Thursday, December 18, 2003
Went to see the Boulder's penguins today. There are over 3000 of the fishy little critters. Mostly they just hang out on the beach moulting. They are the only colony of penguins in Africa. All the signposts claim they are "African" penguins, when any fool knows they are Jackass penguins.
The first penguins arrived in Cape Town in 1982. They must have come an astonishingly long way from Antarctica. I guess Cape Town residents must have been a little suprised to see them hopping around the beach. Anyhow they seem happy in the sun now.
I spent some of the last 2 days fixing dings in the collection of surfboards we have hanging around the house. Surfboards are stupidly fragile. The merest contact with rock, reef, or even head will cause a crack in the outer resin layer. Small cracks can be patched with wax, big holes and broken fins need real repairs. Its a deeply satisfying process involving oodles of sticky UV catalysed polymer resin, hours of patient sanding, and the result is a heady carcinogenic smell that instantly recalls for me the shaper's workshop where I bought my first board.
The first penguins arrived in Cape Town in 1982. They must have come an astonishingly long way from Antarctica. I guess Cape Town residents must have been a little suprised to see them hopping around the beach. Anyhow they seem happy in the sun now.
I spent some of the last 2 days fixing dings in the collection of surfboards we have hanging around the house. Surfboards are stupidly fragile. The merest contact with rock, reef, or even head will cause a crack in the outer resin layer. Small cracks can be patched with wax, big holes and broken fins need real repairs. Its a deeply satisfying process involving oodles of sticky UV catalysed polymer resin, hours of patient sanding, and the result is a heady carcinogenic smell that instantly recalls for me the shaper's workshop where I bought my first board.
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