Whatshot

2026
All
September
2025
All
November
All
2024
All
June
All
April
All
2023
All
March
All
2022
All
2021
All
2020
All
March
All
February
All
2019
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
2018
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
2017
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2016
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2015
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
DHS
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2014
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
KZN
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2013
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2012
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All

The Colour of Water

The Colour of Water

Author: Jo Rushby
Date: 2024-02-01

There is a madness about December. Wetry and restrain ourselves but somehow the silliness envelops us. The mallstingle, the bells jingle, and we feel the urge to stock up. Long forgotten arethe months of exercise, diets, yoga. It is a slow build-up. A bunch of litchis.How can one not. The bobbled fruit stare at you with a redness that puts Trumpto shame. The ice-cream that flows over the cone with a thin layer of carameland dotted with nuts cannot be resisted. And then the mince pies. Bought forXmas, but gobbled on the way home. The finale. Lunch on Xmas day. Yorrkshirepudding. The thick sauce dripping into slices of roast, veganism forgotten fora day.

January.It's 6am on the beachfront. Bodies squeezed into fresh lycra pump and bend,sweat and froth. Gyms are full, the promenade is busier than ever. The month ofresolutions - a fresh start, no drinking for a month, maybe longer, Veganuary.Work harder, work less, travel more. Read more books! The stress ofexcess.

Resolutions.The cliched slogans; 'no gain without pain'. The determination is palpable/themidriff inflatable. Everything is an oxymoron. Cigarettes vape into smoke. Redwine with zero alcohol. Soya boerewors. Coffee without caffeine. Milk withoutfat.

Butthen as we slip into February, like politicians after an election, theresolutions are tweaked, diluted and finally abandoned altogether. Yoga matsstand lonely. Like the hair-line, the promenade thins. Our mantrabecomes;

Eet-sum mor in the trolley/Alcohol to make us jolly/Hedonism is not afolly

Still.There is something about the year's turning, as RS Thomas would have it: 'thenew grass shall purge you in its flame'. It presents us with that numericalcalendar record which is held so dear, the disciplining sense of a new day, anew year, a fresh you. Always, an anticipation that one will become more thanits' parts.

Myown new year hobby is watercolours. There is something about a brush in yourhand, the blush of colours, the sense of capturing a moment, the joy ofdiscovering creativity. Forever. One thinks of Monet. Painting the same sceneover and over. New ways of seeing emerge. The water lilies painted at dusk areso different from the dawn. The Rouen Cathedral provides new revelations.

Monetmakes us realise that to capture a landscape in the colour of water is to knowhow fragile and changeable life is.

48a Florida Road

Greyville

Durban

4001

Tel: 031 3039214

https://www.ikesbooks.com