Good hope

So we arrive at the Cape of Good Hope two days ago. There's a wooden sign there, English and Afrikaans, telling you where we are. (At the Cape of GH, in case you're not paying attention). We emerge from the car, get our jackets on, gasp at the deep blue sea. Seconds behind us are a couple of enormous tour buses that disgorge hordes of Korean or Malaysian or Japanese folks. They are enormously excited and leap about with whoops of delight.

Then they all run to the wooden sign and line up behind it, some stretching their arms out in what I surmise is relief. ("Hoo boy! that bus journey from Seoul has got me exhausted!")

Someone produces a long banner which they drape over the sign so completely that you can no longer see where you are. The sign says "2010 Supremacy Summit Excellence Award". A woman braces to take a photograph of the gang. I notice that nearly all the women, but nearly none of the men, are wearing sunglasses.

Three thoughts occur to me. No, four. No, five.

* 2010 is over.

* If a "Supremacy Summit Excellence" is 5 months late with its date, how excellent is it anyway?

* What is a Supremacy Summit?

* Someday these Supremacy Summit guys are going to look at this photo and say to themselves: "Hey, where the hell were we when we took this shot?" That's when they'll remember the benefits of not covering up signposts.

* What's with the gender divided sunglasses?

Incidentally, it's not just one photo. I notice that the photographer is festooned with cameras, must be easily two dozen around her neck with more in her hands. Clearly, every single member of the Supremacy Summit has given her her/his camera to shoot the scene. (The usual bane of the digital camera age).

She looks a mite bent over, so much so that I fear she might topple on her face. But bravely, she soldiers on, taking photo after photo of the whooping Supremacy gang. Pretty soon, I understand that it is going to be a long time, possibly weeks, before she is finished and the sign is removed and the world can once more read the wooden sign to know what this particular spot is. So we give up our hopes for such a shot and set out on a trek to the top of the craggy hills behind.

Half an hour later we stop to catch our breath and take in the magnificent view. Far below, like frantic ants, the Supremacy Summit folks are still whooping and waving from behind the banner-obscured "C of GH" sign.