The Beer Hall with fireplaces on the side for Shisa Nyama
It’s feeling almost normal here in South Africa and I cringe when I see what’s going on in my other country!
The mayhem Trump has and is causing and the disaster of the pandemic is making me feel very grateful for being here - despite the mayhem in the South African government with huge corruption and currently dozens of arrest being made, a good thing.
Before the latest US upset, I had promised myself that I would limit my exposure to the news; after all, the news out of the US was more like a reality TV show and I don’t do reality shows! And, here? It’s so convoluted, I was lost and found it difficult to follow who was doing what to whom and when did they do it?
And then the latest hit - and I could only think the virus couldn’t have found a better target. But of course, the whole event is being given a “spin” that once again takes us into fantasy land, an alternate reality.
Now, when I see my news feed pop a trump article, I just sigh and skip over it. If something major happens, then I will see the alert but in the meantime… as Stephen Colbert says…Meanwhile….
Meanwhile…
Sue, Debbie, me, Julie, Biff and Mick
It was a reunion of sorts on Wednesday. Biff and Julie came up from the Cape to see one of Biff’s oldest (in years and friendship) who is doing poorly. Colin, due mainly to his health, has not left his home since the beginning of lockdown in March. And neither has his carer! With them being there, the carer was able to take a much needed break.
And we were able to meet up for great lunch at Stretta, in Hillcrest. Mick and Debbie came as did Sue Green, one of the family’s oldest friends. It was such fun to catch up and the time went by way too fast before they needed leave to go back to make sure Colin was ok. (Which he was.)
It’s almost a year since I was down in the Cape with Biff. Julie was in England at the tim , doing the caring (granny bashing as it is sometimes called) which she has been doing for years. So our time together was all too short and I’m looking at driving down to the Cape in the foreseeable future. Julie may or may not be there, depending on whether the international flights ever really get going again.
One a Week
In keeping with my goal of having at least one “adventure” every week, on Friday, Sue from Italy and I went to a talk on restoring vintage clothing! It was extremely interesting and the gentleman who curates the collection is so passionate about what he does. It’s also very sad that he retires at the end of the month and there is no one to take over. Which means that the collection he has worked on, restored and stored for 15 years will simply be locked away and forgotten. He has dresses and garments from the early settler days through to shoes from the early 1950s and everything in between, including some gorgeous Flapper dresses! Unfortunately, because it is European-centric, it holds very little/to no interest for the current government.
Me and Liz
The collection is in an old Beer Hall in Durban where, back in the early years, the African people gathered to drink the only alcohol they were allowed at the time - sorghum beer. The hall is interesting in that there are fireplaces along both sides of the vast room, where the meat was cooked that always went with beer. The original Shisa Nyama.
And today, I met up with another old family friend, Liz Maingard. She is more Biff’s age and I haven’t seen her for at least 40 years! And have very few memories of her as she was around when I was probably between 5-9 or thereabouts. But it was good to connect, meeting at Circus Circus, the favorite coffee place on the beachfront.
It’s spring here and it has been raining and raining and raining. The flowering trees are all starting to bloom and I know I will be sneezing my head off soon!
