The fog hugged the coastline today, not venturing ashore. It must have known that everyone is lusting after blue skies and sunshine after winter, albeit a fairly mild one. We are used to being in the fog here on the most southwesterly tip of southern Africa - Slangkop lighthouse. Mostly, we can drive a short way towards Fish Hoek and find ourselves in blazing sunlight, having left the grey and murky depths of clammy sea mist that we felt sure covered the whole of Cape Town.
Today the fogbank muffled the chugging of the fishing fleet as they went out in calmer seas after a week of heavy swells, and the mournful lowing of the foghorns gave the impression of a herd of cows on an ocean wave. The Afrikaans word for hippopotamus is seekoei - sea cow - but I don't know if this originated from sightings of these rotund animals along the seashore. Certainly there are none to be found here today, although that may be due entirely to Man's propensity for killing.
A lack of clouds didn't equate to blue skies, as an overall orange haze of smoke and dust from human habitation blankets the Cape on windless days, but this will give rise to a gorgeously hued sky at sunset as the last light clings to each particle and sends its reflection spinning out in all directions.
Look to the West at twilight and you will see Mercury above the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, seemingly touching as they merge in our line of sight. Don't be alarmed. The distance is an illusion as Venus is 320 000 000km from us and Jupiter 900 000 000km! So no chance of a collision.
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