Stars on the ground

An impromptu trip led to a wave of change inside of me. I was invited to spend a weekend on a farm high up in the Soutpansberg in Louis Trichardt. We arrived at La Roche (French for The Rock) as the sun began to set. I was looking up at a night sky unfamiliar to me, one filled with millions of stars and a clearly visible milky way. I spent a half an hour lying on the patio looking at this scene and I thought about my favourite painting of all time, Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night, and at that moment I knew that this is what he must have seen or experienced when he painted that beautiful piece of art. Swirls of light indicating the milky way and glowing spheres of gas in the sky.

The simplicity of life on the farm was an eye opener to me. We were by no means isolated or devoid of some of the conveniences of modern life such as electricity or running water, but it was definitely an experience of note. Michel's dad moved from Belgium to South Africa when he was 30. I was fascinated by the exchanges in French between Michel and his dad.

Arriving in Pretoria, I realised that the lights of the city resemble stars, stars on the ground. The lights in the sky up north was replaced by the twinkling lights of the city with its air of decadence and temptation.