I thought I should jot down two incidents from our last holiday in South Africa before my mind placed their memory on the dusty shelves of forgotten events.

We started the holiday in Greyton. This is a small, tranquil and isolated town in the Western Cape. We arrived at midnight after 36 hours of direct travel from the other side of the world. We were shattered the following morning, but happy to be doing the rounds and greeting old friends and family. On being introduced to an elderly citizen of the town, her hands flew to her face in horror. “Where are you from?” she asked. “New Zealand” I replied. “Gosh, I am so sorry to hear about the Tsunami!” she apologized. “Tsunami?” was all I could manage. “Yes, a Tsunami – there have been thousands of casualties!”. My heart sank “Where in New Zealand did it hit?” I asked. “I don't know” she replied “but it has caused terrible damage. The shots on television have been awful to look at”. I asked around, but no one else had heard of the disaster. Greyton is a little remote. And as newly arrived visitors we had no Internet, no radio, no television. It took a further four hours before I was able to find out that New Zealand was very, very far away from the Tsunami and had not been affected.

But in that four hours I experienced a range of contradictory emotions. I know full well that sitting on the meeting point of two tectonic plates New Zealand is at risk of Tsunami damage. On the one hand I was incredibly worried. Our family, our friends, and our colleagues – were they all right, had they been harmed, how badly was the country hit? On the other hand, I was very, very relieved. We hadn't been there. We were alright! Thank God - what a well timed holiday! And when I finally learned to truth about the Tsunami, I felt very guilty about my response – our friends and family where alright. It was someone else's friends and family that had been affected...

A few days later we were on the beach at Betties Bay with Doug and Helene. We spent a delightful day in the sun, spelunking in the rock pools and splashing in the water. Doug and Helene had been on the beach when the wave from the Tsunami had come past. Here in Betties bay it had been nothing more than an abnormally large wash, but still something to discuss. At the end of the day Tessa and I led our little parade off of the beach. We walked up around the back of the beach, behind the little encampments of the other beach goers. Tessa took us straight past an elderly couple that, somehow, had placed a distance between them and everyone else on the beach.

As we drew nearer, I couldn't help but notice that their costumes seemed a little more revealing and detailed than was usual. And then the dawning realization, the sudden attempt to look somewhere else and show that I hadn't noticed that this couple were indeed very different. Yes, they were stark naked! Tessa skipped along, oblivious, right past their towels. I developed a sudden interest in the flat horizon, where the sea met the sky, and hoped that I would not trip in my sightless passing.

On the other side of the beach we all stopped and looked back at the scene. The nudists got up and went for a swim.

This shows how far the new South Africa has come. There were no attempts being made to cover up children's eyes by the other beach goers. There were no panicked calls to the police. There was no violent confrontation. The two elderly nudists were simply just left to their own devices.

Also, it must take great courage to be naked when all around are clothed. And sober. But here is the thing I don't understand. When those two brave nudists got up to go for their swim, they put on swimming costumes. And when they came back to their towels, they took those swimming costumes off again. Go figure.

7:53:46 PM