The Cape Doctor

Stanley –Thursday

I have been holding onto my hat since last Friday. And my shirt. And my glasses. And the patio furniture. And everything else nearby that wasn’t bolted to the ground. The reason was that the Cape Doctor came to visit.

‘Cape Doctor’ is the affectionate (?) name Capetownians give to the vicious southeasterly wind that blows periodically across the Cape peninsula during the summer months. Most of the time, it is just the ‘southeaster’, but when the wind really picks up, people say the Doctor has arrived. It is the reason that the cape of Good Hope is also called the Cape of Storms.

I’m not entirely sure why the wind is called the Doctor, but the internet tells me that the likely reason is that it clears out the smoke and haze and usually any trash lying on the ground. So the Doctor is good for the city. Certainly, the air is spectacularly clear after the Doctor has left, with bright sunshine. Like today.

One other effect of the southeaster in all its form is that it puts a tablecloth on Table Mountain. Moist air is blown from False Bay up the mountain where it forms a cloud. When it reaches the other side of the mountain it descends, and the cloud disappears.

The tablecloth during a mild southeaster

The tablecloth when the Doctor has come to visit.

My first memory of the Doctor was when my family visited Cape Town in 1960. We were totally unprepared for what happened when the Doctor arrived. We had never been in a situation where it wasn’t possible to walk into the wind and couldn’t stop running when with the wind. Of course, in a city the venturi effect plays a big role, increasing the wind speed as it rushes between buildings. I remember that on a number of city corners, people were stationed to catch pedestrians who walked from behind a building into the gale. Without the catchers, the poor pedestrian would be propelled into the traffic.

  

Last year, Mette and I were downtown when the wind picked up. We could only laugh as we clung to lampposts waiting for a break to run to the next one. And a few years ago, when I started the Argus cycle race, I had to get off my bike to push it through a tunnel under a building. A couple of years later, the wind was even worse and the race was called off.

I don’t have the words to do justice to a Doctor experience, so here are some photos and video clips.

What happened to the truck?

The trees have adapted.

I wouldn't park where that white car is.

Click here to watch this weekend's Doctor.

Click here to watch one of 2015's Doctors.

Click here to watch the start of the cycle race that was almost immediately cancelled.

A move

Apologies for the brevity of this post.  I have had an amazingly full and varied life over the past two weeks.

It started in Minneapolis, took a week's interlude in Johannesburg to celebrate with approximately 50% of my school mates our fifty years  reunion.  For at least seven of us, it was over 60 years since we started at school together.  Although it was a church school, many of us were sent there because it provided one of the best educations around - in a stunning setting to boot.

St. John's - one of the oldest schools in Johannesburg

Then I flew to my home in Knysna, 800 miles away, packed the car and a trailer and drove the 300 miles to Cape Town where my friend Mette and I have bought an apartment.  On the way, I managed to see my 'grand daughter', Maya - actually the grand daughter of my late younger brother.  The we unpacked the STUFF into the new apartment, which, by the way, we saw for the first time.  Yes, I know, you think we were crazy to buy something sight unseen.

Then back to Knysna, pack up some more.  Drive to Cape Town again - via Maya.  And today we flew to the bush for 10 days of idle pleasure next to Kruger National Park.

Many people question why I am leaving Knysna, which is regarded as one of the most beautiful spots in South Africa.  And it certainly is.  But when push comes to shove, I am a city boy and the lure of Cape Town was too much to resist.  Mind you Cape Town ranks at least as high as Knysna in the beauty pageant.

As I write this, I am sitting in the bush, watching warthogs, baboons, and mongooses.  In a few minutes we will drive to some remote part of the farm and sip wine while watching the sun go down.  perhaps a herd of elephants or buffalo will join us.

Here are a few photos of why Cape Town is so appealing.  The first European settlement was by the Dutch in 1652 to plant a vegetable garden for ships going to the East Indies. Of course, people had been living in the area for centuries, notably the Khoi-San.

Painting of Jan van Riebeeck arriving at the Cape in 1652.

The beautiful and fine University of Cape Town

The iconic view of Cape Town with Table Mountain behind.

Nelson Mandela's home for many years - Robben Island

A view of the Cape Town bowl from atop Table Mountain, which is about 3500 feet (1000 metres) high.

The Cape of Good Hope.  To some it was the Cape of Storms.

The dramatic crags of Cape Point

Some of the locals are quite aggressive.

The main house on Groot Constantia - a vineyard established in about 1670 and still going strong.

Kirstenbosch - the national botanical gardens on the side of Table Mountain

Bantry Bay, where we have bought an apartment with views of the Atlantic and Lions Head (in the background)

A tired Stan - Thursday