The beach café – a poem about intense heat

My fellow bloggers all seem to be experiencing white Christmas weather with lots of snow and cracking fires. Sounds like a wonderful thought to me, I love Christmas in the UK with all the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations. The Brits seem to completely dive into the Christmas spirit and I really enjoy that. Christmas in South Africa has a very different look and feel. It is hot; very, very hot! Christmas day is spent lolling around the swimming pool, preferably sipping long, icy drinks. A traditional Christmas meal, if that is your poison, is consumed with sweat dripping from your brow. Most of us prefer to wait until the cooler late afternoon and have a traditional South African braai. At night, you lie on top of your covers, under a whirling fan and slipping in and out of sleep as the intense heat disturbs your sleep patterns.

Last Christmas, we spent the Christmas week in Cape Town. It is even hotter there and I wrote this poem for my boys after a quick visit to the beach during the middle of the day.

The beach café

The sun blazes down;

The beach shimmers with heat;

My brother moans and whines;

As it burns our feet.

 

We dash for the door;

And burst into the cool;

An oasis in the desert;

Like diving into a pool.

 

In the beach café;

Décor simple and plain;

From the heat we shelter;

Before we go insane.

 

From its windows we watch;

Bodies frying on the sand;

A mixture of pale to dark shades;

They all try to get tanned. 

 

Stretched out and exposed;

Shining with oil;

A strange way to unwind;

From your daily toil.

 

We gulp down our drinks;

Wonderfully wet and cold;

Staying out of the sun;

For once we do as were told.

 

By Robbie Cheadle

In keeping with the festive spirit and theme of Christmas in South Africa, here again is my Santa on the beach cake which still makes me giggle.

Follow Robbie Cheadle at:

Blogs: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com and goodreads.com;

Facebook: @SirChocolateBooks;

Twitter: @bakeandwrite