Halfway past it …

 

Tis life … time goes on … remembering those days … my house in Johannesburg had a pomegranate tree … under which friends and I'd sit ...

Clambering red rose ... 

...at that stage life was fun, as it is now – just different – the pomegranate symbolising romantic longings … heart tingling times … still does … but more comfortably …

In my semi-hibernating mode I remembered the poem by AA Milne …

By E H Shepard

Halfway down the stairs

Is a stair

Where I sit.
There isn't any
Other stair
Quite like
It.

I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in the town.

1924 - first edition

And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
"It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!"

Tis where I am … thinking I'm in the sun with a pomegranate in my hand … living life, but slowly remembering those days … hankering after them perhaps … but no – life is still being enjoyed …

Pomegranate tree

Just peacefully living positively ... now the sun has started to appear again - that grey was getting to me ... 

I just hope you're all well, able to cope with life … take care …

The lusciousness of the love apple

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write … Edit … Publish … Bloghop /IWSG hop: Gone with the Wind …

 

The 'Strandlopers' – roamed free along their South African coastline as their lore suggests – existing and depending upon natural availability – plants, herbs, animals and water … they would have been aware of the weather conditions …

Strandlopers - to be found in the 
Rijks Museum,  Amsterdam

… those early days – the oceans were only known by the effect of the winds … with the celestial knowledge … as indigenous peoples in all countries of the world have their lore …

The Dutch came first to establish a maritime and trading base at Cape Town for the long journey to the far east – a victualling station for passing ships …

Very early Cape Town

… in 1652 the early settlers immediately established a vegetable garden for their own use, as well as for purchase by traders … the gardens had vines and fruit trees for cultivation … especially lemons against scurvy.

Captain Cook travelling via the tip of South America only found New Zealand and Australia in 1769 – 1770 … Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator, in 1520 as he rounded South America approached the Antarctic but was beaten back by the ice-floes …

Gale force winds ... 

European weather lore would have travelled with all explorers and seamen … and they would have learnt to adapt to their new lands.

The success of the gardens was not instantaneous … as the rigorous winter storms destroyed one crop after the other … but the vines thrived – the rootstock coming from Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil …

Stellenbosch vineyard

The Cape area, despite its latitude, had a more European climate – a comfortable one … as the ocean current (the Benguela) cooled the coast down …

Those early pioneers realised that a strong wind often occurred from September to March – this is known as “the South-Easter” …

A tree bending wind (in England)

… but because of a local belief that it clears Cape Town of pollution and pestilence it has become known as “the Cape Doctor” …

Cape Fold belt - greatly influences 'Le Terroir'

… and has the positive benefit of limiting the risk of various mildew and fungal grape diseases, as well as tempering humidity – as long as the grape vines are protected from the wind strength …

Climate, Soil, Tradition, Terrain

Today's understanding of “Le Terroir” (of the earth) scientifically has progressed beyond recognition … yet we need to remember our folklore … realising our forefathers' wisdom …

Gone with the Wind – 

but from me 'may Spring come soon!' ...

Tagline – the wind that blows no ills … we could do with more of these winds in our world …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Concrete Lemon …

 

Well it's not what I thought … I imagined that this would be a great subject for a We Are The World Blogfest post …

Detailed taxonomic illustration by
Kohler 1897

… but no … it is most definitely not concrete in the way we understand it today … the term arose in the early 1500s coming about from Latin (concretus) – having different meanings as the language English progressed – and those grammatical aspects are way beyond me … (I looked up concrete origin of word): the English Language is a dynamic one … always changing …

Right let's get back to lemons … and the Mr Coxwell … who perfected this concrete lemon substance …

An essay by Dr Trotter

Mr Coxwell was a chemist and druggist in Fleet Street, London and was a member of the Committee of Chemistry at the Society for the Promotion of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, and … as you know the inventor of concrete lemon.

