Dis nag!

To all proud home owner out there.
I suggest the acquisition of a little emergency tool box and an assortment of hardware at home. Last night I spent some three hours under the stars playing Mr Fixit. The situation facing me required the lifting of some precious paving, digging with bare hands and at the same time, trying to stay dry. The neighbours must have been deep into dreamy dreamland because no one came out to enquire on my nocturnal scufflings.
Here, midnight, at No: three FM street, the world is quiet. Unlike some four years ago, when the neighbours at number six where still 'gooing out' some recreational beverages at all hours of the night. So, it is this rather newfound stillness that allowed me to hear the ominous hissing of something amiss. At the corner of the garage door laid a puddle of water. An odd time to be noticing some dog's territorial marking fluid I thought at first. However , this puddle seemed a bit too big for any normal domesticated animal. So with with the combination of this constant hissing in the tranquil evening, I suspected some untimely maintenance work ahead. At first I thought,'let's leave it till tomorrow' but something just told me that I may end up with a big crater in the yard the next morning. So after scratching out a few cobbles, there before me very eyes the wet sand starting popping up like jungle oats on a hot plate. I had work ahead of me to enjoy that both the tenant and my young family has bath water the next morning. Off I went , digging with my hand, on hand and knees hoping to find the leak in an accessible spot in the pipe. After much labour on my knees and sometimes prostrate in fresh H2O, it was confirmed. The damaged pipe was indeed of the dreaded polycop family, and a three quarter of an inch pipe ,as well. And so here is where the need for a very important, carefully stocked tool box becomes essential. Do not get caught in a serious, drought threatening plumbing situation at midnight on a Wednesday/Thursday, without the basic equipment.

Fit yourself out with a medium size shifting spanner, water pump pliers, some hacksaw blades. The normal size hacksaw may not fit into the average toolbox that you want to store inside the kitchen cupboard, there is a something called the junior hacksaw. This is very neat little tool, it works well when space is limited where a leak needs fixing. Of course, you don't really need a hammer for plumbing, but when a wall or floor needs chopping up, a nice four pounder comes in handy. Spanners, saw and of course an extension lamp for the midnight emergencies. The flashlight is also an important item in that box; keep them batteries fresh.

Now don't think you are fully equiped just yet. There is still the question of fixing the problem. So it goes without saying that a few plumbing fittings will help. Get clued up on the various fittings out there and make sure to stock up on the most common and easy-to-use item. Conex fittings work well, no special training required. And remember to buy some extra olives, these boys are good currency in those plumbing emergencies. Remember also a quality thread tape. Mr. S introduced me to petroleum jelly as an essential plumbing 'tool'.

Stocked up on fitting and tools? Good. This will of course count for nothing if you find yourself rushing around, searching for that tap, the one that switches off the water. KNOW the location of the main shut-off valve to your water supply people. Clean off the long grass overgrowing it. Dig up that paving now rathe than later.

Be prepared! Boyscout.

balckie

The Apprentice - Part 2

On Saturday I took Joshua down the the harbour for some more casting practice, once again I set him up with a spoon rigged without a hook, and left him to his own devices while I did some spinning on the sea side of the breakwater, where the fish are. This time the weather was much more conducive, it was actually quite pleasant and I had a good session, albeit I didn't see any fish. Every so often I would take a look at how Joshua was getting on, and when I saw he was getting the lure out consistently, not far, but with much less frequent overwinds, I said, 'Ok. alright, it's time to put a hook on that rig, and time for you to graduate to the breakwater. 'Uitkyk visse, hier kom Joshua!' Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end. So I put a hook on and Joshua joined me on the wall. It was a pleasant two-hour session, with the usual parade of pretty girls and everything.

This morning, being Sunday, I attended Holy Mass at Holy Cross Church in District Six. The Mass starts at 09h00 and ends at 10h00, so I phoned the wind report and got 5 knots from the north at Cape Point, I couldn't let that one go so I phoned Roger and set up a trip to the 'Krantz for me and Joshua. It was almost eleven o'clock when I picked him up, and we made the 'Krantz just in time for the 2 o'clock show. In fact, we started our descent of the mountain at 1 o'clock.


