THE CANE IS HIGH & THE BARBEL ARE JUMPING

It’s official – autumn is here. The first cool weather has arrived and those of the pale persuasion feel relieved. Cockroaches the size of skateboards no longer cruise insolently across the floor with feelers waving; the nightly mosquito attacks are decreasing and soon the swallows will start sitting en masse on the telephone wires. No doubt these are committee meetings to decide when to start the long flight back to southern Russia or wherever they go.

Durban has what is described as a ‘sub-tropical, maritime' climate which on the whole is great. January, February and March, however, can see temperatures in the low 30’s and this coupled with relative humidity levels of up to 90% can make things somewhat uncomfortable. Hence ‘Natal Fever’ sets in and everybody slows down, slumps in a chair sans shirt, reaches for a cold one and scans the weather forecast for the promise of the first cold front moving up the coast. The mangos ripen, the avocadoes swell, the sugar cane waves and the paw-paws grow to an obscene size. Let the telephone ring (it’s only head office in Johannesburg wondering what’s happening) as business takes a back seat because the surf’s cool and inviting. Come to think of it where else could you find a place with tropical vegetation, a vast diversity of people, the sea and this climate?

Let us therefore brace ourselves for another tough day in Africa!