Eloise Is Here

The tropical cyclone Eloise, now a tropical depression, has arrived. Checking this morning I noticed that the previously predicted path and strength of the storm was exaggerated and has slowed down more than expected. The storm has pushed rain and wind along to us but nothing as bad as I thought it would be, but the people that have been severely affected by Eloise have my prayers. The weather should stick around for another day or two, at least this is the type of weather I enjoy.

Rain Season

Weather in South Africa can be unpredictable at times, but this is about the time when most of the rain comes down along with some pretty nasty storms. Today it was peace and quite with the sun shining bright then the next moment it was all rain, wind, and thunder. There are also times in the afternoon when there is a big storm but the sun is shining just as bright as a hot summer day. It really makes you think, what is up with the weather?

Wetter Weather

Arguing about the weather only gets you wetter, and on this Monday, the weather looks all closed in. Snow on the high lying areas, floods on the coast, while here in Krugersdorp, it is hailing. Not a lot of hail but a dusting, just to keep us on our feet. Wait stop the presses, a tornado was reported just down the road in Magaliesburg, uhmmm. At least our dams are filling up.

Oh well let the week begin...

How to protect yourself from Lightning Strikes?

Firstly as I sit here and write this blog post I want to thank God for blessing me with another day. As words from Casting Crowns song “Praise You in this storm” comes to mind.

I was sure by now God you would have reached down and wiped our tears away, stepped in and saved the day. But once again, I say amen that it's still raining as the thunder rolls. I barely hear your whisper through the rain I'm with you and as your mercy falls I raise my hands and praise the God who gives and takes away.

Yes it is by the grace of God that I am here, to praise Him for another day, Amen.

The chances of being hit by lightning is 1 in 600,000 but it doesn’t help if you outside on your bike when it happens. The chances of surviving a lightning strike is next to nothing and only by the Grace of God. Rubber tyres won’t stop a lightning strike. In a car you are surrounded by a faraday cage and the lightning goes around along the metal towards the ground but if you are caught out in the open on foot or on a bike, nothing can protect you so the safest thing to do is run.

So what are the signs that lightning is about to strike? The warning signs that lightning is about to strike near you:

• Crackling sound as metal objects around you start buzzing
• Metallic taste in your mouth
• Smell of chlorine in the air
• Your hair starts standing on end
• Your skin tingles

Okay it might be too late by now, RUN Forest Run if you haven’t started already.

So now for the reason of this blog post. I had an appointment with a friend after work that has being postponed already and by the time I left work on my Vespa I noticed a storm in the direction that I was to take. Not too keen on getting wet but also I did not want to postpone yet again, I set out.

As I was approaching my turn off, I saw that the storm was over the area I was headed and that my home was clear. I watched as I saw ground strikes in front of the storm and decided rather to head home and swop my bike for the pickup.

Before home I saw the storm was headed straight for me and by the last stretch home, the storm was on the opposite side of the valley, less than a kilometre away and I started to pray as I raced for the safety of my home.

Rain started to fall as I reached the first gate at the top of my property. It was then that I started getting the imminent lightning strike warning signs. The palisade fence started crackling as static started to jump from post to post towards me. I fumbled for the remote to open the gates and garage as I prayed to my God for safety.

Lightning did strike the ground very close and tripped the electrical distribution box of our cottage but I was safe by that time.

I will say it again that it is only by the grace of God that I am here, to praise Him for another day, Amen.

Baby Making Weather

It’s a dreich day, and as a teenager we used to call this type of weather BMW or Baby Making Weather because with the rain set in, you just want to stay in bed. Yes as I lay in bed listening to the pitter patter of the rain onto the roof I wanted to call in a Duvet Day.

Many moons ago I used to work for a corporate company which allowed employers to take a Duvet Day for when they just wanted to go back to sleep and this morning was one of those days. Sadly Bosasa does not recognise Duvet Days so I took my time getting up this morning and heading to the business park in the clouds.

The base level of the clouds is very low today which enshrouded Mogale Business Park in thick clouds. The office park has sort of a bonnie charm to it that reminds me of the highlands. Forget about the pink flamingos or the gorillas in the mist, we have blue cranes strolling through the mist. Now where’s my bed?

Rain in Jozi

And the heavens opened up just as Matthew and I was about to leave to take him back home to the East Rand. The hail came down horizontal for a while at tornado wind speeds so much so that Matthew and I was a little scared. After a worse was over we made our dash but only found devistation. Our car port roof was sagging under the weight of all the ice and the one concrete column was totally broken but luckily the steel reinforcing was still holding it up. My vegetable garden was shredded. Patches of thatch on my roof was missing. The storeroom next door had some roof sheeting blown off. The front gate motor was sitting in a pond of glacier water and we had to manually open it and was the least of our problems. Driving out of the front gate we found the road impassable as it had turned into a raging river as shown in the photo above. Let the adventure begin.

In Memory of Jon Hrusa

For today, I am going to change a little because I can. I have already taken a photo for today of Mashooda, my boss's daughter but I am going to post another photo which I took yesterday, the day Jon died.

