21 Jun. 13
I thought I would be a good human again this morning when I noticed an
oil spill floating down the river towards our boat. Last time we reported a
spill I was bitterly disappointed in the reaction I received from the
authorities but thought I would give them another chance to redeem themselves.
So when the oil slick reached our boat I took some photos remembering that last
time my samples could not be used for some or other technical reason. I now
know what that technical reason is. Anyway I took some photos and called Bonga
from Transnet to inform him of my discovery. He told me he would pass the
information onto his supervisor and took my number. A few minutes later I
received a call from Aradhana and she asked me to mail my photos to her. I
composed a mail and attached the photos. Because she had called me back so
quickly I believed that she was the correct person to contact and action was
about to be taken. About an hour later she called me again and told me she was
at the yacht club with her team. I was quite happy with her relative quick
response time even though most of the spill had already disappeared down the
river and into the ocean but some of it was still floating in the channel. Finally
we would make a difference and the culprits would be caught, hopefully given a
hefty fine or prison term.
But disappointment followed soon after. Lola and I rowed across the
channel and met her on the club grounds where she was waiting with four other
people. She introduced herself and told us she brought the other four along to
clean up. I asked her if she had anything to take samples with. She told me she
didn’t have anything and besides they did not have a laboratory to test samples
anyway. That took care of my technical question regarding my first samples. No
lab equals no tests.
I wasn’t sure how to proceed at this point so I asked her if they had a
boat to come out and at least look at the remainder of the spill. My second
disappointment arrived when she said no. I was confused, they arrived without
any way to take samples, without any way to get on the water and without any
equipment to do a clean up.
When Lola and I arrived at the walk-on we noticed a large pool of oil
still floating next to it so I told her to follow me onto the walk-on to take a
look. She refused telling me she has no life jacket and is therefore not
allowed onto the walk-on. More disappointment. The clean up team however said
they would go without life jackets and did follow me. We quickly found the
spill and they stood looking at it for a while before they asked me how I think
they should clean it up. I was more than surprised by the question and couldn’t
give them an answer so just shook my head in amazement as I walked away to
fetch Lola. Lola had an idea somehow that this was a waste of time and had been
giving me a hard time since the first phone call in the morning so I finally
admitted my mistake to her once we arrived back on Yrumoar.
So saving the environment is just never going to happen and I won’t
waste my time reporting the pollution again.
22 Jun. 13
Either today or tomorrow the sun should start its journey back south and
our solar panels can start to be more effective again. At the moment we only
get about 0.6 of a kilowatt per day on a sunny day. It’s not even enough power
to run the freezer for a whole day and we have to keep an eye on the voltage
all the time switching the freezer off as soon as it gets dark or overcast.
14 Jul. 13
The past few weeks have flown by like a whirlwind. It all started when
Keagan arrived on holiday and we fetched him at the bus stop. We stayed on
Yrumoar for a few days then Lola’s sister asked us to house sit her place while
she went away to Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape so we moved out of our
floating home and stayed on dry land for a while.
While we were at her house we had Kirsten and Brad come down from
Richards Bay for a weekend visit. On the same weekend we had Keanu, another
friend of Keagan come over so the house was rather busy. The day they left we
fetched Nika, a friend of Rauen from the airport and a day later we fetched
Andre, another friend of his also from Richards Bay at the bus stop. Before
Andre arrived we all went out sailing on Maxscene, Kevin and Donna’s boat. They
were down from Richards Bay to support the Lipton Cup yacht race. The Lipton
cup for South African sailing is like the Currie Cup is for SA rugby and we had
a great day on the water watching the yachts battle it out. All the kids
however fell asleep so didn’t get to see much of the racing.
The boys had a lot of fun catching up with old friends and we also
enjoyed the visit realising how reclusive our lives had become. We hardly ever
socialise with only the occasional quick word or two to a few of the regulars
at the yacht club. Most of the time we just stay on the boat and speak to each
other. When we do speak to someone here it’s usually on passing and very superficial
like “so how’s it going today” or “so what do you think of the weather.” Really
boring stuff.
Anyway the time went quickly and it seems Keagan had just arrived and we
were back at the bus stop to drop him off again. Rauen had to go to Joeys to do
his lab practical’s so he, Nika and Andre also got on the bus.
After we dropped them at the bus stop we waited for Kim to get back home
in the afternoon and then we packed our stuff and came back to our floating
home. I had forgotten how convenient it was to live in a house, being able to
bath everyday and sleep in a clean dry bed. When I spoke to Lola and Kyle about
it they had the same feelings and none of us looked forward to getting home to
Yrumoar. Sleeping in a cold damp bed with dirty feet is one thing, not being
able to bath however, I miss the most of all.
On the repair list, we are still waiting for our new raw water pump from
Sweden and made no progress on anything else but I hope to get back onto it
this week.
My book has eventually been published on Kindle and is available on
Amazon. The print copy however will only be available in September.
