Smoky Cogs

We are now approaching the first winter since we moved to the Netherlands, and it looks like it is going to be a cold one.

This morning, the temperature was around 0C, and on my way to the train station to catch my train to work, most of the cars I passed were covered in a layer of ice. By the time I got to the station, my fingers felt much like the roofs of those cars.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love the cold, and I am definitely looking forward to seeing some snow in a few months time, but this cold weather did sneak up on me.

It is now mid-October, and already the early morning temperature has reached freezing point, whereas, back in Cape Town, even in mid-winter, the minimum temperature rarely drops below a few degrees above zero, so my body is having to adjust.

This ought to be a fun winter.

The Cape of Storms lives up to its name once again. I was on my way to work yesterday morning when I heard on the radio that a large ship had run aground during the storm the night before at Bloubergstrand, which is 5 minutes away from where I live. I was tempted to turn around to go and look at this (semi)rare event, but realised that it would have made me very late for work.

I did get some nice photos of the wreck from Claudia, who had time to go and have a look.

What had happened is that the coal carrier was anchored in Table Bay, apparently awaiting engine repairs, when a fierce storm struck on Monday night, with gale force winds.

Waves were apparently breaking over her bow, and when the ship’s anchor cable snapped, the ship was forced onto the beach.

By the early hours of the morning the 25 Turkish crew had been rescued by the NSRI, but the ship itself is another matter.

By the time I left work, I stopped at the beach on the way, and the ship was still exactly where it had been beached. It is such a delightful sight (in a rather macabre way) to see this huge hulk so close to the shore. It looked like half of Cape Town turned up to see it too, as the beach was thronged with people catching a view of the ship, and taking countless photos.

The main concerns of the salvage operations now is getting the coal and fuel off the ship before it pollutes the surrounding area if the ship breaks up, but for me, I am rather a bit more curious as to how they are going to get rid of this beast…

Looking at Sunset Beach over Diep River - Cole's Pic

What a winter we are having here in Cape Town. Two weeks ago I wrote about a major storm with gale force winds which I enjoyed so much, and here we are after another weekend of huge amounts of rain.

On Saturday, we had the second highest rainfall in a 24 hour period since recording began. 55mm of rain fell, compared with the record set in 1985 of 61mm. It has truly been a very wet weekend.

On Friday night, we had guests over for supper. They live just a few blocks away from us, but had to drive all around trying to find a route to our house since most of the roads in our suburb had flooded. That was the first clue that we were going to have it bad.
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I am one of those mad people who loves storms.

A cold front hit Cape Town this morning, and it is a big one. We are being attacked by strong gale force winds and torrential rain, and not to mention snow on the mountain peaks.

Now, any sane person would be snug in bed, but where exactly do you think I ended up?

On my way home from work this evening, it was initially raining cats and dogs, but when I got to Milnerton, more or less the halfway point of my journey, the rain stopped but was now caught in a major traffic jam, so got an idea. My route takes me right past Milnerton Beach,so I thought I would stop to savour the glorious weather.

It was absolutely splendid I must tell you. It was half an hour after high tide, and it was on a spring tide on top of it. The wind was a very strong onshore gale force wind, so strong that I could not stand easily when faced with the full force of it. This is my most favourite time to go to the beach for me.

In the picture below you can see the view from Milnerton Beach. I am facing the direction where you can normally see Cape Town on a clear day. You can just make out a little of signal hill on the right of the photo.

Milnerton Beach during the storm