There were two guys on the high point as we approached, and, as we were approaching, both of them jumped up animatedly and I said to Josh, 'They've seen fish.' It was overcast and cloudy, and in those sort of conditions it's a little difficult to spot fish, so I said to Joshua, as two spinners went out, 'Watch that spinner, just keep your eye on it', and, so wragtie waar, a beautiful shoal of yellowtail rose to the lures, and one or two fish followed them lackadaisically, which said to me that they weren't really on the bite. But at least we knew there were fish around, and Joshua had seen his first shoal. I think he was nogal quite impressed.

I set Joshua up on Mugg's Ledge (where all beginners start at the 'Krantz), and joined the other anglers a little higher up. I raised one shoal, again the fish just came up and had a look at the lure, they didn't look at all very keen, and we eventually left at 5 o'clock with nothing but a tan. On the way up the mountain we saw another shoal of about thirty-or-so fish.

 Joshua spinning at the 'Kantz

I gotta sneaky feeling that my little apprentice didn't quite realise how hard he was working - after he laid eyes on his first shoal. On the way back he fell asleep, man down, lights out, all the way from Cape Point to Grassy Park!!!

Lots of Love

Pikkewyn

Joshua's Fishing Apprenticeship

So, as I said, I'm teaching Joshua to fish. Firstly, I took him with me to get his saltwater licence, then we went to Cape Nature to get his freshwater license, but Cape Nature was closed between Christmas and New Year. I made a whole lot of copies, from various books, of all the different fishing knots and gave them to him, along with a roll of 20 lb nylon and a couple of Mustad long-shank 2/0 hooks, just so he could practise his knots. Now Joshua has been in the Scouts, and (hopefully) knows his way around knots, but, as I told him, fishing knots are different. I was gratified when, two days later, I popped in there to find the ou hard at work, diligently practising his knots! He seemed keen - I told Carol, 'Wait 'til the bug bites'. Of course, the bug only bites when you hook your first fish. Of course, Caitlin was SO jealous; here was an activity that she was excluded from, and, for once, Joshua was getting all the attention.

So today, at midday, I took Joshua with me to Kalk Bay Harbour; he has to learn to cast before we go to the 'Krantz, and Kalk Bay is the ideal place for that. We got there at about 12 noon, the southeaster was blowing just hard enough to make it slightly unpleasant, and every now and then the spray would drench us. And Joshua started the painful exercise of learning to cast with a fully-fledged revolving spool reel, geared at a ratio of 6.2:1. I put on a spoon, without a hook, and even without a hook that spoon had a beautiful action; wouldn't it be a joke if a BIG yellowtail took that hookless lure? Scenes we don't want to see. He has experienced the pain of getting overwinds, sitting with 'knitting' (unravelling the crows nest of tangled line). and trying to train his inexperienced little fingers to do what is second-nature to me.

After I had given him a couple of basic pointers, I left him to his own devices and had a good two-hour session spinning on the outside of the breakwater, the wind was up, the water was a beautiful aquamarine colour and had a lot of sand in suspension because of the wind. I didn't see any fish, then the spray got up a bit more and I said ok, let's call it a day.

On the way back, on Boyes Drive, we stopped at the shark-spotting station to see what we could see. The shark spotter told me he had seen a Great White at 11 o'clock this morning, inbound towards Sunrise Circle. Up on the mountain the wind was much worse, and from there, we could see, the water was mixed like pea soup. Still, I know one does get yellowtail in that kind of water too.

I don't know what it is about Kalk Bay, it's just a very basic fishing harbour (it started out life as a whaling station), but it has this incredible atmosphere and it attracts locals and tourists alike; Joshua was MOST impressed with the parade of pretty girls, I said to him that's still nothing, he should come on a day when the weather's good (not so much wind and spray). He's gonna spend the rest of the day trying to put his little teenage eyes back in their sockets!!!

