The Cape Doctor, two words that strike fear into of any Cape Town cyclist and make the heart of every kite surfer sing with joy. The Cape Doctor is the name given by the locals to the prevalent South Easterly wind that blows from late spring to early autumn and is responsible for ruining many braais. At its worst it'll blow in clouds that seldom bring rain, this is known as the black South Easter. Locals seldom even complain about the wind, it's a test of how local you really are. If you haven't grown up with regular visits from the Cape Doctor then you're bound to complain about it. My earliest memory of visiting Cape Point nature reserve is dominated almost entirely by wind and my Canadian cousin's whiny accent moaning about how much she hated "Africa." Incidentally this is also my earliest memory of intense bigotry, thought I didn't know this at the time.

This introduction makes it seem like wind is the only weather we get, it is not. A beautiful day in Cape Town is a magical affair, when the sun is shining and the air is still, the sun combined with the lack of clouds heats the air to just the right temperature without melting the tar mac. When you get a day of this calibre it feels as if it is like this every day and you forget how annoying the wind is or how grey and cold the winter days can be. The bronzed residents will strut up and down Camps Bay beach front swearing blind that every day in Cape Town is this beautiful. The truth however is that it's not and when it's not something very strange occurs.