yesterday i had the joy of sneezing almost non-stop from morning to when i shut my eyes and fell asleep… it was the worst day of hayfever i can remember.
let’s see if today is better – took a tablet last night and this morning… at least i had no helmet-sneezes on the way to work today!
it is incredible how bad the hayfever is in cape town this year. i’m not the only one that was bed-ridden for at least a part of a day because it is hitting us with such a vengeance… as much as spring has sprung, this is enough now.
even though it is quite fun sneezing in my helmet while motor-biking to work…
my new boss – i.e. the manager in the new department – called me in today to tell me that she was happy to have me on the team. she’d been away for a while, so that’s why it’s only now, but i thought that was really nice!
other than that there is soooooooo much to do – trying to finish here and prepare a handover, trying to get the work delegated away to my team, and making time to learn things for my new position. but, hey, it keeps me out of trouble!
as an aside – the most hits to this website are people doing a search for the best steak in cape town. that is still, without a doubt, the wooden shoe in sea point (ps 021 439 4435 – and no, i don’t get commission. they don’t even know i’ve put this up!)
smile 
my friend rp had suggested that as we go over the franschhoek pass towards villiersdorp, that i should take it easy, as there might be a breeze which would take my little 125cc bike for a fly. i was happy to note that as we came over the pass yesterday, there was not the even a hint of a breeze. i must confess that today, though, there was a slight one. a slight, gale-force breeze. followed about an hour later by a touch of torrential drizzle.
i have never in my life, that i can honestly remember, felt so cold. 60km along a national freeway with rain lashing at your body, collecting in shoes & clothes, and getting a bit of a wind-chill while it sits there, left me shaking like a leaf when i arrived home.
but in the beginning i felt so alive! and by the beginning i mean the pre-rain period, and the first 20km of rain i remember taking a walk in newlands forest with a friend a few years back, where we walked in the pouring rain. we were soaked to the bone, down to our last items, but we felt so good! probably because it is not the done thing, and we didn’t die doing it. and that is how the first 20km felt – great! then it got uncomfortable.
well, we took a chance on the weather, and we were lucky for the majority of our adventure. i’d been checking weather websites every day this week, with colleagues suggesting several never-wrong options, all vaguely indicating a hint of rain for later on saturday.
friday morning my alarm goes off, and it is raining. by the time i need to leave for work, the rain has stopped, the clouds are lighter and i am vascillating between going by car or taking a chance on going in by bike. i didn’t want to get wet on the way to work, and sit there for 4 wet hours… so there i was standing on my patch of grass, looking past the ever-present table mountain, deciding whether there were any vicious rain-carrying clouds between my home and the office…
in the end i strapped on my moon bag and rode to the office on skynin (the bike’s name) – and i didn’t encounter another drop of precipitation until today.
i am very proud at how lightly i packed – only a moon bag with camera, socks, jocks, backgammon set and toothbrush. i even managed to buy a book and fit that in on the way back (admittedly by wearing the spare socks & jocks…) going light is so much more fun – nothing on your back, and nothing unnecessary with you.
s.b. met me at the office at noon as agreed, and a few minutes later we had hit the national road north towards the winelands… me at full throttle on my 125, he coasting along casually on his 500cc bike… if it had been possible i would have seriously considered upgrading to a bigger bike in stellenbosch… not because i want more speed… no, no, just a little more power to handle the uphills and the long distance…
but we felt free… the open road, no work phone… nowhere to be… just go-as-you-please…. aaahh…
we stopped for lunch in stellenbosch at a place where we could sit in the sun… then went off to kfc for an avalance ice cream dessert… and it became clear to me for the first time how you are automatically “cool” and “admired” if you are wearing a black leather jacket with a helmet on your head and a motorbike between your legs.
yes, another friend of mine did once admit to “finding something sexy about a man straddling a bike”, but this is different. i’m not sure if it is just admiration, or if there is a small level of fear in people as well – not quite sure what to expect from a biker.
after the ice-cream we headed over the helshoogte pass to franschhoek, up the main road and then up the franschhoek pass. and down the other side towards the theewaterskloof dam.