Lots of Love

Pikkewyn

The end of 2010 and the start of 2011

I have already described the end-of-the-year bash at Justin's place; here are one or two pictures:

Justin and Jerry survey the land behind the 'Boerewors Curtain'

The little Lady, Emily

Check out the bonsai in the background



There was some confusion / miscommunication about the New Year's Eve bash; some were unsure about whether it was on or off, some thought it was a bring-and-braai and others had other ideas. But it went down well in the end.

It has been a Southeaster Christmas, with the Cape Doctor in spectacular form. It really blew up a storm, and carried on right into the new year. This lure fisherman always has a weather eye open for any drop in the wind (I surreptitiously phoned the lighthouse, in the thick of the party, as darkness fell yesterday, it was blowing 44 knots and gusting up to 65 knots - I think 30 knots is gale force!). I had spent some effort in getting all tackled up, I gotta little project which involves me teaching Joshua to fish, but the wind has kept us grounded all month. In the aftermath of last night's party, I awoke this morning at 05h30, phoned the lighthouse, it was blowing 35 knots, I fell asleep and woke again at 09h00, and the cut-off low had made landfall and the wind had changed to 5 knots northwest and it was raining, PERFECT conditions for yellowtail. But we won't go fishing today, I suspect tomorrow may be the day,

The theme of the party was supposed to be the sixties, you know, hippies, The Beatles, Flower Power and all that. I got sideswiped by a minibus taxi in the afternoon, so I spent the rest of it driving around to various police stations trying to fill out an accident report and could not acquire a costume. Carol rocked up in a leather jacket, wearing a Tina Turner wig and red lipstick and looked nogal sexy! Amanda was all dolled up in elegant green and blue, Ferdi steeked out wearing a Nelson Mandela shirt, which, while not exactly being a sixties look, was more or less in the party spirit. First prize must go to Leon, though, who looked the splitting image of Jimi Hendrix - all he needed was a Fender Strat around his neck!

 Another contender for the title, 'Daai wilde meid'!!!

Amanda's hands

 Amanda's hair

Amanda's smile

The Scheepers' family couldn't make it (Jeremy & Celeste, Stephen, Greg & Ann); they went to see Johnny Clegg at Kirstenbosch Gardens' New year's Eve bash.

Caitlin and Tiffany tasting the fruits

Paul had just completed alterations and extensions to his house, it came out really well - he had built another storey, amongst other things. At his prompting, I went upstairs to take a couple of sunset pictures through one of the top floor windows. It was nogal quite spectacular.

Sunset 1 at Paul & Michelle's place

Sunset 2 at Paul & Michelle's place

Winding down 2010

Sophisticated  Lady

Alexander was also there

Jitterbug

Reflections in the floor

Caitlin trips the light fantastic

Fruits of the Cape

Ferdi's Mandela look

Roger in a philosophical mood

Oppie stoep

Roger, Debbie and 'Jimi'

The kids are alright

Origins

We would like to compile a short history of the Masihambe Hiking Club. Please think about it. It wasn't always called by that name, there were a few different name changes. 'Masihambe' is a Zulu word, and, in English, it translates something like, 'Let's go together' - rather appropriate for a hiking club, don't you think? Let me start the ball rolling with some reminiscences:

I came on board more than twenty years ago, in '87 or '88. My first big hike with the guys was the eight-day Outeniqua Trail, in 1988 or 89, which runs from George to Knysna, but up in the mountains, you know, the same ones where Hansie's aeroplane balanged. Hansie Cronje, Springbok cricket captain!

We left Cape Town in my Ford Laser and Gavin's old VW Kombi; the Kombi broke down in Elsies River and we had to go to a spares shop to buy parts! Then, when we got to the Du Toit's Kloof tunnel, Traffic Control escorted us all the way through the tunnel (because the Kombi looked a bit dubious, with its top speed - on a level road - of all of 80km/h!). I found that nogal embarrassing, but, in hindsight, it was hilarious, all part of the fun.