Concrete as we know it – it was not - but it did have the appearance of smashed white sugar … perhaps I'll look at concrete dust differently now …

Henry Coxwell's description

However Mr Coxwell had created crystallised lemon juice for use at sea … to ease the disease of scurvy …

Scurvy had been recorded in Ancient Egypt over 3,500 years ago; Hippocrates, the Greek physician, described the symptoms of scurvy; the Chinese recognised it …

Eventually in the early years of the 2^nd millennium 'we' started to catch up - that fresh citrus particularly could ward off scurvy …

Produce could be part of the cargo – but would not last … so stop off points were found and then planted with fruit trees and vegetables to be available for maritime travellers …

Very early Cape Town, harbour and 
Table Mountain

… Jan van Riebeeck, acting for the Dutch East India Company, arrived in 1792 at what is now the Cape Town area to set up a victualing settlement to grow fruit trees and develop gardens for a permanent supply of fresh produce.

These stop off points developed in places such as St Helena Island, along the St Lawrence River ... and other places as explorers opened up the world …

Communication and the spread of information was not easy in these early days … so it took until the 1920s before 'our world' understood scurvy … now in the 21^st century it is virtually eliminated though still occurs amongst malnourished people and there have been outbreaks in refugee camps ...

Back to Coxwell and his concrete lemon that particularly valuable commodity … developed in the late 1700s and early 1800s – at least it could be kept and stored easily in the cargo … as a veritable increase in trade spread around the globe.

Description of his reduced lemon juice
in the Bath Chronicle of 1799

The wonders of life through the ages ... 

On July 10^th 1784 … see Crell's Journal in the link … where he notes that 'there is a worm that cankers the bud of all improvement here' … the Naval Service took a while before this ingenious discovery would benefit its seamen.

This subject bemused me … to be found … c/o British Library and its archives … and I learnt quite a lot from reading it …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

London visits, Small Axe reminders of life before South Africa, Stories from a South African childhood …

 

Having taken myself back down memory lane through my London visits earlier this year, then watching Steve McQueen’s Small Axe films about the lives of West Indian immigrants in the London I’d spent time in: the 1970s …

 

… then Trevor Noah’s book ‘Born a Crime’, which Donna of Retirement Reflections had read during her recent time out to catch up with some books, and writing a review reminded me to read …

 

This again took me back … I was a naïve white 30 year old setting out to travel and see life in other parts of the world … I got no further than South Africa … I’m not a real wanderer – but I am so pleased I’ve had that experience of living abroad and seeing other parts of southern Africa – Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia …

 

I had no idea what exactly apartheid was … I hadn’t been aware of divisions in life – but note at a late age, I was about to learn …

 

Trevor Noah’s book ‘Born A Crime’ really took me back to living in South Africa, Johannesburg, and being able to share his experiences through my remembrances from that other side of life.

 

The book hits me with its frontispiece detail: ‘Immorality Act, 1927’ … with a sub-heading ‘To prohibit illicit carnal intercourse between Europeans and natives and other acts in relation thereto’, before a very brief explanation that this Act is enacted by the King’s Most Excellent, Majesty, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa, as follows: -

 

Section 1 for the European male …

Section 2 for the native female …

I won’t go into the descriptions – enough said I was shocked and horrified to read.

For me … he really takes me back to my side of life, shown by him as he had to experience it … through his story telling as he grows up … with each tale giving some background detail about different aspects …

 

Map showing dominant languages
by area - see Wiki language section

… for example: he explains ‘apartheid’ … ‘apart hate’ … the overwhelming majority of peoples were encouraged to turn on each other – because they were from different tribes with different languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Sotho, Venda, Ndebele, Tsonga, Pedi, and more …

 

(Note black South Africans outnumbered white South Africans nearly five to one).

