River Flooded Reminder From Nature

We grew up on America’s greatest export: Hollywood. It has all kinds of crime and romance movies. We also watched movies where people took a stroll on the boardwalk. Don’t they have anything to do, besides walking up and down planks along the beach? We quashed that question and wished that one day we’ll go to France or America, and ‘promenade’ on the boardwalk.

There’s no boardwalk this summer because of over flooding. Paths are submerged in water so we cannot take a morning run along the river, push strollers with adorable kids inside, cycle from east to west or feed ducks potato chips, full of salt and junk food coloring. Over flooding was so intense, it flooded paths along the river and went all the way up to trees above. I don’t see how City Hall will clear water that has taken over footpaths.

What is the big deal? The big deal is that all this came as a surprise. It rained but who cared? We were comfortable in our houses and apartments and happily opened videos from other countries. It rained around here, but we did not keep track. We didn’t need the foot paths along the river because we have gym membership. There was no need to jog along the river.

And here we are, end of June, looking at the hostile take-over of river paths. There is no way, this water will disappear so that we can walk or run along the river. It serves us right. Maybe, next time it rains, we’ll shut down laptops and go and stand on top of the four sets of steps, and watch the rain fill the river.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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