Those eight days on the Outeniqua were probably the best eight days of my life. After about the third day I went into different mode, a complete different way of being, it was just SO cool, and I could have gone on like that forever, I didn't want the hike to end! Ever.

I remember the first day, we had been hiking for hours and hours, up hill and down dale, and I was beginning to wonder when were we ever gonna get to the huts, then we crested a rise and I saw this huge big mountain, and right on the very top, as small as a pinhead, you could see a hut, and I thought to myself, 'Jislaaikit, moet ek nog daar gaan opklim.....'

Eventually, when we made the huts, the first order of business, for me, was to get a shower before my body cooled down, since there's only cold rainwater to shower with on hiking trails. The ablution huts were a little away from the dormitory huts, and I found out that a storm had torn the door off the shower cubicle. Luckily, the doorway faced away from the main huts, so I decided to go for it. The shower hut happened to be right on the edge of a steep drop-off, there was the most spectacular profusion of wild flowers in bloom everywhere, and I had probably the best shower I would ever have in my life - it was like being in one of those 'Timotei' adverts, only better!

I came across snakes in the pathway on every single one of those eight days, they were mostly berg adders, like a puffadder, but greyish in colour and smaller, and, because of the perpetual overcast, cloudy, rainy, coolish weather, they didn't constitute a threat because that kind of weather made them torpid.

There were two things that really still stand out in my memory. One time, about midday, we came upon this high peak, at the top of which swallows were nesting. The swallows would launch themselves and come down in a glide, short little wings stretched taut and, because of the great height, approaching terminal velocity, and they would come past us, only metres away, with a sound like a jet aircraft! Another time, late in the afternoon, we were all lying, exhausted from hiking all day, pap tyres, on the long wooden stoep of this particular hut, which was opposite a forest, and, as it began to get dark, all these fireflies started to glow on and off in the forest, and that continued until well after dark. That was magical. Indescribable, really.

The people, besides me, whom I can recall were on that hike were Gavin, Carol & Roger, who were not even an 'item' yet, Melanie, Barry (Melanie's boyfriend at the time), Amanda, Cledwin, Anton, Emil, Wally, Greg Simons and Glynnis, on whom, in those days, I had the biggest crush ever! Glynnis was supposed to be 'converted', or 'born again' or something, but she had this REALLY bawdy song she would sing each day on the trail, it went something like, 'O, Vuil Katrien was 'n [Afrikaans word for a sewing machine....]' and so on; it was a never-ending dirty ballad, in Afrikaans, very much like that Beatles song, 'Dirty Maggie Mae' (about the exploits of a real-life Liverpool prostitute). With my Catholic school upbringing, I couldn't get my mind around that one: here was this incredibly cute girl singing this incredibly dirty song - it just didn't add up!!!

Anton told an excruciatingly funny joke - of a bawdy nature, of course - which I cannot for the life of me remember. I can only remember the first line, it went, 'Hickory, dickory, dock....' The rest of it has been lost in the mists of time. But, during the hike, one had only to say, 'Hickory, dickory, dock...' to make everybody collapse in howls of laughter!

And if, way back then, Glynnis was cute, Melanie was sexy, really gorgeous, the kind of pin-up girl bomber crews would have painted onto their fuselage. That was the way things were, way back then.

We were a group of friends who used to go hiking now and then, and we formed a club primarily to enable us to raise funds legally. Now, twenty-something years later, with most of us married-with-kids, we are more like one big extended family. There's a word for that: it's called 'Tribe'. I like to think of us as one big extended family: a tribe.

Lots of Love

Pikkewyn

Greetings all you funky Cats and Kittens.......

And welcome to Masihambe's very own blog!

This is not about me. It's about us. So please provide us with some content: text, pictures, even videos.

Watch this space!!!

Lots of Love and Festive Season good wishes,

Pikkewyn