The town of Strand, located on the way to, say, Hermanus or Cape Agulhas, is famous for... Actually, I have no idea what it is famous for, or if it is famous at all! ? On Sunday morning, I was woken up by a phone call. “Semyon, hi! What are you doing?” I heard Irina’s cheerful and now familiar voice after picking up and pressing “answer”. “Huh? Me? Well… I… um, nothing yet!” I must have mumbled incoherently, my brain struggling to function after waking up. “What, are you sleeping or something?” my friend continued, just as cheerfully. “No… not anymore!” “Listen, Mahmud and I are heading to the beach! Want to come with us?” “Wait a sec,” I stammered, desperately but vainly trying to get my head in gear. Realizing that would probably take too long, I decided immediately, “Yes! I’ll go!” Why not, when invited? You shouldn’t miss a chance! No-no-no-no-no!!! “Alright then, we’ll pick you up in forty minutes!” concluded Ira. “Get ready!” “Okay.” And we hung up. I got up and shuffled off to wash. For the last week, I had spent most of my time working. Both at the club and, even more so, on my book (editing). And there was a lot of work ahead. So, a break was definitely in order. “Wherever we go,” I thought, “I’ll like it anyway! In all my time living in Cape Town, it has never happened that I went somewhere and didn’t like it! Especially if the place involved being close to nature. In this case, the ocean.” Mahmud stated with authority that the shores of the town of Strand (a rather cute town, by the way) are washed by the waters of the Indian Ocean. To which I countered that the “Indian” only begins after Cape Agulhas. “No, it’s the Indian in Strand! The water is warm!” he offered as an irrefutable argument. The water, indeed, turned out to be quite suitable for swimming. And if it weren’t for the strong wind, it would have been simply lovely! But I, despite everything, still went for a swim and was quite satisfied with it. And I didn’t bother proving the truth to Mahmud—that we were still off the Atlantic coast, even if quite close to the Indian one. I didn’t want to walk back to Cape Town! He might have kicked me out. ??? And besides, Mahmud is excusable; he’s not from here himself. He’s from Jordan, I think. And he has citizenship here now. If you look at a map or, if possible, from a helicopter—Strand is in a little nook, in a bay. Almost in the center between Cape Point and Cape Hangklip. But closer to Hangklip, and therefore to Cape Agulhas as well. That is why, because it’s closer and because it’s a nook, and also thanks to the warm current from the Indian Ocean that reaches these waters and even extends further—to the Cape of Good Hope, the water on the shores of Strand-city is warm. But, of course, not like in Port Elizabeth, East London, or especially in Durban. After sunbathing and swimming, we moved on towards Hermanus. Mahmud wanted to stop by a wine farm to buy some good wine. The farm turned out to be closed; it was their day off too. But we did see a beautiful view. The road wound into the mountains, along the mountains, and down from the mountains. The town of Strand spread out right below us. I had driven past it once or twice, but this was my first time actually visiting it. And I didn’t know that the water temperature in the ocean washing its shores was quite acceptable for swimming. February 03, 2007
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