Winter Fire

Winter in Africa is a dry time, well except for the Cape which is wet and cold, so dry that we have frequent grass fires or veld fires. As you know air that is hotter than the surrounding air rises until it reaches the same temperatures but in winter we often get what the weather people call an inversion layer. This occurs when the air gets warmer the higher you go and this traps the rising hot air or in our winter’s cause the smoke from the veld fires.

This smoke then sits low along the ground. It gets even worse as along with this veld fire smoke, the coal and wood smoke from the shack dwellers just thickens this smog of carbonised pollutant to such an extent that I battle to breathe.

It is times like these that I wish to be in the mountains, with icy cold streams tumbling along rocky valleys. Somewhere peaceful that you can hear a tree grow and most of all breathe fresh clean air.