Cape Town in lists

Holiday disasters (little ones):
Forgetting my work permit and changing my ticket.
Realising (much, much later) that I could have travelled anyway and gotten the World's Best Housesitter to courier that damn work permit to me in Cape Town.
Attempted car theft, and subsequent locksmithery.
Completely unnecessary little prang a mere 100m from our destination, as we were ferrying the bride and groom to their hotel after the ceremony.

Random dull airport observations:
In London they make you take off your shoes, put all your liquids into a ziplock, and get patted down rather intimately. (Since their metal detectors are sensitive enough to get set off by oh, say, the button of your jeans, this is pretty much a given.)
In Madrid they do the same, but they give you little plastic foot baggies to walk in. It's rather mystifying why they bother since you've just been ferried directly from the plane from London. Where are you supposed to have picked up contraband, exactly?
In Joburg and in Cape Town, they really don't care.
Joburg international terminal is waaaaay less nice than domestic.
South African airports generally are severely lacking in food options.
Madrid airport loos are rather nice.

Wildlife spotted:
Dassies, elephantlike (not really)
Zebra, stripey
Quagga, zebralike
Squirrels, tame, handfed
Egyptian goose, tame, handfed
Tortoiseseses, crunchy (apparently)
Southern right whales, lots and lots
Some other whale, I dunno, it was grey
Dolphin, don't ask me what kind
Eland, big
Kudu, tasty
Wildebeest, also big
Springbok, bouncy
Some more bokkies
Some other bokkies
Some bigger bokkies
Some smaller bokkies
Ostriches, with babies
Guineafowl, fast
Seagulls, noisy
Bunch more birds, I dunno, the flying kind.

People spotted:
The dreaded jo&stv duo (excellent blomme-spotting, torty-crunching and picnic-eating (and, er providing) companions, btw)
Extemporanea
Phleep and Firstfallen
Wolverine Nun
Mother
Other mother
Uncle
Erich
Sister&swaer&nephew&niece
Konni&Dylan
Assorted aunts, uncles and cousins
Assorted other cousins
Oh, some more cousins
Cousin A's boyfriend
Cousin B's girlfriend
Cousin C's boyfriend
Grandparents, two
Lauren & her mother
Juleen&Chris&Jeffrey
Cara&Barry, aka THE NEWLYWEDS
Tanya&Jem&Sophia, aka THE BREEDERS
Andre&Erna&Chloe, aka THE OTHER BREEDERS
Anna Maria&lovely new man, yay, about bloody time etc (sorry, is that rude?)
Mike
Janita&Russell
Martha&Herr Dokter
A bunch of other wedding guests, lovely folk all but dear lord I'd be here all day.

People not spotted:
A surprisingly large number. Possibly you. I'm really sorry.

People in the above list who do not have animals:
Cara&Barry, who are allergic
Tanya&Jem&Sophia
Konni&Dylan (Dylan is four)
Sister&family
Possibly Wolverine Nun, I dunno, I didn't ask.

Conclusions:
a) SA is a much nicer place because there are more animals.
b) Small children are an impediment to keeping animals.
c) Don't breed.

Food for thought that may or may not lead to future blog posts:
SA newspapers. Small, but full of funny names. And stories that sound bizarrely familiar... from 15 or 20 years ago. And political parties that sound like the plot ingredients of a farce set in an obscure South American republic.
Cape Town may fairly be compared to a stop on Ulysses' journey: true or false?
Families: can't be trusted to stay put. You turn around for one minute, next thing you know you've lost a busty blonde surfer chick and gained a punky vegan lesbian. Honestly.
Exile, as a concept, is intrinsic to the Cape Town experience.
As a matter of some national urgency, all decaffeinated coffee in the Cape Peninsula needs to be replaced with full-caff.
Biological clock on yellow alert: babies are starting to look cute to me. Or at least, marginally less freakish. Also, everyone is doing it, and hence starting to make breeding look normal. This is wrong and shouldn't be allowed.

Finally
I admit it's cherry, and sweet, and not as good as the Kriek bier you get in Belgo's, but really, I think "sudden death" is a bit much. There is nothing Xtreme about this beer. It's not even extreme. I fail to understand.


For actual holiday pictures, go here. Or wait till Beloved's are up. They'll be a lot better. A lot.