Country Roads ...

They would eventually take me home, as the John Denver song suggests, but with the number of public holidays we’ve had recently there has been every reason to let them do just the opposite and take me to places still on the haven’t-been-down-this-one-yet list. Roads in South Africa are alphanumerated with national highways being Ns, major metropolitan freeways being Ms, and significant regional stretches known as Rs. I have now discovered that in the countryside we also have district roads – the Ds, and I’m changing a life of mainly Ms and Ns for one of predominantly Rs and Ds. It used to be that you would expect the rs and ds to be slightly blemished, but in line with the rest of the world it seems that the SPK (slaggate* per kilometre) benchmark is increasingly being set by the ns and ms. I also observe we seem to have a new road sign. It’s a red triangle surrounding an exclamation mark! Economical no doubt, is the missing prefix SH**? Or something stronger? Anyway the SPK rate of any stretch of M, N, R or D is a kind of inherent calming measure, and so a leisurely pace along our country byways is almost mandated. Not that I’m complaining of course. It gives you time to stop and smell the grasses.

A clear blue sky with slowly building clouds on the horizon (which changed dramatically within half an hour and fifty kilometres of this shot) a dry dusty road, and parallel roadside telephone lines to lend perspective make even an otherwise everyday mundane shot, a landscape. It does remind me of perspective studies from my art student days – maybe I’ll draw and paint again one of these days. But a camera is so much easier!

*potholes