Day Twenty

Good jungle gyms....are hard to find.

Great ones, even more so.

Today, while in Hout Bay for breakfast with Annetjie and the Buckham boys, I came across one.

The nursery on the right as you drive on your way into Hout Bay from Constantia Neck has a restaurant. And this jungle gym.

Check it out!

Day Nineteen

Hair pins and kites. 

It's autumn officially. Did you know? No? Well that's an obvious sign that you haven't been walking Cape Town's streets then! Oaks yellow yield a crunchedy crunch as you satisfyingly stamp through the gutter. Or, should you be an overcautious freak, you brandish your pepper spray as they blow like a scuffing of feet behind you.

And the squirrels are going mad. It's as though someone told them only yesterday that soon there will be no more acorns. They scamper and scurry and rustle in bushes. They fight and they argue; one pulls one pushes. But I'm not supposed to be waffling on about nothing, There is a purpose in all this jibber jabber and that purpose is hair pins.

And kites.

My hair, as many of you may or may not know, is at length awkward. My fringe is poking at my eyes and seems to be longest at the bridge of my nose, and my ends flick outwards, which was super cute.... in Grade Seven and even then it was borderline.

So what do I do?

What else when people are growing out their hair but tie it up! And so I own a handful of hair pins and I force the little strands to act long as I bun it and pony tail it and force it into longness.

My question today is, does everyone put hair pins in in one direction only? Like hair piece X, Y and Z are always pinned with the closed end on the right? And does it feel impossible to pin them the other way?

Or is this another prank that my lefthandedness is playing on me?

Also...kites. (Researched them for an essay due...) They used to use kites in war and in scientific experiments. In 1903 a boat even sailed from England to America powered by kites! And one last did you know: Alexander Bell, the telephone and gramophone scientist dude died from a kite accident? You see...he designed tetrahedral shaped kites and wheel-shaped kites, even hexagonal ones...and he tested his own kites.

Pity.

But how cool? Here's one of his wheel kites below!

Day Eighteen

Yesterday my alarm rang sickeningly early: 5:30. After all, what sort of a holiday is complete without an early wake up call? This was my second and was a warning that the bus from Langebaan was about to leave. (I am aware that I just compromised my secret spot. Heads up!)

So I bundled up, boots on, dress on, jersey on, and pillow out- I was armed for all things roadtrip. The trip was so bumpy and freezing-from-the-air-con-cold that there was nothing to do but try to sleep. You can imagine how starving and exhausted I was when we eventually arrived at the Cape Town Station...

I had hoped for a welcoming granny, with arms opened wide into which I could collapse, whom I could go for coffee with and even maybe to the National Gallery.

Instead...it was me and my bags versus the world. I trudged up Long Street with my three heavy bags and a laptop, trying in vain to reach her on the multiple phones and in the mean time setting my destination on The Royale Eatery, home to the world's best milkshakes. 

Who knew they only opened at 12?And that it was only nearly ten...

Eventually, while leaning on the shut door of the Royale Eatery I got a hold of the granny and trudged further to the Gallery. It was closed.

When it eventually opened I hobbled in- knowing that I would be rewarded greatly for my effortful morning.

But alas...

Photography.

Now I like photography, but not over art. So that was another dip in my mood.

The photographer whose work was on exhibition is pretty cool though. He's an American called Roger Ballen.

Most of his work is so freaky that I do not like it.

But...But. There are a handful of works which give me the shivers of brilliance. They really are awesome.

They're the sort of works you download to your phone and put as your wallpaper (purely hypothetical...I swear). So here they are, I hope they inspire you as much as they did me.

They really turned my bad day around!

Day Seventeen

I can't be bothered with tabloids and gossip on celebrities.

Ask anyone: when describing a movie to me, friends say you know the girl from this movie and the guy from that movie? Well they're both in this other movie, called this. 

Then I get it. 

Names of people I'll never know are something I'll never quite grasp...

Except a few. These are the few (I googled their names, I'll have you know. Serena Van Der Woodsen didn't have a name until a couple of minutes ago...) that remind me of my friends.

A side note. Friends...I'm not listing your names, you will only be known as doppelgangers because of the aforementioned stalker-ship. I do hope you all take this in the warmest of love!

 From Gossip Girl. Blake Lively (top) and her doppelganger . 

                            From Glee: Chris Colfer (below) and his not-gay doppelganger .

From "Love Story"-Taylor Swift (below) and doppelganger .

From 127 Hours James Franco (below) and Doppelganger.

Weird weird weird. 


So what's bugging you today?!

