I'm grateful this Friday morning for living in Johannesburg, where despite our other troubles (crime, corrupt and inept public service, vicious meter taxi attacks on e-hailing services and the like), we are blessed with an extraordinary climate and reasonably stable geology.
Things I'm pretty confident we won't have to worry about in the near future in Joburg:
- the rising sea levels resulting from climate change eroding our property (we're at about 1750m) - and yes, we get flooding when we have intense rainstorms...but nothing like Bangladesh experiences year after year, and nothing like those that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have left under water
- hurricanes (yes, we get the occasional high wind, freak hailstorm and twister, and those do wreak havoc particularly in vulnerable communities)
- catastrophic earthquakes
- ice storms, when there is precipitation around the freezing point
- deep freezes
- sharknadoes
I'm sparing a thought this morning for my compatriots in Cape Town, who are currently living with tight water restrictions because their dams are close to empty.
A two minute shower is an exercise in planning and logistics, especially if like me you need to wash your hair close to every day. Try it.
To those who are suffering under conditions of too much or too little water, please know that we are thinking of you and hope your situations are resolved with as little political self-interest and as much public interest as humanly possible. Oxymoron, anyone?
