Morning walk

When I do my morning walk, I often just have to stop and admire the houses that I pass by. They are all different but somehow they have a certain uniformity between them. Some of them date back to the 1800s and others have just been built recently.

But most of them have a feature which is of great importance here in Prince Albert, a ‘stoep’.

A stoep is a porch on the front of the house. Always covered by a roof, to protect the owners from the hot sun. And it’s a place to greet people, to entertain, to have a braai and to check out the rare car that passes by. And yes this morning I was greeted on my way from beginning to end.

This morning I wanted to get a glimpse of the sun rising just over the mountains that are at the end of the village, but then I would need to get up an hour earlier, at 5.30. That’s a bit early …

Only a couple of years ago, I would tuck away my iphone and not use any technology on my trips. However being without a TV for several months here, it’s actually quite convenient to sit down with a locally roasted coffee and see what the world is coming to. Especially because the newspaper here in PA, tends to be a day old and focus on another minibus traffic accident on the N1 or the size of a shark that approached surfers on a beach at the Cape. It’s actually quite refreshing not to have to worry about Corona numbers, international conflicts or ice melting too fast on the poles. All of which of course are of importance, just not for me right now…

Anyway, it’s market day here in PA. Which is one of the highlights in the social calendar here. Will need to get ready …