A little tribute to my hometown

Wow. Ten years ago in Johannesburg, on the 26th of December 1998, I boarded a plane for London and left South Africa for good. I'd just turned 25 and I had never been out of my country of birth except for a visit to my aunt in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe when I was three.

I left for better opportunities, I left for safety, I left for first-world functionality and stability. Looking back, I stand by that decision. I got what I was looking for. But I do miss South Africa.

More specifically, I miss Durban, my hometown. The rest of SA never did much for me (even beautiful Cape Town seemed a little cold somehow, both literally and figuratively). Jo'burg I pretty much hated. But Durban and surrounding Natal/Kwazulu has something hard to define that I'm always going to miss. It's not one thing, it's everything : the humid climate with it's mild winters, the deeply rolling topography, the huge trees and ever-verdant vegetation, the constant buzz of insect life, the cries of the hadedas, the smell of the warm frothy ocean, the ubiquitous haze in the sky (it's not pollution), the slow soaking rains, the crazy mix of African, Colonial and Indian cultures, the spicy food, the colours in the Victorian and Art Deco buildings. The rugby! Not to mention the most laid-back attitudes this side of the Caribbean. There's no place like it on earth.

Of course, absence makes the heart grow fonder and it has it's share of troubles, especially under the mis-management of the incumbent powers-that-be. Security is still an issue. Corruption is all-too common. Things don't run the way they used to. The Bachelor of Architecture degree at my alma mater is no longer internationally accredited....It's good to remind myself of these things before getting too sentimental. Still, she's a grand old lady...