If there is anyone out there that has read them all, you deserve a medal! And, unless you are unlucky enough to be married to me, you are probably slightly mad. Actually, marrying me is probably mad too.
This is my 250th blog, starting in Australia in 2018, and here we are in South Africa 6 years later. Blimey that's almost one a week!
Back to the plot! We have spent the last couple of days in Hermanus in our, what shall we call it?, somewhat mediocre cottage by the sea. But despite the fact it is miles out of the town and almost next door to the Abalone factory it does have amazing views of the roiling ocean.
And the Abalone factory itself? Named after a well known album of the early 90s,
...it is remarkable only for the fact that it is protected by armed guards. Apparently abalone is so valuable and so heavily poached by criminals that its removal by anyone other than licensed operators has been banned. And the operators themselves have to hire heavies to look after the product. Wow! We are certainly seeing a cross section of South African lives.
And we did see many whales in the bay at Hermanus, just not close enough to get a picture worth sharing (unless your love is for slightly grey blobs in an otherwise endless ocean). So we just sat back and enjoyed the view. With our down jackets and waterproofs on some of the time - so not much actual sitting! They apparently obliged the watchers with the occasional breach - just not when we were looking. Ah, well, can't have it all. Another thing saved for another time!
And so to Franschhoek, where we arrived last night...
with this view from our hotel.
Over the mountain passes, this Huguenot settlement of the late 17th century, was previously a watering place for local San and Khoi people until the Dutch East Indies Company decided it was in its interests to support the relocation of the French persecuted protestants into farmland that kept the indiginous people out. So with irony that appears to be completely lost on the local white people those persecuted for their religious beliefs in Europe, became persecutors themselves. Selfie in front of the Huguenot Monument, in which the only thing is focus is my hat! Good one!
To be fair the Huguenot museum does illustrate the impact of religious intolerance world wide on all sorts of people and to just share one staggering fact of the current world, more than 68 million people are currently displaced, approximately half of them from 3 countries: Syria, Afghanistan and Southern Sudan account for over 30 million displaced people, each of which is due, to a greater or lesser extent, to religious intolerance. As Umberto Eco put it:
And in the words of Somali-British poet, Warsan Shire, featured in the museum:
Message there for our illustrious (sorry, I mean ignorant, odious, barbaric, poisonous) Home Secretary. On a day when the leader of the Labour Party has again ruled out rejoining the EU but is trying to negotiate a solution to the "boat problem" which is essentially the same as we had when members of the EU, it just makes me angry that we continue to demonise others for wanting to escape persecution, poverty and discrimination.
Sorry, I've gone off on one again. But good museums are supposed to make you think. And this one was as much about intolerance as it was about Huguenots. It was actually an excellent place to while away a rather cold and damp morning. And I know I write this as well over 10,000 people have died from flooding caused by incompetent and corrupt government in Libya, which has nothing to do with religion, and an earthquake in Morocco has also killed thousands. In the end until we address inequality and poverty we will never make the world safer. We will never avoid all catastrophes but we could, with the will, make much of the world more resilient to them when they occur.
Right back to the journey (again!). Last night in Franschhoek we found the "home of The Chocolate Block", a rather lovely wine from round here that retails for 20+ quid back home, but here is a snatch at around a tenner, even in its "home bar". It would have been rude not to!
Then today has been a "wandering and shopping day". Oh, and coffee! Not that we have bought much. Hermanus had trapped us in that regard. We stumbled across the art gallery of Ed Bredenkamp and, making sure we visited at least three times, ended up coming away with at least one piece each. How did that happen? Forgot to take a picture before it was rolled for us to take home but it looks something like this! Hoping it will look fabulous in our living room!
And so to continue our theme of living beyond our means we are eating out tonight at La Petite Colombe, a rather nice (think I might be underplaying that) restaurant on the outskirts of Franschhoek, owned or run by friends/relations (not sure which ) of Kat and Tom. Be this on your head 😉. Too far to walk, not driving, so taxi there and back and I am even wearing a shirt and trousers. It doesn't come much posher than this. Tough gig, but someone has to do it.
And tomorrow we head for the wineries. By tram! That will be hard too. I shall of course do my best to record it all for posterity, your entertainment and enlightenment. Or perhaps I'll just ramble on as usual 😂.
If I have offended anyone, please let me know. It is never my intention. Unless you are Suella Braverman, in which case I meant every word (except illustrious).
I’ve never heard this piece from Eco but it certainly seems to speak to the difficulty people seem have in respecting the opinions of others and where they‘re derived from!
Perhaps if Suella took a few trips to places like this there might be a bit more empathy in policy-making from Whitehall (or then again maybe that involves sentience and compassion).