New Year

I see on Face Book my memory for today is the losing of my blog. (that happened a long time ago)  When I saw this post it  reminded  me that I had not posted anything in my blog this year. I had not been inspired to write anything, an indication that I was feeling low and  did not think  anything worth writing about'

The year started rather sadly, with my daughter Eleanor  and her husband Andreas leaving for Namibia and Luke going back to George, with some problems too. Amanda and Carlyle had already left, Danielle was back at work and,of course,very busy. Nothing much was happening here to distract me .Here is a gloomy poem about it.

JANUARY

After the flush of holidays the tide  recedes

 leaving the  beach exposed and litter-strewn,

bleached  grey under a smoke-stained sky.

I walk alone beside the shallow waves

 barefoot through rough and gritty sand

 dragging behind  me memories

and thoughts of joyful days.

The New Year splashes icy over  me,

its taste metallic, bitter on my tongue.

But now things are improving. Evergreen Choir practices have started up again. The first U3A meeting was most entertaining and enlightening(more about this later) and My old friend Pinkie(Elizabeth) Hulbert has come to stay nearby in the St James Hotel. She actually stayed a few days with me first because her luggage and  furniture hadn't arrived, It only got  to Cape Town three days after she did. 

The worst thing about the new year has been the fires. They have been particularly widespread this year. The dry weather and the strong winds have made ideal conditions for \veld fires. Smoke from fires as far away as Paarl reaches us here. Everybody is sure they e been deliberately set, but the culprits are never found. If only a band of dedicated fire-spotters like the shark-spotters could be employed. I'm sure it would actually save money. After the towers used for spotting fires in the plantations round George were abandoned, fires were much more frequent and a lot of timber was lost.