Jimmy did not have such a good day today. He is still much better than he has been but he wasn't as good as yesterday. He said that he just didn't feel right today. He tried 3 mouthfuls of lunch and vomited again. He has lost 3 kg since Sunday and they are concerned about this because he can't keep food down so worried he is going to lose more. At 2pm he spiked a temperature out of the blue and he didn't want to get up or sit in the lazy boy today. He dropped the back of the bed and turned onto his side and went to sleep. It's the first time he has actually gone to sleep, like he wanted to. Usually he just fades in and out of sleep in whatever position he is sitting or lying. I hope we don't have another bug coming and I just so wish he can keep some food down.
We experienced another hectic night with the fires last night. After such a hot day yesterday and not a breath of wind it picked up suddenly at midnight and within 10 minutes Chapman's Peak was ablaze in front of my eyes. The fire ran down the side of the mountain. Most of Noordhoek below Chapman's Peak and back had to be evacuated at 2pm. It was like watching the peak hour traffic as all the cars were driving out along Beach Road and then past the common. They all parked on the Noordhoek sports fields and slept in their cars for the remainder of the night. I saw a photo this morning of all the cars parked there and it looked like one of those storage facilities where new cars go to be stored as they come off the production line. As I stood on my veranda I could see houses burning down and after Sunday night's fiasco here in my own street, which was not half as bad, I knew just how all the residents were feeling. I felt so helpless.
Then after 2pm sometime we had another flare up on the mountain side in our street. I took a walk up to the fire engine and went to check that it wasn't too serious. The fire department was here in no time and they managed to sort it out. At 4:15am I got into bed and fell asleep to be woken up by Emma phoning at 5:15am to find out if I was okay. There was a huge fire on the Clovelly mountain side and she was concerned it had come back over the mountain my way again. I actually fell asleep with my phone in my hand and woke up an hour later and this was my sum total of sleep last night. The fire was still blazing at 6am but it didn't take the helicopters long to put it out. I could still hear people with electric saws cutting down trees which had started at about 3am.
For those who do not live in CT, I have been focusing on the fire in my neighbourhood but there have been fires even worse than this all over the South Peninsula. It has been absolutely devasting.
Loren and Emma are here with me tonight and I am looking forward to a good night's sleep with some company in the house. I haven't had more than 6 hours of sleep since Sunday night altogether. I tried to have a quick nap while I was sitting with Jimmy today but each time I close my eyes I can still hear helicopters in my head and see smoke. A bit weird! I mentioned to the girls this evening that I am so glad the fire smell is out the house and they both laughed and said my nose has become immune.
Thanks very much to Patsy, Colleen and Andrea who popped around yesterday morning to come and check on me and this morning Antony joined me for coffee, in my pyjamas, to come and make sure I didn't need any help.
Everything is very quiet tonight and I cannot see any smouldering spirals of smoke anywhere so I think we are over the worst.
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| This is what Ou Kaapseweg looks like now. This used to be the most beautiful spectacle of Protea bushes and wild flowers |
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| A view of Chapman's Peak for Hout Bay Harbour |
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| Fire above Monkey Valley on the slopes of Chapman's Peak. This is the area that flare up again at midnight last night. |
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| My brother Stan and Michelle are brilliant photographers. This is one of Stan's photos |
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