Red hot march

On Saturday morning I took part in the International Day of Climate Action, and ja, I must admit, it felt pretty good to be part of a global group demanding ambitious, binding and fair targets at Copenhagen. Though the Cape Town city group was small, it was diverse, and our little red-clad troupe was lead by an Anglican bishop, an imam and some chanting hare krishnas through the streets around Parliament and up into the Company Gardens. “Oh, it’s nice to have the police escorting us for a change,” I overheard a woman say. No, it wasn’t quite the anti-apartheid rallies of her younger days, but it was a start… . (The nude flashmob streaking along Sea Point promenade seemed to be the Capetonian highlight though!)

Then I went Bigfoot on my carbon load and motored out to the winelands to the launch of the new Food & Trees for Africa office on Backsberg estate. (I planted the vine they gave me on my balcony yesterday – not that I’m actually the biggest ‘carbon credit/offset’ fan. Where’s my damn solar-powered car?!) I missed the speeches (which I heard were great), but the snacks were pretty good, especially the cheese from Backsberg’s neighbours Dalewood. Also, as well as their very nice 2008 chenin going for R26 a bottle, Backsberg is selling 250g blueberries for R15 (believe it!) The Trialogue office got fresh blueberry muffins this morning (and maybe they’ll get a bottle of the chenin on Friday afternoon).

Saturday was an awesome day (climate thingies were followed by TWO braais), and I was feeling all warm’n'fuzzy about the world. Then, just to drive the point home, it stormed in Cape Town last night, the kind of thunder storm you get up north in summer, except with gale-force winds. The kind of storm that makes you feel pretty small, and more than a little scared.