Seredipty can be rocking!

This past week-end I was going to be completely alone. The boys were with their dad and as it turned out everyone else was away and/or not getting along with me. Mostly the former. ;)

So I was thinking there was going to be lots of time running, sleeping, reading and just being on my own. Well as it turned out I was not alone at all. Serendipitously it turned out to be a really lovely companionable and sociable week-end after all.

A was supposed to be up in Pretoria until early this week, but was suddenly able to return late on Friday and so plans changed and instead of entering the Darling Half Marathon just for something to do (seriously), I was able to cancel that ludicrous idea. Yay!

Instead on Saturday morning we went off to the Old Biscuit Mill market together to check out the stalls, art and clothing etc and then we settled into the food market there to have a delicious glass of Merlot accompanied by the most expensive pizza this side of Italy! Look it had REAL Parma ham & fresh Parmesan, olives, 12 year old balsamic vinegar, rocket, and avo... the setting was fab and quite European and the company was good, so I just pretended I was in Italy and we'd paid Euros and it didn't seem so bad anymore! But yeah R120 for a pizza is rather steep! (But then I got lunch boxes for the boys at a local plastic shop for R2.50 each just before that, so I guess it balanced out ;) )

After that we headed off to town, at first in search of more red wine to go with the lovely over cast weather, but somehow got side tracked in the government gardens feeding the squirrels and a goose (ouch ouch ouch) ;) for a while. And then up into the Mount Nelson gardens where one can saunter around as if one owns the place, so as not to rouse suspicions of the inconspicuous but vigilant security guards, before one makes a speedy but nonchalant exit again, before one is unceremoniously removed. Where one then pretends to all and sundry on the outside that one is indeed staying at the Nellie, as one does you know. (Hahaha, I am SO full of it!).

Then we scuttled along to the infamous "lips" so see what was showing. Decided a movie was a swell way to pass some time. So more walking was done around the Cape High and Supreme Court district (memories of Divorce Court appearance followed - joyous - NOT) to retrieve the abandoned car and bring it closer to the secondary Lips theatre (Is it The Labia Minora then?) ;)

With yet more time to spare before our movie we popped into Caramellos (what a yummy name!) for Chai, Wine and a delicious Thai Chicken wrap. Then on to the movie, we saw Slumdog Millionaire, which I had seen 6+ weeks or so ago, but I enjoyed just as much a second time (apart from the few minutes where I had a little nap, oops). Still the end had me bawling my eyes out shamelessly and very unattractively. Sniff and snort. Real snot en trane stuff. A, the perfect gentleman, afforded me the courtesy of having my snivel without derision, ridicule or contempt and simply gave me license to do my thing, with a big comforting hug to show solidarity with it. Thereby earning 1000 brownie points.

Emerging from that feeling rather cathartised (is that even a word? It is now!) I was ready to tackle Long Street. So off we walked. It was really fun walking everywhere. It's good to do that sometimes. You can feel like a tourist in your own town and it's really nice. Go and be on the streets and see it as tourists do, and as yours as you see OTHER cities.

We found our way to Stones in Long Street where playing pool is pretty much madatory. In my case the skills are rather dubious but enough beer, and some added tequilla gives me the appearance of being able to sort of play, if you squint, look away and are prepared to play for about 2 hours per game. I don't really care, I still have fun, and hey I even won a game! (ok only one out of 4, but that's not terrible). :)

After that was made our way to The Dublinner to meet with Lynne (friend and colleague) for her birthday bash. A few other peeps from work were there and we had a few drinks and tried to dance a bit but the music was beyond kak. Imagine the shittest karaoke type covers of shit old music (Think Tina Turner 'Simply the Best'. I mean REALLY NOW!). So we gave up after a while and made our way to Baghdad Cafe which was playing some rather nice Tribal Trancy music, which captivated me for a while until I realised staying upright was becoming an effort and it was definitely time to head home!

I have to say that has got to be one of the most fun, unexpected, unplanned and simply unfolding organic days in like - forever. It was just fun, varied, relaxing, exciting, interesting and different, while being nice and ordinary at the same time.

AWESOME!