Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Elands.
As I supped my double brandy and coke, I thought `Jislaaik, this oke is going to have a heart attack and, I for one, am not doing CPR.' He was a very large, red faced local farmer and he was not taking well to his boys getting thrashed by the IRA. To add injury to insult there were not only some Irish rugby supporters in the heartland but there was even one brown oke in the pub. As the brown oke was on his own we got chatting. He told me that I had missed the wake for PW held in the pub and he assured me, that apartheid was still alive and well in Elands Bay. Though his presence in the pub is emblematic, at least, of some change. I remember back in the old days (when we still broke open gates on the railway road) arriving at the pub and noting a brown oke sitting on the back of the Spoorweg Cortina Bakkie. When I staggered out three hours later, he was sitting in exactly the same place wating for baas to finish dopping.
Elands in November is dubious from a surfing point of view, and indeed our 7am Saturday wake up heralded a flat, on shore, misty morning. Late morning we took a not very optimistic drive up the toll road to Lamberts. FB's was working. I spent a lot of time making very close encounters with the kelp as the take off was fast, but the water was warm, so the odd nose dive was not too painfull. Sunday morning FB's provided a respectable cross shore wave, with a slightly lower tide meaning it was a little off the reef. But, hey, an uncrowded, quality summer wave....
In the 80's access to FB and Lamberts was onerous as it included the long scenic road. So we ended up drinking tassies in the sun and talking k#K when E.Bay was flat. On my last 2 visits to E.Bay, I have been struck, that in all these years I have never met a local (of the more brown variety) surfer. I have wondered why youngsters are not enticed into the water.
Change is in the air. Access to the beach for vehicles has been properly fenced off- which I support- there is talk of a town house complex and the road between Picket Berg and E.Bay is being upgraded. Bessie, the toothless manageress of the farm where we were staying informs me that tik is eroding schooling in the area and she worries about her granchildren's future. E.Bay will remain a mythical mix of wave, culture and hot, dry wind and at least one brandy and coke at the hotel is neccesary to position one self in this world.
As I supped my double brandy and coke, I thought `Jislaaik, this oke is going to have a heart attack and, I for one, am not doing CPR.' He was a very large, red faced local farmer and he was not taking well to his boys getting thrashed by the IRA. To add injury to insult there were not only some Irish rugby supporters in the heartland but there was even one brown oke in the pub. As the brown oke was on his own we got chatting. He told me that I had missed the wake for PW held in the pub and he assured me, that apartheid was still alive and well in Elands Bay. Though his presence in the pub is emblematic, at least, of some change. I remember back in the old days (when we still broke open gates on the railway road) arriving at the pub and noting a brown oke sitting on the back of the Spoorweg Cortina Bakkie. When I staggered out three hours later, he was sitting in exactly the same place wating for baas to finish dopping.
Elands in November is dubious from a surfing point of view, and indeed our 7am Saturday wake up heralded a flat, on shore, misty morning. Late morning we took a not very optimistic drive up the toll road to Lamberts. FB's was working. I spent a lot of time making very close encounters with the kelp as the take off was fast, but the water was warm, so the odd nose dive was not too painfull. Sunday morning FB's provided a respectable cross shore wave, with a slightly lower tide meaning it was a little off the reef. But, hey, an uncrowded, quality summer wave....
In the 80's access to FB and Lamberts was onerous as it included the long scenic road. So we ended up drinking tassies in the sun and talking k#K when E.Bay was flat. On my last 2 visits to E.Bay, I have been struck, that in all these years I have never met a local (of the more brown variety) surfer. I have wondered why youngsters are not enticed into the water.
Change is in the air. Access to the beach for vehicles has been properly fenced off- which I support- there is talk of a town house complex and the road between Picket Berg and E.Bay is being upgraded. Bessie, the toothless manageress of the farm where we were staying informs me that tik is eroding schooling in the area and she worries about her granchildren's future. E.Bay will remain a mythical mix of wave, culture and hot, dry wind and at least one brandy and coke at the hotel is neccesary to position one self in this world.
# posted by Ian Mackenzie @ 1:04 AM 
