Lazy Sunday afternoon

It is as all Sunday afternoons should be - lying somnolent in the shade looking upwards and out into the far reaches of the universe, cunningly disguised as an overarching canopy of palest blue. Swallows swoop and soar as they feed on summer's early bugs and a lone gull wheels far, far above me, enjoying the freedom of the thermals and nothing else to do.

Closer to the earth, a breeze rustles the new leaves on the creeper and the smell of slightly scorched potatoes wafts over the wall from next door. Golden oldies are playing on the radio, bringing memories of younger days when a Sunday afternoon would be spent on the beach or sailing in the bay. Various small aircraft criss cross the skies - the tourist season has begun - and earlier a Virgin Airlines plane did a leisurely circle over the Peninsula to treat the passengers to an awesome view of the fairest cape in all the circumference of the globe. If only Sir Francis Drake could have seen it from the air! His superlatives would have known no bounds!

All this pleasurable beauty is due to change - apparently this afternoon! The weatherman has forecast cloud and thundershowers, and time is surely running out for his prediction to materialise. No sign of a blot on the skyscape as I write, but Cape Town is fickle and we may well see a drop or two by tonight. Rain is forecast for the next two days, so I will rely on the weatherman and spend a little longer looking up and outwards while the sun shines so obligingly.