October was, to borrow a phrase from football, a game of two halves.
Grandma O'Neill (née Jones) passed away, after a long battle against dementia. Ultimate matriach of the O'Neill clan, she was the South African connection that meant that Cape Town had always been on my list of places to visit for two weeks or so, and although it had no impact on me taking the job, it was always nice that she had spent half her life here and that the rest of the O'Neills (in a way...it could easily become a whole separate blog post) were raised here for their early years. May I say, in the most spectacular place ever:
This was a visit to Blouberg, for the first time, after a fantastic meal with TK, at a place called 'Bread and Wine' just outside of Franshoek which I'd attempted to go to whilst I had visitors in August. On this occasion we didn't decide to go on a trip after dinner purely to get desserts from Bistro Sixteen82 (featured back in March) at Steenberg vineyards, not because we're not gluttonous, but because we did that last month...instead we took in the sight of Table mountain being very 'tabley', as it has been described best, and this was more than satisfactory.
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| 'Quick lunch' on the left, dessert trip on the right with General Cluckers also in attendance |
Having been here a year it's amazing to me that I still have plenty of new excursions to make and lots left to do, made all the easier by the fact the sun appears to be back in full force. Regrettably it means that there almost certainly won't be enough rain to last through to winter 2018 (which, since most people who read this are in the northern hemisphere, is in summer), but that is again a post for another time. It meant that the 'Open Streets' event, inspired by Bogotá in Colombia, was quite a nice affair. An event that has happened a couple of times around Cape Town in the past couple of years, a huge stretch of road from the city centre to Salt River was shut to traffic and opened to cyclists, skateboarders, footballers, street stalls, yoga practitioners, chalk artists, and so on. It has a long way to go, with the ultimate aim being a complete, 7 day a week pedestrianised Cape Town, but it's certainly an interesting concept and Woodstock is a very nice walk; without the traffic it certainly offers a different perspective on hectic city life.
Finally got around to visiting Sally again, and here is a shot from her place of False bay, featuring a sailing race and what definitely had a whale in, even if I didn't capture it in any of my shots, at least with any decent quality to upload:
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| Of course the day I was meant to visit but couldn't make it there was a whale closer than the nearest sailboat |
Whilst I'm shoehorning in the usual; First Thursday, sunsets (this time from Llandudno, no not that one), new kinds of food...yes, you can get chocolate-covered Oreos here, and they are delicious...a visit to a vineyard this time in Durbanville (no idea what me and Dan found so funny, but it was a delicious meal, and there's a rainbow!):
Daniel, a colleague and friend who is now a lecturer at Surrey was visiting for an annual workshop held by my boss called 'Tastes of Nuclear Physics', which is always a great week and features some of the best researchers and lecturers in the field visiting and inspiring students, many of whom come from incredibly disadvantaged backgrounds, to go on to do some fantastic work. I apparently though only talk about the time I caught a fish that was THIS BIG!
The first two weeks of the month though were relatively low key, both because the news from home didn't put me in a party mood, and because I was expecting visitors and was working quite hard to have time off in lieu. I did however find time to visit my first standing gig in years, seeing Bastille down at the Grand West Casino, a huge entertainment complex in the northern suburbs. Nobody joined in my perfectly mild-mannered chant to the caricature projection of one of my favourite people on the screen behind them for some reason though. I of course also got to celebrate being 10,000 days old, on 10/10, and so here is a photo at 10:10 PM of that occasion, with homemade cocktails! Now that I am five figures old, expect my posts to become much more solemn, reasoned, and sensible.
Having visitors here is, as mentioned in January and August, simply the best. Anna, someone I randomly met in a hostel in Atlanta when me and Lee travelled down the US east coast back in 2012 and stayed in touch with ever since, came with friends who'd I'd met when visiting Anna last year in Copenhagen. The visit was for only 8 days but it seemed like the longest week; not because of any tedium but because of so much happening. A footnote here, but an important one for future visitors: it's especially nice when visitors bring some incredible Polish vodka, and just absolutely amazing when you get back from a long frustrating day, have a nap, and wake up to homemade pierogi. They've very much set the benchmark for future guests, although the Polish aspect which I can very much get on board with is made easier by the fact there's three Polish girls...is it vastly inappropriate to write that I was in heaven?
The sun didn't always play along, at the start of the week at least, but there is a certain aspect of seeing Cape Point and the penguins in different light every time that makes each occasion different. However, I think I will be quite happy having a bit of a break from it for a while, especially now I've figured out there's a bus that does that route! Worth checking out, but after the fourth time in a year it's something I can skip. I had a good time, I just don't want any future visitors to be disappointed if I don't jump at the chance to go again for a while!
Tuesday was a trip to Du Toitskloof, a spectacular mountain range coming out of Cape Town on the N2, with the view to doing a hike, but it was a bit of a disaster, with the weather and prior planning not on our side. Eventually we decided to head down to Jonkerskloof, a fantastic nature reserve just outside of Stellenbosch, and squeezing in a decent trip to a waterfall.
Wednesday and Thursday the group split with myself and Anna driving north way past anywhere I had been before with an overnight stay in the Cederberg mountain range, which was yet again something that is completely different to anywhere else I'd yet been in this brilliant country. It was a huge area and definitely on my list to do again. It helped that we had the best meal I've had in South Africa (this statement always has to discount Test Kitchen, which will be the defacto top), although the spectacular drive back at night was ruined by rain closing in just as we got to our cottage. Still:
Friday...well I can't let 3 Polish (stereotype, kinda true: love alcohol) people, who live in Copenhagen (stereotype, very true: expensive alcohol), leave without treating them to the incredible vineyards with incredible wine which is incredibly cheap. A trip was therefore made to the Franshoek wine tram (purple line), which was absolutely fantastic. Can't decide...or rather, can't remember...the highlight, but fudge pairing has to be up there. We also visited Solms Delta, which I had recognised and assume had had recommended to me; turns out, I recognised it because me and TK had gone after our 'quick' Bread and Wine lunch. Worse places to go again!
The rest of the month was back to work, on a normal(-ish) schedule for the first time in months, with the company of zebra. I missed museum night, but I did however find time to finally go up Table mountain from the CBD side*, which I decided to run. A decision which I should add, I do not regret. I do regret quite a lot that I didn't buy a cable car ticket for the way back down though...still, spectacular.
My phone is out of action, and so the best way to get in contact is via pre-arranged (e-mail?) Skype conversations, or good old Facebook, made slightly harder by the fact I'm now on London time + 2 hours. I managed to take most of the pictures this month, but the best ones were left to Anna, of which I attach a couple of favourites below. I don't think I do a bad job at catching the wonder of SA, and I've certainly got better purely from practise, but someone who knows what they're doing with a proper camera can catch images like this:
To finish off this month, a photo of where grandma was born and raised; Clifton, which, like so many places in this part of the world, is also an absolutely incredible area.
Song of the month: Escape (The Piña Colada Song), by Rupert Holmes, as there was a lot of driving around Africopenhagen made a lot more pleasant by this being in the background...and now I keep seeing piña coladas everywhere too.
*after destroying my phone on my bike, which is I suppose one up on destroying myself three months prior
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