 

Sign that was in Durban

Noah divides the two groups of whites who oppressed the non-white population … the British and the Afrikaners … the British gave a glimmer of hope … learn to speak correct English and dress properly, then there was hope for acceptance.  Afrikaner racism was much worse …

 

The stories are vignettes preceded by a note of morality … mostly about his mother – her love of church and her insistence they attend each Sunday, her knowledge of right and wrong, her ability to find ways round the system to achieve her aims … but without jeopardising their lives (though you might disagree with that with some of the things she did) – she found the cracks, crept in and lived …

 

Performing on his 'Loud and
Clear' tour in 2019.
He is a comedian, tv host,
author and more in the USA

… or a preceding information page on the history, background about the peoples of Southern Africa …

 

… reminding me of when I first lived in Hillbrow – an inner city residential area on the ridge on which Johannesburg is sited … at that stage it was Apartheid-designated “whites only” … but soon became a “grey area” … where it was quite cosmopolitan. 

 

Landing by Bartholomew Diaz
in 1488

Once again memories are stirred by the internet of today, and by booklets and information I have tucked away here … that I’ve wanted to write about … perhaps all these posts will lead me to those thoughts …

 

I’d better stop – otherwise Christmas will be here – but Trevor Noah’s book does tie much together … he’s now in the States, having been born in 1984 six years after I arrived in South Africa.  I’ve never lived in the States, but had the privilege of that year (2017) in Canada … so learnt and am still learning about those countries.

 

Constitutional Court

All I can say now – is thank you to Donna for reading ‘Born A Crime’ … which is an easy read – though tells its story, which may not be easy to read, and for which there is much to go back to and read again if one so wishes …

 

Trevor Noah Wiki article ... 

Here's Donna's post in Retirement Reflections:

Reading Break ... 

Joanne of Word Splash - Joanne Faries - her review of Trevor's book ... 

Have a blessed and peaceful Christmas everyone ... take care and stay safe - with thoughts to one and all ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Stormhoek … Catch the Moment …

Riders on the Storm – by the Doors, Dark and Stormy a brew when relaxing:  the drink rarely would be mine … more likely a glass of vino would be my tipple …

The album cover

But appropriate choices of Ben Keitch, who hails from Eastbourne apparently, and is one of the skippers selected for the 2019/20 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race …

Clippers at rest in Liverpool
c/o The Guide Liverpool 
where a huge wine box was unveiled at the end
of the 2017/18 race

I’ll get to where this post came from and is going to shortly!  The Clipper race reminds me of Cornwall, my mother and her sailing interests when the Tall Ships came into Penzance harbour … 

... but Ben reminds me of my Oxford days … though no degree for me – just school, friends, and the fact my father, uncle and cousin all had degrees from Worcester College …

Eastbourne seafront along the various promenades - the
lovely turquoise tiled bandstand with the 'denuded' pier
in the background (after the fire a few years ago)

Where was I?!  Memories, apart from today’s life here in Eastbourne … Ben has had some incredible experiences … 18 months with the Antarctic Survey, running a festival in the Spanish desert, working in a travelling circus as an aerialist … 

... he has a PhD in Physics from Oxford, with interests in electronics, environmental impact, and acrobatics … I guess most of those you’d need skippering a Clipper round the world. 

Now to why this post is being written … some friends came round for supper and having seen this wine box in Waitrose bought me one … memories of South Africa …

… I love the quote on the box:

Be Passionate

LOVE

DREAM   BIG

Be Spontaneous

CELEBRATE

Change the World or Go Home

We only ever had a few pieces of
plain blue and white Cornishware ..
Viota is a cake mix from the early
20th century

The colours reminded me of my Ma and our Cornish days … the blue and white of Cornwall’s china … the blue skies and crested waves of Kernow: branded Cornishware … which I wrote about in my A-Z 2015.

I know, I know … here’s a right tangle of tentacles creating a post … but inspiration struck … and then in trying to tie things together … here’s another appropriate quote for this paragraph … found under the Stormhoek name … “Catch the Moment” … I get distracted!

c/o Clipper Round the World

It is something I’ve have absolutely no wish to do … race the Atlantic or actually sail anywhere else … love looking at that wet stuff, but am very happy on land.

So to a glass from a box that will bring back many memories from times in Cornwall, Oxford, South Africa and now Eastbourne … with a few other places in between …

 

c/o The Liverpool Guide ...

