Hi Everyone! By the time this edition has reached you, we should all be back from yet another long weekend. Tough times indeed! The small matter of the diesel price setting does place a damper on the long weekend options! A month ago I paid R10,18 for a litre of diesel at the Alexander Bay pumps (and that was before the May increase). Ouch! – and apparently we can expect another price increase at the beginning of June due to the crude oil price which is on its way to $125 a barrel ... To put that into perspective, a standard barrel of oil which holds 158,987 litres equates to a raw fuel price of R6,09 per litre before any processing costs or government extortion has been added! Between Eskom and the two long weekends it would appear that outdoor type shops are doing brisk trade in lighting and gas equipment. On Saturday 19 April I could not find a rechargeable or LED type lantern or camplight at the major outlets – Sorry sir, sold out! Any wager on the prospects for 2010 …? I believe Kevin is putting his thinking cap on in order to arrange a 3 – 5 week bush experience for the club ... now there is a tempting thought … If you are going to venture outdoors and offroad during the long weekends, please be careful out there! Do not use river water for cooking or drinking without proper treatment unless you are very sure of the origin! SANPARKS have confirmed that they have received notification of skin rashes from the Gariep river in the Richtersveld area and are analysing samples. The editor (yours truly), the membership secretary and the Post Office apologise to those members who have not received their hardcopies of last month’s newsletter. We (CLRC) had an electronic glitch (hard drive crash) and as for the Post Office … ja well no fine … Please raise your hand and/or voice if you do not receive it this month (assuming you read this note on the club website if that is the case!) In addition to the above, the editor started off this year by numbering the first edition as Volume 18 #1. Now that is technically correct, however he then went on to call it the January edition, which was incorrect. The newsletter is processd a month in advance and therefore the first edition should have been called the February edition. This has now been rectified and this edition, although the 4th for the year is in actual fact the May edition. He assures me that he considers himself duly admonished etc … Call for contributions: Please, all reports/submissions are most welcome. Remember this is our magazine. Note that the deadline is the 20th of each month. If anyone has any relevant photographs, please forward for inclusion in the newsletter. Till next month, enjoy the start of autumn and the lovely sunsets! Herbie Email: herbie.hellstrom@telkomsa.net Telephone 021 975 1960 (h) Cellphone 083 270 4339 Fax 021 550 5119 (w)  
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