{"id":1192,"date":"2024-12-02T10:30:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T10:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2024-12-02T10:30:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T10:30:50","slug":"1192","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/?p=1192","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Busy in Durban\u2026. Monday, 02\/12\/2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been a busy period, seeing many different people. Several lunches, as well as evening meetups. There has been a very jolly atmosphere here at John and Jane\u2019s, thanks in part to John\u2019s old schoolfriend Chris coming up from Cape Town for several days. A man best described by the old term \u201ca hail fellow well met\u201d – hearty, friendly and congenial. Needless to say, I\u2019ve been eating more than I\u2019ve been used to. It\u2019s fair to say that South Africans eat a lot! I\u2019ve avoided cakes, but have had a lot of meat and desserts, alongside large quantities of salad and fruit. So it\u2019s probably true to say I\u2019m still a growing boy\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Me and Chris, being happy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Garden Omelette – cafe, Umdloti Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One serious thing I have done in the past week was to give a talk to the World Ship Society, Durban branch, which took place at the Royal Natal Yacht Club. It was arranged by my old friend and colleague Trevor Jones, who after retiring as head of the economics department at the university set up a department of Maritime Studies within the law department. Coming from the very small end of ships, it was felt that I would have something very different to say compared with representatives of the shipping industry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I talked for perhaps 45 to 50 minutes and then had questions for another 25 minutes or so. It\u2019s always hard to know if what you have said has come over well, but everyone seemed very happy afterwards so it seems to have been a success. For me it was certainly something different – of course I have spoken at length to many people about my world voyage, but giving a formal presentation forced me to sit down and consider how to present things in a coherent way. Naturally, given that I\u2019ve sailed alone on a small boat, much of my story relates to psychological rather than technical matters – something which most people recognise: I\u2019m often asked questions on the theme of \u201chow do you cope?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My presentation was videoed by a professional photographer, so I will get a full record. Whether I can bring myself to watch it is another matter – it\u2019s not easy, watching and listening to yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A windy day – bay of Durban<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The weather here has been very changeable. One day was 33 centigrade; two days later it was only 22. There\u2019s been rain and at times strong wind. But a lot of sunshine too. Everything is very green and many plants and trees are flowering – I\u2019m sitting in my room at John and Jane\u2019s and the flamboyant tree outside is full of its characteristic deep orange blossoms. This area, Westville, is very heavily treed – very much like staying in a forest.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Veranda – Westville<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Out for a walk – Umhlanga Rocks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Boardwalk through coastal forest, Umhlanga – with native inhabitant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I shall be wandering around a bit over the next week. On Thursday I\u2019m going up the coast a way for two nights. Over the last couple of decades, as Durban\u2019s old central business district has declined, businesses and many people have moved northwards, so the city\u2019s focus has really shifted (much as happened with many American cities from the 1960s onwards). I want to see how things are developing up around Ballito, which is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north. That area is also good for swimming, with some nice sea pools – the beaches are not polluted, as is the case in Durban, where e coli readings are at times at dangerous levels.

And then early next week I will drive up to Johannesburg to see my old friend Bruce. It will be interesting to see what life is like up there too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Busy in Durban\u2026. Monday, 02\/12\/2024 It has been a busy period, seeing many different people. Several lunches, as well as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1213,"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions\/1213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingmanuka.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}