The Floral Kingdoms and Wine Sniffing
Dear Inmates, Oom Cyril, did speak to the nation again on Tuesday. The disappointment was visible and widely shared on Facebook.
Fifty days “agter slot en grendel”, without the regular garden service and no lawnmower of our own, the lawn took a walk on the wild side. The effortless sprint over clean-cut blades from our French Poodles came to a shrieking halt! Playing fetch with their ball turned them into Falabella miniature ponies galloping gracefully over the long grass blades. Their running style changed to adapt to their new environment. It is too funny for words!
The art of drinking wine evolve during the lockdown period. As South African citizens beverage stockpile depletes at an alarming rate, they take actions to curb the impact. Buying & selling on the black market is, of course, an option but not ideal. However, then there is wine sniffing! Yes, that’s correct, wine sniffing. Here goes:- You leave 50ml of wine in all the bottles you already used. Prepare your cheese platter with light snacks and olives. Sit down and slowly open your ‘Sarel Seemonster Sauvignon Blanc’. With a gentle swirl, bring the bottle close to your nostrils, and take a deep ‘expand your chest’ kind of inhale. Let the aroma and flavours linger in your airwaves by tilting your head slightly backwards as you slowly exhale through your mouth. Imagine the taste of feisty citrus fruit with an elegant expression of minerality on your tongue. Next, you move on to your ‘Merloo’. And so you sniff your way through the bottles and the evening! I doubt if you will eventually sniff enough alcohol to see a Kaal-ou walking down your street blowing on his kelp horn!
Did you know that the Cape is home to 1 of the 6 Floral Kingdoms of the world? Botanists recognise it as one of the unique places for plants globally in terms of diversity, density and number of endemic species. At the tip of Southern Africa, this majestic Cape Floral Kingdom is the only one to be fully contained in a single country. Aren’t we special? It’s the smallest of the six recognised floral Kingdoms worldwide.
Over 9,000 species of Africa’s plant diversity is contained in a strip of land from Namaqualand to Port Elizabeth. The other five kingdoms are; Boreal, Palaeotropical, Neotropical, Australia & Antarctic. And 7,700 of the plant species are classified as fynbos plants, a vegetation type of extraordinary richness, beauty and diversity. This fantastic assemblage of plant life and its associated fauna is one of the worlds hottest hotspots.
Now a Kingdom isn’t a Kingdom without a King or Queen. Our floristic Kingdom has a King and Queen Protea, for that matter. From time to time, our two-legged Protea’s even rules victorious on the cricket pitch!
Folks, let’s maintain the right attitude amidst a devastating and lousy situation we find ourselves in. There is always hope and always answers to prayers! This way, we can keep the stress levels at bay and manage the uncertainty far better.
16/5/2020
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