The road to Natal

We had to go to Natal on a business trip last week with a detour to Hattingspruit, a small village near Dundee on the way. We left Pretoria just after four in the morning and drove under a very beautiful starry winter sky, until we hit coal country. It was as if we were driving through a steam train tunnel, the air was thick and heavy with coal dust and visibility practically nothing. If the smog/fog was not enough the road was worse than the usual potholed disasters that we seem to find whenever we make a trip to anywhere, even the local supermarket.
As we were getting close to sunrise time we kept looking out for the glimmer of light in the east that declares the beginning of another new day. Fat chance, the smog was too thick and heavy for us to do anything but carry on driving in the hope that sooner or later we would get ourselves out of and off this man made road to hell.

Finally, after dodging trucks and numerous waits at road construction sites where there was only traffic going one way at a time we started seeing the first promises of light and life away from this Dante's hell of coal dust and pollution.
Yes, there still was a Sun, and as we went in and out of patches of despair and into what seemed to be a landscape of half dead trees and grass trying to survive in an atmosphere of foul air and dirty, smelling water holes we wondered what the God's were thinking about man's efforts to clean up the Earthly environment. Not very much I would imagine!

We finally made it to Hattingspruit, only one hour late, did what had to be done there and continued on our way to the coast. Wherever there was a sign of habitation, be it a small hut on a hill or a town or city we seemed to see signs of pollution, some just tiny wisps of smoke others great factories bellowing out their waste to the world.
Do these huge almost archaic looking monsters, that sit almost as if stalking us, ever get checked by any government officials as to what they are befouling our air with and why are they still doing it anyway? Or it it the usual South African attitude of well it is only a small percentage of the worlds pollution so why does it matter, speak to the big boy polluters in other countries first.
South Africans seem to be rather fond of complaining about things, but seem less willing to get off their seats, rumps or whatever they happen to sit on and get things done. We really are a rather lazy nation.
A short stop for body comforts and food and drink and back on the road for the final downhill drive to Durban and the coast. How great it was to see the sea, and to walk along the beach at Scottburgh with the waves lapping up to our bare feet.
Life is really so good but with a bit more effort from everyone it could be so much better.