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Short sleeves, ice creams and water parks are all illusions during South African winters. I have never been a fan of winter, whose cold seeps into the marrow of my bones with a subtle whisper that never seems to go out of breathe. I’ve never understood people who said their favourite season is winter the same way I've never understood vegetarians. I figured vegan to be food ‘fashionably’ aware millennials joining the Californian health wave/craze... But to say you’re a fan of winter is going against the grain of every good childhood memory I’ve ever had. Afternoons playing soccer in the park, riding bikes with the nieghbourhood kids and basically participating in ever type of sport one could given the people and things around at the time.
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Younger kids will never understand this concept and perhaps this is why their indifferent to it. It doesn’t matter that the wind is so bittingly cold that you can’t run in it if your iPad is fully charged. Growing older and moving out of that awkward teenage phase where you can’t drink with the adults but you can’t play with the kids has taught me one thing. You can always play with the kids. But only if you’re wearing flat shoes. Seasonal changes meant a shift in sporting activities and was thus a sluggish change that I had to accept- under seasonal duress. Now that sport has taken a seat in a different car I find myself enjoying the winter.
Not physically but visually. |
So trifled by winter’s clam but biting pause of my childly activities, I never stoped to notice the simple nuances of color and lack of in some frames. A brief stint at a beloved family venue thats been time and tested by almost every member of my family-in summer, brought the stippled browns, reds and oranges to my tastes for the first time. I’m living this winter in pure in amazement of its dry but fiery consistency.
This is a milestone in my eyes and in all honestly if this is what it means to grow up (to realise the beauty of things that have always been in front of you) then perhaps its not the preditorial trap everyone between 25-30 says it is... |