The weather in Cape Town over the New Year’s weekend was uncharacteristically damp and chilly. We were feeling too lethargic after our return from our most recent pilgrimage to sun-scorched Namibia to spend Christmas with the folks, to attempt anything more energetic than a quiet amble down to the shops to pick up the bare…
A little challenge for you When was the last time you looked at your national flag? Have you ever tried to draw it? From memory? And without looking it up on Google? Go on, give it a try. Grab some colourful crayons or pencils, a piece of paper, and draw what you can remember. The…
Paul, the Octopus Oracle (otherwise fondly referred to as the Okrakel) got his latest prediction correct. The semi-final last night between Germany and Spain (match report in the Guardian), played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, got off to a slow start, with a disappointingly lacklustre performance by Germany. For the entire first half,…
Oh my, what a whirlwind weekend this has been! It passed in a blur of World Cup football with all four quarter-finals jam-packed into two days, a social function at the Castle of Good Hope to meet some of the people involved behind the scenes of the Cape Military Tattoo, a quest for the perfect…
Shortly after lunchtime on Saturday, we picked up our friends from their guesthouse in Milnerton, and raced into town. Our plan was to join our visitors on the Fan Walk, taking in the sights and sounds of the pre-match excitement, before returning to our car and haring it up to Mom’s to watch the actual…
Quarter-final 1: Brazil / The Netherlands Soccer fever started on Friday afternoon at 16h00, with a fast-paced match between Brazil and the Netherlands at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth. It had us on the edge of our seats (see Match Report in the Guardian). After the Brazilians scored a goal in the…
Yesterday’s match between Bafana Bafana and France, held at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein was the most nailbiting of the entire World Cup so far – for me, anyway, but I think also for the entire nation. During the course of Monday and Tuesday, I became aware of a buzz in the air, a…
I am reeling from shock. What an awful ending to a match that started with such anticipation and patriotic fervour. With mounting excitement, we had been looking forward to tonight’s [last night’s] 20h30 match between Bafana Bafana and Uruguay at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium all day. When we witnessed Switzerland’s surprise 1-0 defeat of Spain,…
In the run-up to the start of the 2010 Soccer World Cup last week, a great deal of attention has been focused on a colourful plastic trumpet that emits a B-flat drone, which resembles, variously, the sound of a furiously trumpeting herd of elephants, the buzzing of thousands of angry bees, or the approach of…
In other words – Blessings to you all on St Patrick’s Day! And if you want to know how to pronounce that, click here. The friendly barman at Catú told us last week that the Catholic Church had decided to move St Patrick’s Day from its annual slot on the 17th of March to Saturday, the…
Sigh… feeling a bit depressed… Wales has just beaten Ireland 16-12. I hope it wasn’t because we were late and thus missed singing the anthems and cheering on the kick-off… and I really hope Ireland didn’t lose because I was – horror of horrors! – wearing a bright red and white Nike t-shirt in an…
After Part 1 of an all-day meditation course, in which we (among other things) learned about the essencelessness of existence, I felt a strong need to reclaim my sense of identity. And I also needed to balance my fragile sense of spirituality and equanimity with some raw power and masculinity by going to Catú to…
I attended an Introduction to Nia Techniques class tonight at the Pinelands High School, as part of their ongoing Continuing Education Programme. The class was supposed to be given by the enthusiastic and funny Kathy Wolstenholme, who brought the Nia Technique from the States (where pretty much all exercise programmes seem to come from!) to…
“Do you want to watch the match between Ireland and France at 19h00 tonight?” asked my Mom. “Of course!!” I almost did a somersault with excitement at her invitation. We don’t have a tv, so we hadn’t been planning to see the match. Our ‘payment’ for watching was to bring along a focaccio and a…
In order to celebrate the successful installation of the timer and isolator switch, we went to Catú Irish Bar and Restaurant in central Cape Town. I’ve wanted to go for ages, as it’s the only (?) Irish Pub in CT, and as I am mad about all things Irish. The name Catú apparently comes from…
Grains of Sand 
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