Eugene Marais is one that I do like, not for his poetic qualities, but for his very interesting life. He was a bit of a dark horse. A man of enigma. But, back to A G Visser. Dr Visser wrote a poem about a teacher in a Sunday School class. From previous writings, you will know that I have very good experience of teaching Sunday School, so I could identify. The story line of the poem, is about Noah and the great flood, and it goes like this:

….veertig dae agtereen (forty continuous days)

En veertig nagte lank gereen (And for forty nights did it rain)

Dis ‘n rekord tot op hede. (It is still a current record)

Meneer, mag ek Meneer iets vra? (Sir, may I ask a question?)

Maar alteseker, Japie. Ja? (Certainly, Japie. Yes?)

And what Japie wanted to know was: were the farmers finally content with all that rain?

(The bracketed text is my very loose translation).

Whilst about things that take forty days to complete. Some years back, a very popular diet was doing the rounds. It was called the Forty Day Diet. It was one of those fad diets, that were incredibly difficult to follow, and had you eating half a head of cabbage and slice of whole wheat bread for breakfast, and then a teaspoon of jam mixed into a bowl of uncooked oats for supper. One morning at work, a couple of us desperadoes were comparing notes of how to stay on this diet for longer than three days. Another colleague joined the conversation and very proudly shared that she managed to eat all the food allowed on the Forty Day Diet in the space of two days. I think she may have missed the point. Just as nature had missed the point this past two days.

We have had so much rain, that there is actually no way to describe to you how much. Imagine all of the Biblical flood, and instead of it happening in the space of forty days we had it over two days. A bit like the Forty Day Diet. Driving into Hermanus this morning, I had to turn back twice, to find another route. My route of choice going into town, is the Karweiders Kraal Road. This is the little country lane where I trundle over the narrow bridge before I get to the fields where the ladies occasionally cause a traffic jam. I then saunter past the fields with all the Blue Cranes, before getting to the spot where I slow down to watch the lambs frolicking. Stay on this little country lane as far as you can go, and you join the main road into Hermanus. This morning, however, the little bridge had a very strong stream of water touching the sides of the bridge. Now, a wiser person, may have realised that this could be the start of trouble, and would turn around. Not me. My thoughts were: I wonder how the cows are coping with all this rain. Let’s drive on a bit and see. There the cows were, knee deep in water, looking ever so miserable. This of course means that I was wheel deep in the same water, and by now realised the best thing would be to get myself out of what was becoming a raging river. I managed to turn around and find a safer route. I can imagine the cows were not amused.

What would a Cape Crawl be with out a reference to a song? Our very own, loved by many, desired by even more, Private Dancer has departed this world. She was simply the best, better than all the rest! Tina Turner recorded the song “I can’t stand the rain”, in 1984. This was in that period where she was no longer as famous having broken up with Ike Turner, and not yet relaunched as the Tina, as we got to know her later, as a solo artist in her signature style of very short fringe dresses, incredibly high heels and big hair. And full orange lips. Do not forget the orange lips. To this day, whenever I wear orange lipstick, I just know that I will thrust my lips like Tina. You simply cannot wear orange lipstick and not thrust your bottom lip forward, ever so defiantly. I can imagine Tina got to the Pearly Gates. Perhaps she was humming the song about not standing the rain softly to herself. I bet you, St Peter took one look at that short fringe skirt and decided to indulge the lady. In doing so, he dropped more rain on the Overstrand Municipal Area than they could have expected over forty days. But it was worth it. Heaven must have had quite a party. Sadly, in the past two weeks, we lost two friends to death. Both these gentlemen played a part in our life. Both were close in age to Colin, which means both died far too young. I do wonder what they made of the Heavenly party.

The weatherman has promised a dry day tomorrow. Friday and the weekend may be wet again. Perhaps this is just what we need. Not far from where we are, is the Elgin Food Market. It happens only on a Sunday. It is an indoor market, and one that we have only very briefly stopped at. With so much rain outside, what Colin and I need, is a lazy day at the Elgin Market. At the end of which, I may have to look up the Forty Day Diet again. Or I may simply choose to put on my orange lip stick and go out and live my best life. Better than all the rest. Better than any one. Any one I’ve ever met.

May perpetual light shine upon Paul and Andrew. And of course….Tina.