Lightning Crashes
Last Friday I went to my first-ever drive-in movie, at the Velskoen Cinema in Randburg. I’m glad I went when I did – Velskoen is Jozi’s last remaining drive-in and it’s closing down in June. The land was sold to a property developer. Sniff.
I won’t write a long post about the evening because my friend Martina in Jozi already did. (I play a starring role in her post.) But I do want to blog about a photo I took while there.
Lighting strikes as cars pull into the drive-in. See the smaller bolt on the far left?
It’s been a spectacular summer for Jozi storms, but Friday night was the best lightning show I’ve seen since moving here. Lightning struck every few seconds for over an hour, 360 degrees around. Luckily, since it was nighttime and I had planned to take photos at the drive-in, I had my tripod set up and ready for action.
Unluckily, it began to pour five minutes after the movie started. Watching a drive-in movie in the rain is not ideal. The movie that was playing, The Chronicle, was especially difficult to watch in poor visibility conditions.
I don’t think we missed much. The crash of lightning behind the big screen was the best part of the show.
Read another nice post about the drive-in by Shahil at Finding Jozi.
Wow, Heather, I love the photo! How intense it must have been to be surrounded by so much lightening. I will check out Martina’s post to see the starring role you play! Hope you are having a happy Monday, my friend. Hugs, Kathy
Thanks Kathy. Martina will appreciate the referral. But I may have overstated my role a bit :)
The lightning picture is beautiful. Sadly, this years electrical storms have not been as epic as the ones in previous years. Was really hoping to get some good shots this year but have not had the chance sadly.
I only have one previous summer to compare to, but I’ve been pretty impressed! If this has been a bad year for storms then I can’t wait for a good one.
Hey, I wanted to link to your blog post about the drive-in too, but it seems to be down. I assume you know this. Sorry if I’m depressing you further.
Actually checked it right now - its up. You have checked the new domain right? http://findingjozi.co.za/reminiscing-an-ode-to-velskoen-drive-in/ .. I do have a new post - my old mailing list hasn’t been updated so if you didn’t get a notification, you might need to re-sigh up.
Weird! I tried and tried earlier and couldn’t get it to load.
Gosh, drive-ins were an institution in Oz when I was growing up! Very sad to see them close one by one….. For light rain, a spray of Mr. Sheen furniture polish on the windscreen kept the raindrops sliding off :-) Great shots of the lightning!!
That sounds like interesting advice. This rain was definitely not light though. But I’ll keep the furniture polish in mind if we make it back again before it closes.
This is a wonderful picture and added to the story of how it came about make a great read. :)
Thanks Francis, I’m so glad you like it!
Epic photos! I mean, lighting and a drive-in movie, can you beat that?
I know! It was pretty awesome.
I have been wanting to go for a while and the urgency of this great institution closing down is enough to get me there in the next few weeks! Thanks for the update! Looks like loads of fun!
Glad I could help encourage you :)