After leaving school I spent a year in the Naval Gymnasium doing my Military Service. Most of that time was spent in Saldanha Bay, 109 kms as the crow away from Cape Town . It was a great experience and I have to say that at the time I cannot remember the winter weather being awful i.e., endlessly windy and overcast with miserable rain. Prior to that I had lived in the (Orange) Free State, where the summers were hot and the winters cold. Again the weather during that time never seemed to bother me.

After the year in the Navy Gym I ended up in Durban, and spent 10 happy years there. The summers were hot, cloudy, humid and wet. The winters were warm, dry, cloudless and wonderful. Next it was 9 years in Pinetown and then 35 years in Pietermaritzburg. Each move saw a reduction in the rainfall, humidity and heat. The winter in Pietermaritzburg was cold. However it was also mostly cloudless, and that suited me just fine. Now I find myself in Howick, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Here it can get cold at night during the winter, but the days are dry, and mostly cloudless.

So were is all of this going? Well the miserable WET and WINDY Cape Town, Perth (visits) and Melbourne (January - June Sabbatical) weather came to a head when Edith and I spent spent another January- June Sabbatical in Auckland (NZ). It started well with long summer evenings spent walking and picnicking. Then the clouds arrived, and the wind freshened. By the time June arrived the clouds were zooming over my head, and it was wet and windy. Wet, windy and cold winter weather was not my cup of tea, so I started counting the days.

I will never forget landing at O R Tambo (Jan Smuts way back then) airport. I finally really knew were home was. It was of course were ever Edith was, and hopefully under a big African blue winter sky dome. That is exactly what I have got right now. The WEATHER UNDERGROUND forecast for Howick included below certainly suggest that to be so. The others foretell wind and rain and lots of it. If you don't believe regarding the Midlands winter weather, come and experience it for yourself. You may even get to ride a bike through some of the seriously scenic country-side beneath the BIG BLUE DOME. Almost like taking a trip to the moon to look back at the BLUE PLANET.