Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape

When the going gets tough, the tough escape to the beach; at least that’s what happens here in Umhlanga. Today dawned bright, calm and sunny, after a rather dreary Friday. Of course hubby and I were keen to escape from the house and see what was happening along the beachfront. Imagine our surprise as we rounded the corner, and came upon this guy. He’d been running, and was now just cooling down. I asked if I may take his photo, and he obliged and did a couple more handstands. In the course of our conversation, I learned that he was an ex gymnast from Kosovo, and that during the war in the late 1990’s, he escaped to England. After getting his British passport, he came out to South Africa on holiday and decided that Umhlanga was the best place on earth, so stayed and bought a home near the beach. I have an even more amazing pic of him which I’m saving for this week’s Wordless Wednesday. He was really happy to have his photo taken, and asked me if I would e-mail them to him.

A bit farther along, someone had escaped from home, and was all setup for a day’s fishing.

This couple looked to be dancing in the surf.

You don’t have to be young to escape on a surf board,  just fit.

Riding the waves is a wonderful form of escape.

This also looks like a lot of fun.

Children love to escape to the beach and play sand pies.

Here at the lifeguards station, you can see the pole, which in an emergency, is the quick escape route down to the beach, just like in the fire stations.

For the adventurous, there’s deep-sea fishing and wave jumping on offer,

but if you just want to chill out, you can lay yourself down at the water’s edge, use your shoes as a pillow. and just dream the day away; that is until the tide comes in. 😉

I hope you enjoyed my pics for the Weekly Photo Challenge. To see more contributions, you can click on the link.

Weekend beachcombing, and piano playing.

Saturday was so beautiful, sunny and with hardly a breath of wind, so we set off quite early for another walk along the beach front. So many people were out there already. There were the joggers, the dog walkers, and a couple of fathers with babies in strollers, obviously having been sent out to give their wives a bit of peace, and maybe a bit longer in bed. There were young children, excitedly skipping along ahead of their parents, so impatient to get onto the sand. Quite a few elderly folk slowly ambled along, and I saw one couple sitting gazing out to sea, holding hands in companionable silence; the husband was in a wheelchair, and his wife must have pushed him quite some way from the car park. It made me so grateful for my health and strength. I suppose one never knows what the future holds though, as we go into old age.

The surfers were having a great time, and the waves were perfect. here you can see one in particular, really riding that wave, and in the left of the pic, is a boat from the Sharks Board checking the nets.

 

 

Along the promenade, there are so many vendors, selling anything from ice-cream to basketry and bead-work, but most of the wares these days, seem to be made in China. Here are three ‘mobile shops’ on the beach.

 

 

These guys wander up and down all day, trying to sell their wares. The man sweeping the steps was on his phone, and ended up sweeping the sand off the steps using only one hand, whilst he did the cell phone dance.

This young couple had set up the fishing rod on the rocks, and were relaxing whilst waiting for their supper to bite.

 

 

 

Filling plastic bottles with sea water, is something many families do when on holiday down here. They take it back home for their domestic worker, as it’s supposed to be very therapeutic.

 

 

African Sangomas (Witch doctors), believe that it has medicinal properties, and one can often see buses and taxis on the return trip to Johannesburg, with huge plastic containers of sea water secured to the roof. I would be very wary of drinking the stuff, knowing what children and maybe some adults do whilst paddling in the water.

We walked all the way to end of the promenade and found a bench to sit on for a while, just admiring the view and watching the bathers. Then it was the long trek back home, which is just beyond the lone tree you can see in this pic.

 

 

Today, I played the piano at our local Mall, and it was great to sit there for a couple of hours, entertaining the passers-by. I saw a few friends who stopped for a chat and then there were the parents with small children who wanted to know if I teach piano. One sweet little boy proudly told me that he can play “Ode to Joy”, but when I moved over to give him a place on the piano stool, he changed his mind and said that he’d rather listen to me play.

I read in the news that Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, is in a coma after contracting pneumonia. He’s been battling liver cancer for years, and is the last surviving of the three brothers. I used to love their music, and my favourite song was “How deep is your love,” so I played it this morning on the piano and said a prayer that he will recover, although I believe that he is not expected to live much longer. So sad for his family.

Well tomorrow I have to see the eye specialist, as my vision is deteriorating somewhat, and I may have to have a cataract operation. I’m rather squeamish about anyone messing with my eyes, but I suppose what will be, will be. Hope you’re having a great day. Chat again soon.