Capetown: Seeing Dani B

April 23
I slept really well in my reclining bus seat and did not even wake up until 08:30.  Sweet!  A good night of rest…  Those are rarities right now.

Dammit, Bon Jovi was here too.

Around 14:30, the bus pulled into Capetown, approximately 0:45h ahead of schedule.  Weird.  Not African style at all!  I sent a message to my friend Dani B who I spent two years working with in London to tell her that I was an early arrival.  She sent me a message that said, ‘I will come to fetch you now.’  Fetch!  What a great word.  You can hear a South African accent without even hearing it out loud with the word ‘fetch!’

I just heard Dani yell, “Beaver!” at me from across a parking lot area.  Awesome!  It is wonderful to see someone you have not seen in four years, who you met in another part of the world, and then see that person on their own turf!  So freaking cool!

As we were driving away from the train/bus station, I asked her if the giant mound of earth in front of us was Table Mountain.  She confirmed it was.  I had told her I wanted to climb it in a message a few days ago.  After looking at it, I quickly changed my ambitions.  Dani said there was a cable-car.  Okay, good.  Still on then!

Fun! I even fit in-costume here. Party acceptance!

Dani took me with her to the party of a five-year-old, one of her friend’s children.  Luckily, I was wearing my cowboy hat because it turned out that it was ‘not try too hard’ costume party.  There were bats, and people were wearing capes.  I looked totally in place!  That was lucky.  Party acceptance!

Look at those enthusiastic faces. Remember those days when birthdays were the best things in the world and going to bed at 20:00 was the worst thing ever! Send me to bed at 20:00 now. Please…!

The South Africans have a children’s game similar to musical chairs called ‘Pass the Parcel,’ where kids sit in a circle and pass a wrapped parcel around in a circle to music and when the music stops, the child holding the parcel gets to open a layer.  There is a small candy gift under several layers until the main gift in the nucleus of the package that the winner gets.  It is pretty awesome to see children’s glee.  I do not see that often.  It is precious.

Oh, you are disappointed that I have moved you back into the house are you… Cats make me laugh!

After the party, Dani took me to her house and left me to my own devices with two kittens while she went to work.  I showered a 15 hour bus ride off of me and went to a pub with internet to drink beer for a couple of hours and catch up the blog.  It seemed to be a very serious football game and the entire contents of the bar was going mental.  I must have looked like quite a boring loser sitting in the corner, unresponsive to the game, typing on a laptop while everyone roared and yelled.  I was having a hard time trying to find a way to care less.

No one gives a hoot here!

I came back to meet Dani and her boyfriend Jochen at their house at 22:00.  I have reached ‘chill-out’ phase of this journey.  I probably need it.  I will be in London in about a week and that will not be chill at all, so it is great to be here right now and to hang out with an old friend I have not seen in four years!  And, two young pussy cats are wildly entertaining!