Safe as Mountains ...

Having grown up in a mountainous region of Southern Africa – in fact on a farm whose name translated as ‘the valley of hills’ – I didn’t realise how much I had missed having real mountains around me during my ‘Johannesburg decades’ when, apart from the Melville and Kensington Kopjes, mine dumps were about the best substitute around. Someone once said to me that the nicest people come from areas where there are mountains, and the friendliness of Midlands folk tends to confirm that theory. I’m pleased therefor to see that some of them think of mountains as important enough to be kept safely behind lock and key! This appealing outcrop formation lies next to the Karkloof Road just beyond the Crammond intersection. And with a windy cold front and cloudy grey skies having settled over the area today, it seems that winter is finally taking over from an enjoyably mild autumn season.

For a second time I have featured one of the many rusted old gates that dot the Midlands landscape. They often make a fascinating composition, and I intend trying some black and white studies of them in the near future.