Narrow stands, odd openings
St James is a single strip between the line and the slope, and its cottages were built before garages, which were cut in later into side passages and the ground floors of houses on the mountain side. The openings are narrow and low, the driveways drop off the Main Road or climb off Boyes Drive, and the door that fits is nearly always a roll-up made to the opening. On the older cottages a timber tip-up is kept for the look and automated in place where there is room for the swing.
Salt from the pool side
The doors on the sea side face False Bay across the railway and get the salt: boards corrode, cables rust from the inside, panels bubble. Stainless hardware and a sealed panel edge is the specification, and a motor repair here often finds a corroded board on a unit that would have lasted years inland.
Getting here
St James is a real drive along the Main Road. Kalk Bay, Muizenberg and Lakeside share the routes, and an emergency is attended at the honest window.