Land n Sand Sep / Oct 2013 | Page 38

For some insane reason we have the second longest school holiday right in the middle of winter. My two youngest kids have birthdays a week apart then. Those who can afford it go away and the town becomes even smaller. So basically there are no friends about for a birthday party. Thank goodness - saves a few dollars. It’s enough that you have kids at home in the wet and cold. They eat more in the cold and you’re always skint, because you’re part of the microcosmic A owes B owes C owes D owes A in what is essentially still a fishing village. Even though the town has boomed, it’s still economically seasonal and can be cold and hard in the winter for the locals. There is a local who was born and bred here who says that you must have survived 20 winters before you can truly consider yourself a local. Not many achieve this. People come here on holiday, love the lifestyle, sell up and come and open ANOTHER restaurant or guesthouse. Not many last longer than five years. I am in my fourteenth year. I am luckier than most in that my services aren’t directly tourist or weather dependent, but it still has an impact on me because I have clients whose businesses are. Winter in a small town has an impact on everyone - even those that aren’t affected financially – because we are all interconnected. Having grown up in the city of Gold, it has always fascinated me how microcosmic a small town is. I never thought I would survive here but I think that the microcosmic nature of small town living is part of what has got me through. When you get involved in the community you can see the results of your input directly. When you go to a school concert you’ll bump into the postmaster, your bank manager and the curator of the local museum. You experience the interconnectedness of it all first hand. The other thing that I think has made me not long for the city too much is being surrounded by nature on such a grand scale. I am far more aware of seasonality and nature since I have lived here. Our lives are directly affected by the weather and by natural forces. We live between a nature reserve and a marine reserve. I love that. You’re constantly reminded that you are not a hamster on a wheel but a part of something so much greater – planet Earth. The joy of the winter months is that we locals have the place all to ourselves. You can go to the beach and be the only person on it. You’ll get the table next to the fire at your favourite Bistro and be able to find parking just about anywhere. Even when you’re as broke as hell, you’ll still find yourself eating fresh fish and able to do things that don’t cost anything. The winters are also milder than in Cape Town. We don’t get that incessant rain that sets in for days on end. We may get one or two, but they’re always peppered with days filled with sunshine that are not too hot to go hiking in or to spend on the beach.