Simon’s Town

At the end of every postgraduate module offered by the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, students give Saturday morning presentations on topics relevant to the course. And so I walked to the Engineering Faculty at sunrise today. Richard and I enjoyed listening to (instead of talking at) the Thermal Energy Systems students who informed us and their peers on the following topics: “The Future of Transport,” “Dieselgate,” “Gas Turbine Efficiency Improvements,” and “Microgrids for Africa.”

While I was on campus, Catherine made eggs and toast for her breakfast. She carried Bananas on her back, reminding me of the haunting song Too Late for Mama by the famous South African artist Brenda Fassie. The video played often on SABC when we lived in the Southern Suburbs in 1992.

Our landlord in the Southern Suburbs was Ed who now lives near Simons Town with his wife Vivian. This afternoon, we enjoyed tea in their home on the cliffs above False Bay. Their view of the ocean is stunning. And todays air was clear enough to see all the way to Simonsberg and Botmanskop, more than 40 km away. We saw a small pod of dolphins (about 50 of them) frolicking in the bay.

Before we departed, we took a couple nice photos. Thanks Ed and Viv!

—Matt