In memory of Jon Hrusa, who loved to photograph the constantly changing clouds its incredible array of colours. Where all we see is the rain, he opened his eyes and saw beauty. This formation of clouds taken yesterday evening at the Northcliff Ridge will never be the same as it was right then. As photographers, to have the gift is to have an eye for the right photograph and Jon had the eye for the beauty, the pain and the gift all around us. Jon took awesome photographs.

I met Jon through Heather who joined the Joburg Photowalkers and bought Jon along. He was a quiet, unassuming but talented photographer. Jon had an impressive array of accolades and looking at his website Jon Hrusa Photography I am amazed with his work so I am unashamedly going copy verbatim off the About the Photographer page so you can get to know who Jon was and why he is a loss to South Africa and the world...

Jon Hrusa is a regional staff photographer for the European PressPhoto Agency, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Jon also works as a freelance photographer for various NGOs and other organizations.

In South Africa, Jon worked as a staff photographer at The Pretoria News, The Sunday Times, and Sportsday, and freelanced for the Associated Press and Reuters before joining EPA.

Jon was named the Ilford South African Press Photographer of the Year in 1991 as well as the Allied/M-Net South Africa Sports Photographer of the Year. He has won multiple South African Press Awards, as well as a Bronze Award at the 2010 South African Profoto Awards. He was awarded third place for Environment and Nature Stories at the 2001 World Press Photo Awards.

Jon is passionate about documentary photography that makes a difference. In 2000, he spent three months documenting the rescue of African penguins after a massive oil spill off the coast of South Africa for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). His photographs were the subject of Spill – Saving Africa’s Oiled Penguins, a book about the penguin rescue published by IFAW.

Jon is one of the primary photographers for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), and has spent years documenting the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. He recently documented a unique HIV program in rural Lesotho, which appeared in news outlets around the world and later went on to be featured on ABC's 20/20 and CNN’s Inside Africa. Jon’s photo of a child playing next to an EGPAF-supported health clinic in Swaziland was runner-up in the USAID Frontlines Photo Contest in March 2011.

Jon’s photos have appeared in countless national and international publications, including: National Geographic, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles, Times, MSNBC, Time Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Telegraph, The London Sunday Times Magazine, The Times of London, The South China Morning Post, The Daily Mail, Rugby World Magazine and the Illustreret Videnskab Magazine

In the Zulu tradition, when a person passes on they don't cross over straight away, they wander round the earth visiting their favourite places and where their hearts loved to be. After a time of mourning their loved ones urge them to cross over. And because Jon was a true son of Africa there is this song called The Crossing by Johnny Clegg which is about encouraging the crossing over.

Through all the days that eat away
At every breath that I take
Through all the nights I’ve lain alone
In someone else’s dream, awake
All the words in truth we have spoken
That the wind has blown away
It’s only you that remains with me
Clear as the light of day

O siyeza, o siyeza , sizofika webaba noma 
(we are coming, we are coming, we will arrive soon)
O siyeza, o siyeza, siyagudle lomhlaba 
(we are coming, we are coming, we are moving across this earth)
Siyawela lapheshaya lulezontaba ezimnyama 
(we are crossing over those dark mountains)
Lapha sobheka phansi konke ukhulupheka 
(where we will lay down our troubles)

A punch drunk man in a downtown bar
Takes a beating without making a sound
Through swollen eyes he sways and smiles
’cause none can put him down
Inside of him a boy looks up to his father
For a sign or an approving eye
Oh, its funny how those once so close and now gone
Can still so affect our lives

Take me now, hold me close
Don’t let go, I’m coming home

Jon you have gone home to a much peaceful place, for the world is so full of pain.

Black Tuesday

Today was a sad day for South Africa and Democracy. Today our parliament voted if the Protection of Information Bill should be made law. And the African National Congress (ANC) jeering as they trampled on what Mandela promised would never happen, voted the bill though. It was obvious the ANC were not representing the majority but were trying to cover their own corruptness. Many South Africans dressed in black to protest this bill on what is now known as Black Tuesday, the end of our Democracy. Thankfully, the bill is not law yet but that is just a few hops, skips and a jump away.

In 1977 Steve Biko was killed by police while in police custody and the news of his death was banned by the Apartheid government because of National Security. Many people have fought and died for this democracy in South Africa and today the African National Congress voted in parliament that the very same law that tried to gag the media about Steve Biko back into our law. Have the ANC abandoned everything its founders fought for? Lindiwe Mazibuko, leader of the Democratic Party asked the ANC "what will you tell your children one day - that you helped destroy democracy. We fight on!"

Even the heavens protested as even the skies turned black soon after the vote with a huge storm breaking over Johannesburg. I even tried my hand at photographing lightning but being my first attempt, I know I still have a lot to learn. On this sad day for democracy I will leave you a quote from Anonymous "Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side."

Fog, smog or mist

Arriving into the city centre this morning I found a low cloud rolling in. The mist steadily got thicker and thicker as it pushed towards mid-day. At some point mid morning I could not even see the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus construction yet alone Park Station. The sun got the better of it during the afternoon and it started to clear-up.

Storm over Joburg

Morning Smog

Midrand looking south with Sandton in the background
and Johannesburg CBD just visible in the smog on the horizon

A wet Chapman's Peak

Sunrise over construction

A 747 over Johannesburg

Here cometh the Hail