Of Meteorite Showers – Notes From The Editor

by SFT | Oct 16, 2024 | Notes From The Editor

Throwback Thursday to 25 August when we spoke of meteorite showers and car park life.

It was the usual car park hangout on a Sunday down at the beach at Seal Point. A crew of local surfers and others were sitting around, shooting the breeze, looking after kids, taking them surfing, chilling on the grass and watching the other surfers at the beachbreak. Lots of banter, the last jol, the latest village rumours, plenty of chirping about some new blow-ins who had recently moved to Seals and who thought they were already locals.
The locals were chilled, though, some slightly hungover, others enjoying the last day of the weekend. All of a sudden, there was a screaming.

– Look! Look!

Someone was shouting at us.
Next, we all turned to see this flashing in the sky as an incredible meteorite display streaked across the skies over us in Cape St Francis.

– What was that?
– I have no idea, bru. A shooting star?
– It’s the aliens. They’re coming for us.
– World War Four.
– I missed it.

This one young dad just stood there with his phone in his hand, staring at the meteor shower with his mouth open.

– I didn’t record it, but I watched it with my phone in my hand.
– Put your camera on the ready, then.
– I have. I just have to push record.
– Meteorites come around about every 200 years, bru, so you just sit there and chill.

Then the world started thunderclapping as the meteorite shower sound effects and sonic booms blasted through the Sunday morning quietness.

– It’s the end of the world! We’re all going to die! We’re all going to DIE!
– DAAAAAD! Are we going to all die?
– No. Firstly, we are not going to die. It’s just a meteorite. Secondly, ignore your dad. He’s being stupid.
– Thirdly, bru, shut up. You’re scaring the kids.

An old local with a walking stick wobbled down to us and started shouting.

– It’s the Chinese! They have been doing missile tests in the bay, and our government is teaching and training pilots.
– Really?
– We’ve been training them for eleven years. We have already trained eleven of them. That was the sonic boom from their planes.
– Eleven pilots in eleven years? Again, it sounds like our government is hard at work.

A massive bakkie tore into the car park, and another local climbed out.

– Did you see that thing in the sky? That was the most radical thing I have ever seen.
– I heard it just landed in Sedgefield.
– No, bru. That’s the other way. Didn’t you check the way it was travelling? It went lappaside.
– It’s gone to Hankey.
– That’s fine, then. They’ll take anything there.
– My whole house shook. I thought it was going to fall over.
– New build?
– You better talk to your builder, bru; you can’t have a house collapse over a meteor shower. Also, it won’t make it through this coming cold front.
– Local builder?
– JBay.
– Ya, that’s why.
– Actually, what are you surfers going to do with this cold front coming? It looks like it’s going to be pretty hectic.
– Your face looks pretty hectic.

An old longboarding local came out of the water, very agitated.

– Did you see that? It’s the Chinese. They’re training Chinese pilots here!
– Ya. Eleven of them. We heard. So what are they doing, shooting laser guns from planes in PE or something?
– No planes in the area.
– Still, the pilots must go, anyway.
– There aren’t any. 
– Some of my best friends are Chinese.
– Dude. Listen to me. Please stop talking.
– OK. Enough of this. Time for a huge breakfast,
– Fully. I’m out of here.
– You’re out of hair.
– Big solar panel on your head.
– Come back at high tide. It’s going to be super fun.
– If we’re all still alive, then.
– So, around two-thirty?
– OK, check you later.

—

See also: Thundering Eastern Cape meteorite travelled at 72 000km/h before huge explosion

Read More: An Unmissable Weekend at St Francis Links With Something For Everyone!