Lazy summers on the catwalk (Jager Walk)

Been basking in the sunshine today, taking advantage of a lull between cold fronts. I took an elderly friend down to Fish Hoek beach for coffee and a walk along the catwalk or Jager Walk as it is more correctly known. It's not often that I go along there, and even less often that I sit on one of the colourful benches and enjoy the view across the bay. Today it would have been a crime not to, and so we sat watching the large - for Fish Hoek - swells coming in from the south and splashing up the rocks onto the catwalk. We were opposite Skellies Pool, a natural bathing area famous among Fish Hoekites as a safe place for small children to swim at low tide - obviously accompanied by their parents. These days it is more likely to be packed to the gunwales as it is the only place the sharks can't access!

In our teenage years, summers were spent on the lawns lining the catwalk - the benches near the cafe were for the 'oldies' - and I know many who read this blog will be transported back to those idyllic days when all we had to worry about was a school test or whether so-and-so would be at the Friday night disco. The area was sheltered from the relentless south-east wind of summer and the sea often an enticing 20 degrees. In those days, we were blissfully unaware of the danger that lurks off those rocks - our very own Jaws, maybe even more than one. I haven't been back in the water since seeing that movie, except one exceptionally hot January day last year, when I didn't venture further than waist-deep. Blow me down if the shark siren didn't go off within an hour of leaving the water!

Today, those same teenagers are past middle age, and a handful of them still brave the waves early in the morning, summer and winter. They must have mermaid blood in their veins!