…
this was, without a doubt, the part of the drive that made everything worthwhile… yes my bike took a little longer up the pass than others, but i don’t care. the view was stunning, and the windy road down the other side was sooooooooooooooooooooo much fun! (sorry mom… i promise i took it easy, i have no desire to die. i need to do this again!)
to feel the road wind along beneath you, to swing from side to side through the turns, to feel the sunshine on your back, to see the views, wow, it is so hard to explain. but it is what made the whole trip.
we cruised along the theewaterskloof dam, with more water than i have seen in a long time, into villiersdorp, where i instantly became glad i had checked the location of our overnight accommodation on our electronic map at the office. the new local authority has seen fit to remove all old road name signs while creating new ones. leaving all the roads nameless… but i figured out which way to go (yep, i’m good with maps like that!!!).
and as is becoming of a small town, the owners had gone to worcester for the day, leaving the cottage open for us, with the key inside the door, allowing us to settle in and immediately embark on a tour of the town.
this didn’t take long, but we did find second hand books in one of the local tuisnywerheid shops that also sell homemade bakes and jams… so i indulged and bought my 701st book… luckily i had space to take it home…
we made a booking at the only restaurant that would be open in town that night – it seems the restaurants take turns being open on fridays and saturdays – and headed back to our cottage with red wine in hand, and chilled on the stoep, watching the goings on of the neighbours. quite as is expected in these dorps. i know not who was more intrigued by the mutual watching – us visitors or the locals. all sitting on stoep watching each other. without making it obvious of course! and all the while the kids on their bicycles riding around care-free in a way that is seldom seen in cities anymore.
we had our annual backgammon challenge over dinner, in which i was beaten 2-1, much like every year i guess. and i still enjoy it and go back for more.
after dinner we headed to the local pub – yes there was one open. it seemed a little quiet for a friday night, and by the evening’s end we discovered why – when young women in fancy dresses walked in with young men uncomfortable in suits on their arms. the school’s matric dance seems to have taken place on friday.
this morning we took a pre-breakfast drive to elandskloof – the owner of ‘our’ cottage had suggested it as a nice ride with our bikes. skynin struggled a little, but it was well worth the effort. the views from up there! breathtaking. it went into a dead in kaaimansgat, finally revealing to me where the once-famous high noon safari farm had been, so popular in the 70s. these windy roads are very contagious…
after a breakfast in town, we headed on to the theewaterskloof dam wall – quite an impressive piece of construction. this visit was in keeping with our stop at the brand new breede river dam near franschhoek yesterday on our way in. for some reason i have always been fascinated by dams. not to the extent that i will fixate on them, but when i have a chance to stop and visit one, i will jump at the opportunity. and this one did not disappoint – showing us with it’s choppy layer of water just why we were passing “wind” signs on the roads in this area…
and so it is that i found myself in a moerse strong head-wind, travelling along the theewaterkloof dam towards the pass and into low-slung clouds that i knew would only bring rain. as a last minute peace offering, mother nature did send us the most incredible rainbow though. a full arc, over the water, and so bright i thought it was in neon-lights. a real beauty, which deleveloped into a double arc just before the first drops hit. thanks…
but the pass was no less fun in the opposite direction… just as exhilarating on the way down the other side, putting just as much of a grin on our faces J
we had a cup of coffee and piece of cake in franschhoek – which was interrupted by my bumping into no less than 4 people i know, weird – before we headed towards stellenbosch.
it was just outside franschhoek that the rain started… first slowly then getting unrelentingly harder and harder. we stopped briefly in stellenbosch to agree that we would not have a cup of coffee here – sb thought it would be uncomfortable… i thought that no-one would allow two drowned water-rats to sit in their chairs… but we both agreed that we were having the time of our lives, that we felt really alive.
