I can tell from the clouds that summer is tapering off into glorious autumn.
In summer, cotton-woolish cumulusnimbus clouds show who’s boss with thunderstorms, hail and lightning. It isn’t fun driving in these conditions because visibility reduces to almost nil, in some cases golf-ball sized hailstones seriously dent many cars.
The rain is warm, of short duration, and it’s also the time when many electrical appliances get taken out by lightning.
Despite the intensity of these storms, I will miss them during the colder months…because for as long as there’s cumulusnimbus clouds in the sky, there is summer on the ground.
I remember the comic book vendor coming to our door every week in Maputo. My grandmother or my mother would buy me 2 or 3 comic books to see me through the week. I grew up with the adventures of Asterix and Obelix, Tintin, Caspar the Friendly Ghost and the Brazilian comic book character Lulu. They were in Portuguese, and when I came to South Africa and learnt to speak English at the age of 9, I re-read these comic books all over again, this time in English. My husband still has his collection of Asterix and Obelix and Tintin; they are carefully guarded, and are still the source of much enjoyment for both of us.
Mozambican-born Portuguese South African; reflecting on travel, writing, editing, life, family and change that has social impact; chief wide eyed in wanderer, wonderer and bottlewasher
