My lovely wife is, ahem, one year older today. Congrats to her! We went for dinner at a restaurant called Beads and had a few small presents and a double-layer chocolate cake to celebrate! See the photos by clicking on the small picture to the left.
Wow it was hot in Stellenbosch today. I heard from two people that it was 42 °C (107.6 °F) today in town. Our thermometer said 37 °C (98.6 °F). (The reason that the normal human body temperature is listed as 98.6 °F is that it was estimated as 37 *C.) A little wind would have cooled things down, but it would have made the fires worse. With little wind, there were no big flare-ups near our house. I stayed home from CPUT to be available if the winds kicked up.
But, there were fires elsewhere in the Cape today. This article mentions Paradyskloof, one suburb away from us and the place where Catherine's daycare facility is located. This article says fires are still out of control.
This article summarizes what happened yesterday. The second to last paragraph mentions Brandwacht street, which is in our neighborhood. Some of the back yards were burned, but as far as I know, no homes were damaged.
Mark swam 25 m freestyle at Day 2 of the gala. I took several pictures of the gala, some of which you can see below. Due to another child's broken arm, it appears there is a space for Mark in the Maties swimming project. He won't be on the team, per se, but he'll have a chance to really improve his technique while we're here.
After school, Mark went to his friend Julian's house. They watched a movie and swam for a couple hours. Great way to beat the heat.
Catherine went to daycare today and had a good day.
And now, a little bit more information about our car crash. I was at Wilhelm's Auto today to sort out a few details on our cars. They had a copy of the accident report from our recent smash. It turns out that one of the passengers in another car was mildly hurt. The report indicates that the driver of the other car was 18 years and 4 days old. In South Africa, you get a learner's permit when you are 17 years of age and can obtain a license at 18 years. Also, Cobus said the police are considering filing a charge of reckless and negligent driving against the other driver. I think this means he'll get a ticket. I don't think it means a court case.
Happy Birthday, Tracy!
--Matt
