As I have mentioned before I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world Cape Town and what makes Cape Town so special is our mountain, simply named Table Mountain.

In the old days when the Union Castle shipping line used to sail between Cape Town and Southampton there was nothing more beautiful than sailing into Cape Town in the early morning and seeing Table Mountain silhouetted against the dawn sky. It brought tears to your eyes especially if you had been away for any length of time, it meant you were "home".

Last night I got up and as is my way I looked outside and in the distance I could see an orange glow,our Table Mountain was on fire. Now that it is daylight you cannot see the flames but the fire rages on high up the mountain.

I feel very sorry for the wild life that lives on the mountain and especially the tortoises who are too slow to escape the flames, but who knows some could have been asleep under the overhang of a rock. I had a tortoise once called "Flame" and his shell was completely burnt and the rest of him, legs, head etc was fine. Flame was stolen by workmen we had working in our back garden.

One must also spare a thought for our Fire Fighters who have been working through the night and have had a very busy Summer this year, putting out huge fires through the Peninsula.

They say that the odd fire is good for the local "fynbos" as it promotes new growth. By this time next year all will be back to normal and Table Mountain will be its majestic self. After all it has been there forever