Autumn Has Arrived and So The Leaks as Well!

Autumn has arrived with the first good rain of the season. The block of flats I live in leaks like a sieve and so we run with towels and buckets to catch all the water coming through the walls and ceiling! We don’t complain too loudly as the rents are absurdly low and so we put up with all the drips. The weather has become cooler now as the first hint of winter peeks around the corner. Already snow has been reported on some mountains to the south west of our city. I predict that the winter this year will be colder than last year as it seems that each winter gets colder and summer hotter!

driving rain

Squalls come through every hour so when you just think the rain is over the next one arrives catching you off guard. The sun is out but to the north of the city it is pelting down. Each part of the city gets it’s own share of the rain at different times. Now the dams will fill up again as with the drought we’ve had they have been getting depleted.

raining today

We lie in the southern part of South Africa and in between two demographics so we tend to get some summer rainfall which is mostly from the northern subtropical region of Kwazulu-Natal and the winter rainfall of the Western Cape which lies to the west of Port Elizabeth, my city.

Beautiful Wild Places in the Southern Cape of South Africa.

 

There are some beautiful wild places in the southern cape around where I live. Magnificent waterfalls just begging to be seen that most people don’t even know exist. Just in the Gamtoos valley there are small towns servicing the deciduous fruit farms and wonderful hiking trails taking one to waterfalls hidden away in narrow ravines.

We have 7 biomes just around my city of Port Elizabeth alone! So there is a different type of vegetation for every ones tastes. Montane forests, succulents, karroo desert vegetation, seashore vegetation and grassland.

Storm’s River is home to montane forests and magnificent mountains clothed with thick forest. Trails wind up and down the mountain sides through this lush vegetation that often never sees the light of the sun.

the vegetation that the Addo elephants eat is a succulent of the karroo biome This bush retains it’s moisture in it’s leaves even in dry periods and has nutritional vales for them.

The Person Behind the Blog

 

I’m an centravert which means that I’m not as secretive as an introvert but not as open and exuberant as an extrovert. Parties and mass crowds scare the hell out of me! I prefer one on one friendships and enjoy inviting friends out for a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop with intimate conversation.

My life has been a roller coaster ride of mainly happiness with many pleasant memories. I grew up in Port Elizabeth but we were forced to move in the early 60’s as my father lost his business, to the town of Benoni in what was then known as the Transvaal now as Gauteng. There a whole new lifestyle awaited as I experienced coed school for the first time after having been to a boy’s only school for the first 6 years of my life. After my schooling I started an apprenticeship but didn’t get on with the foreman who was abusive and so I walked out of the apprenticeship and went back to Port Elizabeth to start afresh. I got married in my late twenties but divorced 7 years later as my wife preferred a relationship with her boss. Job-wise I’ve been there worn the t-shirt and more and now I find myself out of work once more in an economy where if you are white, male and over 50, that has dire consequences for you.

Both my parents have passed on and only have a sister with whom I live. Most of our relatives seem to have forgotten that we exist even that they happen to reside in the same city and country!

In my last job I was a senior manager at a backpacker which enabled me to gather much information on the travel and hospitality industries of which I’m now blogging and have started an on line booking agency. The first time I ever travelled to the former Transkei was in 2005 while I was working as a manager and it opened up a whole new world for me in that I could travel and stay inexpensively, one of the perks of working in this industry.

My hobbies include cars as would be seen from my second blog, as is hiking, a passion of mine, of which I’ve done so little these past few years. Also antiques, these are mainly Victorian as this was what was used in South Africa in the 19^th century. I have 2 cars at present both being classic minis. One currently on the road, the other awaiting rebuilding as I strive to find a garage to house it. I also enjoy texting friends on my mobile and in doing this , am confusing most people as they say that people my age don’t even know what a mobile is let alone chat on it!

Most people I find have a strange attitude to life in that when a person reaches 62 years of age they must retire and become a vegetable waiting to die! That is the last thing on my mind as I seek another job and next adventure. There is so much to still accomplish out there and I want to do that.