Braais, beers and bikes: Winter hits us hard but doesn't stop the potjiekos competition

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Winter hits us hard but doesn't stop the potjiekos competition

Winter is upon us! There has not been much for me to report on this past month, as I sit here shivering at my keyboard the thermometer shows me that the temperature inside my house is 11 Celsius. There is positive news though; we have winter rainfall and over the past couple of weeks we have had excellent rains, dam levels are rising and the Theewaterskloof dam, from where Capetown gets most of its water has had copious inflows. The drought is not broken though, western cape residents will still have to use water sparingly but according to reports the water usage over the past registered period has been the lowest on record, showing that people are being serious about conservation.

We have been doing our bit to save water, as have all of the people with whom we are associated, we catch the water from the washing machine to use for washing the floors and flushing toilets. We shower over buckets, running the water for a short while then turn it off to lather up and then turning it back on to rinse off etc. I don't wash my bike as often as I used to, and then only with grey water from the washing machine. These can easily become lifestyle habits and when friends visit they are used to these measures in their own homes so it is no inconvenience.

Snow has fallen over the mountains in the western cape and it has been extensive; I read that the Swartberg, Theronsberg and Gydo passes have been closed to traffic, Chapman's Peak drive between Hout Bay and Kommetjie is closed due to strong winds, mud slides and debris and there is thick snow on the N1 at the Hex River Pass, at Montagu and the Hemel en Aarde valley near Hermanus. Happily when all of this melts it will run into the dams as well.

As good as this news is, there is an adverse side and that is to motorcycling; it does tend to put a bit of a dampener (if you'll pardon the pun) on our enjoyment. Last Saturday the West Coast Motorcycle Association (WMA) sponsored a fund raising "Potjiekos" competiton (pronounced "Poy-key-kos" literally meaning "Pot food") at the Phoenix bar. I think there were six teams entered including Sampie and Kathy representing the Meeulanders. It was a cold, blustery and intermittently wet day, but it was a day of fun and camaraderie which was attended by a larger than expected crowd and there were more cages parked outside than there were bikes.

When I arrived I tried to park my cage surreptitiously far from the door but I got the message from Alex, there weren't many bikes there anyway.

One group of hardy bikers from Capetown group had decided to do their pot the traditional way, with fire outside;

The others, including our own, had elected to use gas inside one of the large storerooms and I must say that the aroma of food inside that store was mouthwatering!

self, Daan and Willie

Sampie shows his pot to the judges

Apart from the bar, which was doing a roaring trade, the storeroom became a bit of a gathering place where we all chatted and drank and waited for the judging so that we could buy some food.

Frank chats with Kathy

Delicious mild curry beef and rice

We wandered over to the bar for the prize giving and although our team did not win a prize they did a great job, I suppose it is very difficult to choose the winners when everyone involved is good at doing potjies, after all it is a South African favourite - especially in winter.

Etienne serves up Mutton and Bean pot


Undaunted Club came second

The Nimrods Club from Yzerfontein came first, very well done guys and good of them to travel up in lousy weather, as with those who came up from Capetown - biking is strong in the western cape.

Point a camera at the Gypsy Jokers!

Willie with Mohicans Pres. Alex

The party carried on in the bar, it had been a really good day and a success I'm sure, I certainly did not expect so many people in such bad weather. It just goes to show what dedicated and hardy people bikers are, and when there's a party not much will keep them away.