Snapshots of Cape Town 3

We have come to the most beautiful place on earth. Table Mountain under blue skies, sunsets, and skirted with clouds. The beach, the space and the sunshine all give us a sense of the Lord God wooing us.
On Saturday we drove up the coast with our friends to Camps Bay, the waves rolling in, stunning and constant. Above us, Table Mountain, hidden by angles and only the Lion’s Head visible. Clear sun against powerful waves, too erratic for any surfer. This is God’s romancing of us.
Through Cape Town, the contrast of architecture, old and new, urban and natural environment. Painted coloured houses, clean and individual against the skyline.
The World Cup stadium like a fruit bowl, I think. Beverly thinks like a paper lantern.
On Mondays, a night drive to Muizenberg. The darkness of the city where every kilometre reduces in wealth down to corrugated shanty towns. The late night shops where prostitutes have their patch, every few blocks and where men cook under the motorway arch on a brazier. It’s a city of contrast. Here, there is no welfare system to disguise social difference. Here, the poor beg, but there is generosity and kindness, too.
On the wall of the school canteen with Falkirt and his wife, I study a poster sized photo of Cape Town. Shot from a plane, the lens embraces all the details and grandeur of the town at the foot of a continent. Twelve Apostles, Signal Hill, Duncan Dock, Stellenbosch and beyond into the vineyards. At night, the lights come as high as they dare around the mountain and the lighthouses warn shipping which queues patiently to get into the dock.
In Woolworths, you are in M&S except every so often in the food aisle, there are things missing: cumin, one day, mayonnaise and your favourite wine the next. In Mugg and Bean, the bottomless coffee has run dry because they have no water. The whole mall is off, says the waiter, with an apologetic smile. He is called Knowledge. That’s all right, we say. Don’t worry.
Climbing the stairs to our flat, I talk to a lady carrying washing. ‘Warm today.’ ‘No, cold.’
It all depends where you come from.