I went to Durban for a couple of weeks. I Live in Jozi .I cant believe how a mere  6 hour drive can take you from Winter Hell into Winter delight. In Gauteng I was trying to lubricate my skin with cream so that I didn’t resemble a lesser known species of the spotted bearded dragon in the Australian Outback. In Durban my skin just embellishes itself...dewy and smug. These Durbanites must be so thankful of their Winter  luck.

In Gauteng my mornings are usually occupied by great battles with myself, about which body part I should sacrifice by putting out of the bedcovers first. In Durban I burst out of bed, cartoon birds cheeping  and golden light outside sparkling, like some cheesy mattress advert on the telly …and I bound up to the breakfast table with no visible signs of frostbite. In Gauteng, by this time, I would have lost one of my digits by now …another casualty of this Johannesburg winter!  .These Durbanites must be so smug in their Winter Luck! In Durban I walked into the Durban North Hypermarket and there were loads and loads , rows and rows, of shiny new gas heaters and oil heaters and wall panel heaters to choose from…In Jozi I remember doing a ‘Showdown’ with a fellow at Builder’s Warerhouse…the last lone gas heater stood between us…it was a  terrifying  scuffle.

I walk down the beachfront promenade…its all joy and sunny fun here. None of the dogs are wearing tartan  jackets. None of the humans are booted, suited , fleeced, hooded and scarfed into minature igloos. Its slip slops and t shirts here. I sit on the beach …warm sand under my feet…soaking up the good mojo from the waves and the rays …and I think how grateful these Durbanites must be over their winter...suddenly I spot a man walking along the beach. A local (you can see them from a mile away) …         ’Lucky Sod’ I think to myself …’locals can come here after work…everyday and experience …THIS!’

 But he doesn’t look happy and warm and fuzzy like me…His head is cocked to one side…a bundled up towel wedged between his jaw and his ear…like he has toothache…and the closer I get the more I see that there is no gratitude…no enjoyment …no appreciation….he talks loudly into his towel as he walks by and I realise that he is speaking into his cellphone. His Cell is wrapped up in a towel to try and muffle the sound of the waves.  Muffle the sound of the waves???!!!!!

What’s happening to us?  Whats happening to us that we go for a walk by the sea…and yet we don’t look at the sea? Smell the sea? And do our damndest to not hear the sea? Why is that we have to have something taken away from us, before we realsie how ‘lucky’ we had it in the first place?