Return To The Cape...Yet Again!: February 2017

For anybody who might possibly have been looking for regular Blog posts from me to perhaps brighten the gloom that can be Winter in the UK, then can I apologise...profusely if that is more acceptable. I can't believe that the last post I wrote was a fairly serious one on 2nd February!
Perhaps I depressed myself? Nah! Impossible to do. What has been happening however is that life has been pretty full on here in the Western Cape, particularly following the arrival of Richard, Charlotte, Annabel and Sam after Ann and Paul departed on 9th February! By full on, I mean full on! It's only when you have young children (ages 3 and 1) living with you for a concerted period that you realise just how tough being a parent can be. In fact the memory of rearing your own children and the difficulties/pressures therein, truly disappear into the ether and you simply can't remember that it was anything other than a breeze. That said, it has been fantastic to finish this holiday by being able to introduce additional members of my family to the delights of this part of the world and to have fun with Annabel and Sam as well.
Today, Monday 27th February is our last full day here as we round off a nine week spell which has brought us just one poor day's weather! With hot sunshine every day, it's not difficult to understand the increasing worries about water supplies and they are desperate for a full on wet Winter to try and replenish the many dams which are now getting to critical levels. Normally, when we arrive anywhere, it acts as a catalyst for the rain gods to do their worst! Unfortunately, our extended presence here has had the counter effect.
I think that I wrote somewhere else how difficult it is to write anything new and fresh when you have visited a place for seven consecutive years and done the same things - Table Mountain, Winelands, Chapman's Peak, V&A Waterfront to name but a few. Instead, I have decided with this final post to let some of my photos do the talking. After all, they say that a picture is worth a thousand words.
We love this place as much as ever and it will be difficult not to think about planning 2018 the moment our feet touch home soil on Wednesday.
I have been a great salesman for this part of South Africa and will continue to be so because tourism for the Western Cape is vital for a sustainable future. It is also such a beautiful and welcoming place to spend time, but on that note, don't just take my word for it, if you get chance, try it!
Until the next Blog, stay happy.

Remember to click on the photos to see the full scale.

I have said it before, perhaps in a post somewhere in this Blog or maybe on an earlier visit to South Africa but when you have been here for seven consecutive years, then it does become rather challenging to write about something new! The fact that my last dispatch was 24th January adds weight to the theory. However, eventually a touch of inspiration drifts my way and the fingers hit the computer keypad.
I do find it funny, even now, that when we tell people we are heading down to South Africa for a holiday, they question our sanity as to why we would want to visit somewhere so dangerous! My immediate response is, "have you been into Bradford at 11pm on a Friday night recently?" I don't mean to denigrate Bradford because I could have used any UK city. It's just that it's the nearest major conurbation to where we live. Sorry Bradford!
Actually, I am not denying that this is a country with some major problems regarding crime although my own feeling is that the biggest crime here is the two tiered society and the poverty that afflicts a great proportion of black society. It shouldn't be like this and I find it hard to comprehend how, 23 years after the election of Nelson Mandela as the first black President of South Africa, more progress hasn't been made in turning this country into the success story that it really should be! I look for excuses but simply find myself unable to accept any that are put forward.
I read somewhere that Margaret Thatcher once said that anybody who thought the ANC could govern this country was living in cloud-cuckoo-land! No doubt she received considerable vitriol for this statement but now, so many years after she said it, the evidence is there of just what vision she had! The economy of the country is basically in melt down and certainly, the Western Cape without the vast amount of tourist money being generated annually, would be in a very sorry state.
I almost feel that apartheid still exists here because the white man remains dominant. Behavioural evidence is readily available in the way many of the white Afrikaans treat their fellow countrymen. Have they not heard of the word respect? Are they so reluctant to accept that everyone is born equal? It really is unpleasant when you witness it but in fairness, this type of behaviour is restricted to people of our age. Sad eh? For us, we believe in treating people of any colour or creed with the respect we would expect ourselves. It really does work and our experiences here in restaurants, in shops, in hairdressers, in supermarket car parks, in fact anywhere, have been absolutely fantastic and for that we are grateful.
Some people say that it will be at least three or four generations before it is as it should be. I hope it doesn't take this long because we truly love the country and I for one have become a fervent and passionate salesman on behalf of the South African nation. Whether it will improve more quickly than people anticipate, I don't honestly know. What I do know however is that things can only get better.
I know that this dispatch is perhaps depressing and a little bit heavy but we are having a blast and hopefully, some of the photos accompanying tonight's musings might counterbalance the black cloud hanging over you!