Never mind the weather, as long as we're together

"Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.”

Regardless of what Oscar Wilde felt, weather is the subject under discussion today … but there’s no reason to feel nervous.

After all, it’s not as if the weather is persona non grata. It’s a subject that is dissected each and every day by each and every one of us since it plays such an integral role in our daily lives.

From what we wear to how we behave, the sun, rain, wind, frost, snow, sleet, breeze, cold, heat, gale etc impacts on our very being.

That’s why when the sun comes out there tends to be a spring in our step, while the galoshes of grim weather tend to keep us down. But you know all this …

What you may not know, however, is that for the past three days Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University has been blessed with beautiful wind-free sunny days.

And it’s mid-winter!

(Anyone who has ever lived or visited Port Elizabeth will appreciate the “wind-free” part of the description … since wind is a key component of the PE psyche, but let’s not go there.) 

With temps in the low to mid-twenties, it is spring-in-the-step time and given that NMMU’s North and South campuses are in a 720-hectare nature reserves, gentle rambles are called for …

NMMU's North and South campuses are situated in a 720-hectare private nature reserve.

During these walks – with and without fellow colleagues – we are privileged to enjoy nature’s bounty: the smell of the sea (since NMMU is next to Algoa Bay) and the coastal fynbos; view the beautiful indigenous gardens and bush and even a Springbok or three, along with a troop of vervet monkeys all under an African azure sky.

Springboks on NMMU's South Campus.

And then there’s the silence … the empty sound of empty spaces.

Now herein lays the rub – the bit that Oscar Wilde was nervous about; those chats about the weather that he felt were fraught with other meaning.

I confess that so it is with this blog … the weather was but an excuse to share the beauty of our coastal campuses and recognise that while there’s beauty in the silence of our surrounds, I MISS THE NOISE AND VIBRANCY OF THE STUDENTS.

It is recess time at NMMU and while it’s an ideal opportunity to catch up and get on with matters not pertaining to students, it’s far too quiet for my liking.

And so, given the option, I’ll forego my fair weather feelings for the tried and trusted “never mind the weather as long as we’re together”.  I’d much rather have students in all weathers, than long, silent sunny days. 

After all, to quote one wise soul, it takes both rain and sunshine to make a rainbow. 

PS. I believe a cold front is on its way!