Day Sixteen

What not to do:

Do: the grocery shopping

Do: Make supper and do the washing up when staying at someone's house.

Do: Put the left overs in the fridge.

Don't:

plus

Because it equals:

Ohkay. Now that is an exaggeration. But it does melt. And melting plastic onto your friend's stove is a big don't.
A normal person would admit it. And apologise...I, however, am not normal.


So google came to the aid and the next day when my friend was at work I found the solution! So here's the Do's to getting plastic off of stoves, for those of you who ingeniously decide to make the same mistake:

Do: Wait for the stove to cool.
Do not: Try to scrub at it with a sponge and a mixture of Jik and Handy Andy while the plate is still hot. It just will burn your fingers.
Do: Take a knife to the stove top and hack at the plastic.

Do not: use a non-serrated knife like the one shown above.
Do: put the stove on full heat.
Do not: forget to put the extractor fan on and open the windows and doors.

And most importantly.. 
Do not: forget to get a new container to replace the one with holes in the bottom! (Task of the day!)


Ps. Do not: let that friend get a hold of your blog address. 
Ever.

Day Fifteen

HOLIDAY time!

Holiday- Vampire Weekend

Yes folks, it's that time of year..bags have been packed, camera's dusted off and bikinis shaken out for our week of non-schooldom! Everyone went home for the first time this year and as for me? I have not.

Instead I have been invited to A Secret Destination (I don't want you all flooding here once you see these pic-a-tures) to stay with a friend. (Also a secret. Just because.)

And I'm loving it here.

Here the weather is sunny, the people are Afrikaans, and friendly. It is a beach town. It is full of amazing isolated beaches with warm(ish) swimable(ish) water and coarse, pedicure-yielding sand. As an Afrikaans town it bursts with cool things kitsch like this giant seagull statue.

Or a "Lekker By Die See" restaurant. Or a mermaid statue. Or a scary "just a joke" we'll-shoot-you-if-you-park-on-the-grass sign. I could carry on, but it's a place you have to experience first hand to understand it in all its splendour.

I went shopping this morning and made friends with the veggie unpacker called Arne. He told me to make stir-fry veg for supper tonight. I did. 

I went to the art shop and got my sketchbook, some new pens, and directions to the beach. I did not make friends with the security guard who didn't want me walking through the boom. (I walked through anyway.) I made friends with the gardener who asked me how I was doing and the old man who asked if my feet were hot (I had actually just stood on my 10th thorn) when I was walking back on the tar from my swim.

I toured the harbour, looking at all the boats which I always do when my mum and I go to the harbour. I chose my favourite boat, also essential. I walked and balanced on the pier on which three fishermen with caps donned over their reddening necks were sitting. I then went on to the beach. There, I scrambled and clambered over the boulders and beach hopped, until I found a rock so gigantic and so smooth, that I had to sit on it. I drew for a while and listened to music. 

"Roll Away Your Stone"- Mumford and Sons came on my iPod (it happens to be my most favourite song) and I waded further in to the water. When the water was up to my knickers I realised that I needed to swim-without my iPod and Ray Bans. So I did. The beach was isolated, thankfully...

This evening we had gourmet burgers and wine while looking out onto the sea (metaphorically, we actually just looked into the building construction in front of the sea view...)

What a good day!

Day Fourteen

Due to yesterday’s coldness, I left nothing to chance as I got ready for the second round of autumn. Early morning chills found me wearing my cosy hoodie around my room, and I wished I could have worn it to campus. I couldn’t have, of course. The hoodie simply does not go with the dress and that marks the end of my attempt of bringing it into my outfit of the day.

Instead I pushed and prodded and customised until my dress was a bubble top, being tucked into my jeggings, and I had boots and a jersey to keep the chills out. As I was checking my emails from various blogs to which I have subscribes on the bus, a muslim guy sat down on the seat next to me. 


Curious about everything as I am, I gave him (or his outfit, more specifically) a quick once over: a black thobe (Muslim traditional dress), jeans, a khaki Billabong zip up hoodie and a white taqiyah (which is the traditional Muslim hat).

Obviously he also felt it was cold and had not suffered the same disagreement with The Hoodie And The Black Dress as I had. But it made me realise that being Muslim adds serious complications in clothing choice while still agreeing with religious beliefs.

So I googled it.

Sarah Elenany is a fashion designer. She designs clothes that both agree with the correct Muslim religious conducts (such as the concealing of certain body parts) and agree with fashion. Her label, Elenany, is designed for everyone. This is not a religion-only range and its urban chic-ness provides ample reason for anyone to wear designs from this innovative designer.

What do you think?

(For more info go to www.elenany.co.uk)