This huge box supplied by the 2017/18 sponsor, Stormhoek, was on tap at the end of the Clipper Race in Liverpool last year after they had completed a circumnavigation of the planet … what a way to serve 24,000 litres of its wine – that could be 144,000 glasses!

Some facts: 

The race is held every two years … and in March the eleven selected skippers were revealed … they have over a million miles of experience between them …

… and must be outstanding instructors, exceptional motivators, and strong role models … keep calm and patient under pressure, and - understand all types of personalities …

… just like us bloggers?! or authors, or journalists …

The Race is one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other, the race is taken by ordinary, everyday people (about 700 of them) – with no previous sailing experience necessary, it’s a 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on board 70-foot ocean racing yachts.

There is nowhere to hide – anyone can take part … where bankers work alongside students, and waiters rub shoulders with chief executives … as the waves or words mix and match …

Some white crested waves
reminding me of the Cornish seas

So the nod to ‘Riders on the storm’ is just right today … life has led me on a roller coaster – thankfully the sun is out, this post is done … memories have abounded … the sun is not over the yard-arm – but I shall enjoy a tipple with friends tonight!  I’ve caught my moment and need to get out into the fresh Spring air …

A photo I took of an art work on display in a local
memorabilia exhibition - it is dated  July 1968

Have peaceful, thoughtful Memorial Day weekends, or for us our Spring Bank Holiday weekend … the weather looks mixed – such is the British weather world … at least it won’t be Stormy … but we can Celebrate and Change the World with hope and love …

… my head is buzzing with storylines …’Catch the Story’ should be my motto for today!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Letters

We are the World Blogfest ... # 13 - South Africans leading the way to help power Africa ...

I spotted this article ... how 'Clean Coal could help power Africa' - South Africa is leading the way ... Witswaterand (Ridge of White Waters) University in Jo'burg has a Sustainable Coal Research Group ....

c/o Daily Maverick
c/o Clean Coal is the Way Forward

Professor Rosemary Falcon (see article) together with chemical engineer Dr Nandi Malumbazo from Wits, Dr Samson Bada from Nigeria, along with Dr Jacob Masiala from the Congo are working on ways to get the lights on in Africa and keep the air clean.

The Professor can tell where coal comes from ... each continent and country will have a different recipe of minerals and fossil matter ... 

Southern Africa: The mustard colour is where coal is found ...
the other colours denote other type of rocks.
NB these rocks were deposited in a vast inland lake
or sea ... when Africa was part of Gondwana land
See Wiki

... South African coal was formed at the end of an ice age burning longer and at a high temperature - while the coal in North America came from hot steamy swamps and burns rapidly.

South African coal burns so hot that it would melt a European industrial boiler ... that made me sit up and think ...

... the challenge, which these academics are addressing, is to get the coal to a stage at the mine to be appropriate for its subsequent use, or build equipment and plants designed for each coal type ...

Africa's use of coal is growing rapidly as demand for energy grows ... and this research aims to produce 'clean coal' from the mine ... i.e. taking away the bits that will not help the burn, but leave fewer fumes, more heat and a better burn ...

I just found the article so interesting ... with all the talk being against coal ... their research seems like a positive way forward for Africa - but very possibly for other countries around the world.

Wits have proved that clean coal is not only possible, but among the cheapest ways to generate electricity on a continent where more than half the population of 1.24 billion Africans live without power ...

...  yet they have the same aspirations as every person in the Western World, China and Russia ... they should have electricity on tap ... to run their lives, as well as to power water, cities, factories, mines, schools and hospitals ...

... electricity is just not an ethical issue, it's the key to security and growth ... both in Africa and other parts of the world ... something we need to encourage Wits' work ...

We are the World ...
in darkness, be light

This post was inspired by this article: Clean Coal is theWay Forward to Power Africa and South African Academics Know How ...

... and what an appropriate post for our maxim for this monthly blogfest that we participate in #WATWB

We are the World - In Darkness, Be Light

I'm linking to my U for Union Bay post in the A-Z as it features the development of coal on Vancouver Island ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Story