this changed in the next 60 km, as became aware of the true length of the road back to cape town… every moment colder…. less feeling and motion in my hands… less smiling on my face… less singing of “on the road again”…
but now as i write this a few hours later, after a hot bath, a snooze under a feather duvet, and ready for an evening with friends, the pain and discomfort is already…
nah, this was still dam cold!!
what bugged me today: those first drops of wind-chilled rain water that flowed down the centre of the bike’s seat into my … jeans…
what i learnt today: where the old high noon – so popular in the 70s – was situated
what i am grateful for: having hot water on top at home… there are still too many people in africa that don’t have that, yet so many of us take it for granted
last night was an interesting evening on the stage. or more precisely, behind the stage.
our lead actor somehow forgot / didn’t realise that we had a show last night. i might have called earlier, knowing his time-keeping skills, but when i did call him at 45 minutes to curtain-up, he was about to sit down to dinner. he still argued with me about whether there was a show when i asked him where he was…
anyway, we all pulled together beautiully – a true team effort. the school kids blocked a parking bay for him (after i moved my car out of it), we had someone looking for shirts for him in case he would forget his, i calmed the lead actress down and asked her to take him aside when he arrives and help him get in character.
oh, and in between all this, my dad was begged to bring their iron, as the backstage one was not getting mother’s dress pressed… he is a hero!
at 15 minutes to curtain up he arrives. with girlfriend – who is promptly encouraged to take a seat in teh auditorium (no further distractions needed…) and the show went on as planned.
it was quite remarkable actually. it struck me while i was sitting backstage in the dark waiting to press the doorbell for one of the actors’ entrances, that i was incredibly calm.
i had been so stressed at work over stuff, angry in fact. but here i had handled this situation without a scream, shout or even angry thought. ok, a mildly angry thought, followed by a quickly-retracted demand of cake by the late-comer the next day. i still don’t understand why this didn’t topple me when other stuff does.
maybe because i know the team is so good and pulls together when we need to.
gosh, this is fun
what bugged me today: leaving my clock-in card and desk key at home…
what i learnt today: that talking things through after a fight can make it better
what i am grateful for: going for a motorbike ride, to an overnight stay with a great friend. next friday. only 9 more sleeps…
i got 2 beautiful messages from friends of mine that i haven’t seen in a very long time.
i’ve made contact with them through facebook again, and both have spotted on it that i have come out. “a” told me that she had meant to write for a while, but that she was happy for me, and realized i must have gone through a tough time lately. from her comments, i thought she had read the blog, but i’m sure not…
“i”, in germany, was here a few years ago, and shared my apartment with me. we had a real connection, and i think she was falling for me. while i really liked her, it is the first time i was aware that i didn’t want to break her heart, and i came so so close to telling her that i thought i was gay. we took a few walks on camps bay beach in the evenings, and had wonderful chats. but i didn’t tell her. she was upset and didn’t understand me (little did she know that i didn’t understand myself either), and was quite hurt byt the time she left. i think one of my last comments was that maybe one day she would understand why i couldn’t commit to anything with her. and then i went inside myself, and buried it all even deeper. for another good 7 years or so.
and now we found each other through a mutual friend on facebook, and she sent me the most wonderful message, that she is so glad, and that so much makes sense now, after the hurt of losing this friendship. and that she sends me a huge hug. i have obviously para-phrased here, but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. thank you “i”.
i so love my motorbike… whizzing past the standing-still-traffic, keeping my eyes peeled for those that don’t look before they change lanes, and keeping my fuel bill low. makes me smile J
what bugged me today: bad service in the supermarket
what i learnt today: that insurance companies are probably colluding… otherwise how would a different company know my current premium? mmmhhh
what i am grateful for: planning a holiday – no matter how short – and how exciting that can be!
