STOP

      

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Where on earth has the last month gone? Days are whizzing past like windsurfers and already I feel we have been here forever. England seems impossibly far away but in some ways this windy corner of the Namib reminds me of home. The unpredictable weather, open spaces and friendly faces. However despite certain similarities, there’s no way around it, life here is a million metaphorical and physical miles from the life I left behind.

         The green green fields, muddy Wellies and chilly rains have been replaced with Buchter bustle, sandy pavements, warmth and wind.

         Extraordinary is a word which to me encapsulates Luderitz. The wind is Extraordinary. The vastness of the desert is Extraordinary, and the colours here of sand and sea, truly are Extraordinary.

         The biggest difference however lies not in the weather or physical surroundings but in the people, their sense of time the absence of rush, the gentle rhythm of life here is entirely different to England’s crescendo of staccato.

         I noticed one windy afternoon that there is a distinct lack of roundabouts in Luderitz, the number of them can be counted on one hand, one finger in fact. In England we love a good roundabout and would not consider a town complete without a whole fleet of them.  Our constant development of more roundabouts to add to the collection I think is part of our obsession with haste. Timekeeping for time beating, always rushing to beat the clock.

         A typical English street is full of anonymous crowds with their heads down, a myriad of people constantly searching for ways to Get There Faster. Roundabouts are part of this fixation, keep driving. Don’t stop unless absolutely necessary.

         Here, where in England we would salivate at the possibility of yet another roundabout, there are Stop signs. The streets are lined with them; every 10 metres there are bakkies at a standstill. The drivers, like the pedestrians on the pavement are in no rush. Stop. Simply soak in your surroundings for a moment, blink the sand out of your eyes and let the wind blow the cobwebs away.

Whilst waiting at a Stop sign recently, I began pondering the nature of our single-roundabout-ed town.

         It seems to me that Luderitz is an incredible microcosm of Namibia; this town is so small you step out of your backdoor you step out of Luderitz! And so windy that you can rarely step out of your door straight!  But the social problems encountered in this windy corner of the Namib Desert seem very much representative of the rest of Namibia. HIV is rife, education is a continual challenge and the affluence divide creates its own issues. Our town is by no means a financially wealthy town, but its wealth of beauty and turbulence of topical issues make it utterly enchanting. Stop. Let yourself be enchanted by it. As the days slide by, each stop sign I see allows me a split second to reflect and at every Stop sign I meet l can feel Luderitz taking me further under its spell with its extraordinary magic.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I like it here - in a roundabout sort of way!