8 Feb 2009 – Thunderstorm

After the week of internships, classes, and exciting national events, several of us opted to stay at the house on Saturday as the rest of the group headed for Muizenberg. We spent the morning and afternoon working on homework assignments, loads of laundry, and catching up on sleep and emails. In the evening, Emily Anderson and I walked to Pick N’ Pay on Main Rd. for a few groceries.

We left a little after 6:30, with the unusually overcast sky only just showing signs of the approaching sunset. Ordinarily, we would have had no trouble walking the 25 minutes to the store, grabbing our groceries, and returning before it was too dark. But as we started back towards the house at 7:30, the dark clouds had rolled in and were rumbling ominously overhead. Heavy raindrops started pelting us as we neared the Commons, and we grumbled about wet groceries and soggy clothes as we continued to walk.

And then the lightening cracked.

It took a few more minutes for the storm to really set in overhead, but suddenly we realized we were fifteen minutes from home and facing a broad expanse of open grassland, with thunder and lightening crashing relentlessly around us. There were no shops to duck into, no cabs to be hailed. Even if we called someone from our cell phones, there was nothing they’d be able to do to help. So we charted the most cautious course possible, squinting through the downpour and sloshing hurriedly along the flooding sidewalk at the edge of the Commons. Lightening zigzagged towards the ground unsettlingly close to us, and it flashed overhead so rapidly that it seemed we were trying to navigate around the edge of the field by strobe light. There were few tall trees or structures around us, even on the periphery of the Commons, but we managed to reach the far side safely about ten minutes later, soaked and mildly shaken. We dashed across the puddled street, trying not to shriek as bolts lit up the field on our left. The damp air smelled faintly charred.

By the time we finally came to the front gate of the house, the rain had eased to a steady shower, and the thunder and lightening were a bit less intense. We stood dripping in the foyer for a moment, collecting ourselves and taking stock of our mud-spattered clothes and sodden cloth grocery bags. Our slightly-dazed expressions made for a humorous picture opportunity, and the eventful walk home will surely remain a vivid memory of our time in Cape Town.