I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide...

Well we've had a long power cut today - becoming a regular feature of Life in Johannesburg - thanks to amazing lack of foresight and planning...ugh, but I won't go into all that. I will think of something much more pleasant. One good thing about a powercut is that it forces you to leave your computer and tea-kettle and go outside and garden (which I did) and start a new drawing, which I did but it isn't finished yet. So I'm going to post some pages from an old sketchbook that I did one holiday at Arniston - my son is the little fisherman in the black & white sketch, so it was a long time ago.
Arniston is a wonderful historic village near Cape Aghullas - the southernmost tip of Africa, now also of course inevitably, a growing holiday resort, though the residents and owners have been (so far) quite committed to preserving its original nature. It's also called Waenhuiskrans, due to a cave on the shore that is big enough to hold an ox wagon with its team of oxen (though they would never have been able to get down there), and the original little white thatched-roof house fishing village is called Kassiesbaai - a vibrant and characterful community that still make their living taking their colourful little boats out every morning to catch whatever the trawlers have left them. We are very lucky to have good and generous friends who've invited us to share many an idyllic holiday in the sun and azure sea with them at their beach house. We have a little dream of retiring there one day...
Steps leading down to a white-pebbly beach. Ancient fisherman - strandlopers - built circular rock catchment areas to trap fish in at low tide
Some of the fishing boats pulled up the slipway with a few of the old Kassiesbaai houses sticking up in the background

One happy little boy lost in a world of his own - and hungry seagulls and cormorants ready to help him with his catch. The rocks on the beaches are smooth, round and white, but the cliffs are black and rough - agony to bare feet!