Fish Hoek beach

With the somewhat slow advent of summer in Cape Town this year, it was a real treat to go down to Fish Hoek beach this week for morning coffee. The sand stretched endlessly before us, the mirror-smooth sea providing the perfect surface for the water taxi crossing the bay on its trip to Simon's Town. Although the water appeared to be crystal clear from the shore, the black shark flag was flying, cautioning the handful of bathers that there might be no warning of approaching sharks. A large group of pre-schoolers splashed safely in the shallows, but it would have been an exaggeration to say that it was a good day for swimming, as a cool offshore breeze took the edge off the sun's heat.

A freshly breaking wave wafted that unmistakable scent of salty sea in our direction and I was immediately transported back to a time when kids would stand sandy-footed on the concrete floor of the beach cafe, waiting for a vanilla or chocolate cone or candy floss, while sea water dripped from their costumes and left clumps of damp sand where they stood. The only shoes you saw were red or blue slipslops with embossed fish on the thong. I remember painting my fish with pearly nail polish to make them look pretty. We would write our names on the side of the sole to ensure that we took the right slops home at the end of the day.

Today everyone wears Crocs (or a cheap knock-off) and the cement floor has been replaced by a real carpet. The beach cafe has been turned into a restaurant where cones and candy floss are no more, and an ice cream machine for twirly cones has replaced the old-fashioned scoops in a tiled corner of an enlarged facility. An attempt has been made to grow a lawn, although astroturf has won the day and palm trees provide a little shade without adding to the natural beauty of the area.

But the sea, the beach and the rocks along Jager Walk will most likely remain the same and not succumb to progress and today's and future generations of kids will still have the opportunity to gather cherished memories of carefree days spent in this special corner of paradise.