So it seems after a year, things really start to get busy*. I'm partly aware of the fact I now have less than a year left of my contract and that life needs to get busy if I want to carry on in academia (which I do). The upside of this for you, the reader, is that I haven't got time to try to make a whole post that rhymes (sorry about that, call it a product of little sleep).
Actually, I have very little to write about full stop. I have spent most of the month working with two days off (sleeping), working on a cluster proposal and a Coulex proposal for iThemba (SA), and another proposal for CERN. I can pretty much sum it up in a few photos, a little bit of the new standard of life I guess (which is far above what I'm used to and still amazing):
Food (although this market was so bad)...
Culture (I went to see a film in French!)...
Seeing friends (I feel like it's important to be friends with sharks when they come with friggin' laser beams)...
Wine tasting (obviously)...
Rooftop bars with Airbnb guests who bring salted liquorice, yum yum (see above (HA)).
So as I said, same old same old. Fortunately I never wrote up the visit from when my mum and Clarissa came in August, and given that one of the purposes of this blog is that it requires me to go through and sort my photos out, I will take the opportunity to sum it up here! It will also serve as a good reference now I seem to have visitors coming thick and fast...
First up on any trip to Cape Town is penguins and Cape Point! It is a trip which always looks different, and although it's my third time it's still spectacular. From a beach just outside of Simon's Town:
There's so many places to see by the beach, and whales seem to think so too. Hermanus is always a delight, even better when there's a food and wine festival and even better still when said festival has deep-fried double-chocolate Oreos.
Not all beaches have whales unfortunately, but drive up the west coast instead of along the southern, and you'll find the most amazing display of flowers and animals at certain times of the year. Keen readers will remember similar vistas when I first arrived last year!
Talking of animals, there is of course the safari trip to see African animals in Africa! They both enjoyed our trip to Inverdoorn, as did I, although the fact I got a R500 fine for not renewing my tax disc was a bit annoying. It became a lot annoying when I went to renew it and turns out that I had done when I had sorted some car paperwork out earlier in the year, but the fine is the same for not displaying an up-to-date disc.
Long days like this of course mean that one needs to relax properly in the evening; what better way than visiting one of Cape Town's many jazz bars? It was the first visit of mine to the Crypt too, which was a long time coming, and topped off by seeing our !Xhosa waiter step on stage and fire off an incredible version of 'Nessun Dorma'.
Some nights just need to be a bit quieter though, and if you want to experience truly incredible food, the Cape also offers a multitude of choices. One such choice that I purchased for the family's birthday was Test Kitchen, one of the top 25 restaurants in the world, and it was money well spent. If you're aware of the price of it, you'll know that those are not words I choose lightly, but unfortunately it's the only words I can come up with. The stories, the presentation, the wine pairing all led to an unforgettable experience, and hopefully I will get the opportunity to go again.
My mum finally met my PhD supervisor too, who was visiting with his family...and he also got to meet his supervisor, and my academic grandfather!
Of course this doesn't touch on trips to Bo'kaap, to Kirstenbosch, to Franshoek, to see the penguins or to visit vineyards or all the multitude of other activities, but then maybe you'll just have to come experience things yourself...next visitors are three Polish girls and hopefully pierogi. I've had a pretty rubbish month truth be told, but last month was so good as evidenced here it's basically pulled me through. Here's to October being better!
Song of the month: O Sole Mio, by the 3 tenors, as September was very cultured as discussed.
*Given it took me most of October to get to finishing this post with pictures etc, I wasn't wrong
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