A variety of people flock to their favourite beach. There are the young girls who attract the flirtatious attentions of surfers. Then there are the matronly ladies who systematically munch on biscuits and chips. But by lunch time a flood of arrivals carry equipment which show they mean business. Some even arrive with a braai grid, wood and axes.
There are the mamas who carry an assortment of things, trailed by little ones who end up carrying huge cooking pots. They are ready to start the big fires and braai in earnest. Most gravitate east to the extended bit of lawn where they feel most at home.
I was there to read for a while, but kept on glancing up and wondering whether this peaceful scene would last (at the activity around me). The bins were emptied by municipal workers, but law enforcement officers - if there were any - were keeping a low profile for the time being.
There has been an ongoing controversy - about whether braais should be allowed or not - between Vic Bay residents and the public.
Whichever way you look at this issue, homeowners were seriously inconvenienced during the festive season when enthusiastic braaiers started partying right on the road in front of the Vic Bay homes - after the picnic area became too over-crowded (which is probably a narrow strip of 5 metres x 35 metres).
As one proponent for banning fires said last year, "It is nothing to do with politics or race, but all about the sheer impracticality of allowing fires to be stoked in areas not designated for that purpose. You eventually have a beach-front covered in black coal and a potential fire hazard."
A regular beach-goer said this week she is concerned though about the axes that are brought in to chop the wood - those could prove to be lethal if an argument should ensue. She also felt that braaiers take up too much space. After all, it is a city beach which serves a huge population of 180 000. In the hour that I spent there, I did not see anyone openly imbibing alcohol, but the regular is convinced that people drink on the sly.
The lawns which were nursed throughout the drought to stay green, unfortunately at present resembles an unsavoury compost heap of cigarette butts, and this too is enough to put off civilised citizens.
Would the alternative - primly nibbling on cucumber sandwiches - be more appropriate? What would life savers have to say on the subject, and homeowners?
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An irate resident of Victoria Bay sent in this photo of the typical ‘morning after’ scene on the previously pristine beach area. Even female underwear formed part of the picture.
ARTICLE: PAULINE LOURENS
