In pursuit of maintaining some degree of sanity, I try to do something that scares me at least once every couple of weeks – paddle out in big surf that’s way beyond my skill level, ride my scooter to Durban on the M4, find a new hill to bomb on a skateboard, or something equally ill-advised.
When the opportunity arose to write Umdloti news for The North Coast Courier, I was stoked about returning to the newsroom and its inherent adventures.
But then the team flipped the script on me, asking me to step out of the shadows and also produce a column – an opinion piece!
You must understand that as a news hound, I am conditioned to write straight to the point, blunt, objective news pieces.
This means stating the facts and leaving the fluffy opinion pieces to feature writer wordsmiths.
My shot in the arm of choice is typically something physically demanding that involves adrenaline and sticking it to some aspect of society.
Believe me, I’ve seen Umdloti’s Wagner army of keyboard warriors in action, and opening myself up to that level of public scrutiny in a small town was not on my bucket list.
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But here we are…
Umdloti has pretty much been a construction site since the April and May 2022 floods, with the current main attraction being the chaos at the circle.
It’s surprising how little the community knows about the enormous stormwater upgrade being done there, apparently designed to handle much more water than what came gushing down there last year.
The creativity that comes out of the rumour mill is truly Oscar worthy. Curious passers-by have asked the engineers if they were building a bridge. I wonder where to and over what, since it’s under the circle.
Many people are working very hard behind the scenes to revive the old enclave and we have to admit that although things will never be the same again, the City has invested a heap of cash in rebuilding our village, which is gradually making a comeback.
In the coming months I will be writing about what is being done to repair the village and other developments. It will also be an opportunity for residents to voice their concerns about what the future holds for the Umdloti region.
A few local families have left for greener pastures and there are a lot of new faces dropping in.
The Doloras coffee crowd has completely changed since last summer and now even comprises a community of dogs that come along to read pee-mails and catch up on gossip around the water bowl.
Life goes on…with or without whoever. We each have a choice, whether we get on the bus (even if it is scary) or get left behind at the station.
• If you have any Umdloti news to share, I can be reached at Jacqui@howzit.co.za or 082 849 4737.
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