45 Hours. And two minutes.

It was only a few hours ago that I finished up work for the day and realized it was the first time since my true gypsy days that I had more than a day off work… almost two in fact… and I wanted to make it count. And so began 45 hours [and two minutes] of awesomeness!

THE TASK: finding 45 fun/ cheap/ random/ mostly legalish things to do before 8:30am Wednesday morning (South African Standard Time)

So I jumped on my bicycle and this is what happened...

  1) A pre-noon beer at the Cape Royal Yacht Club

2) Take a tour of a  random yacht

3) Lick a pirate ship 

4) Get proposed to by a random stranger

5) Eat foreign foods (it was so foreign I’m not sure what it was or where it was from)

6) Play the marimbas in a public place (Cape Town Waterfront)

7) Cycle the promenade

8) A round of [putt putt] golf

9) Ride and lick a ‘horse’

10)  Ice-cream on the beach

11)      Dolphin watching at Sea point

12)      Fall off my bicycle (wasn't actually planned)

13)      Swim in the Atlantic Ocean (it’s freaking cold) - but Clifton i beautiful!

14)      Nap on the beach

15)      Drink with friends at 'the local'

16)      Sunset at Camps Bay

17)  Smoke a cigar

18)   Wear [and eat] a candy necklace \

19) Make a new friend

20)      Half price pizza at Rafiki’s

21) Suffer the day after effects of the half price pizza

22)  Make a new furry friend

23) Run up table mountain at sunrise

24) Fail miserably at making an omelet (it still tasted good) 

25)  Ride a train

26)      Swim in the Indian ocean (also flippin cold) 

27) Find a quaint coffee shop and a good cappuccino

28)      Fish and chips on the beach 

29)     Give a random old lady a hug

30) Buy a homeless guy a drink

31)      Read a book

32)      Write a book

33)      Sneak on the train without a ticket

34)      Apply to be a polar bear spotter

35)      A stroll up Long Street

36)      Hubbly with the housemate

37) A run through a dodgy park at night time

38) Wine at a friend’s house 

39)The fan walk to Cape Town stadium

40) A [very hesitant attendance to a free] Bon Jovi concert 

41)Beer for dinner

42) Worn out shoes from too much walking

43)  Be sent naked picture of a naked random guy in a Jacuzzi 

44) Sunrise on the balcony

45)  make it to work on time (well, 7 minutes late isn’t too bad considering…)

I may not be a real gypsy at the moment... but I'm making my time here [Cape Town/ Earth] count.

Life is freaking epic!... we tend to forget that!

Murdering a Gypsy

A little part of myself died earlier today. And not just the skin cells I lost in the shower. No, it goes way deeper than that!

As I tidied the garage this morning (or mostly just moved a lot of stuff around to find other stuff) I found little trinkets from around the world: beer labels from the ‘stans, a rock from the Great Wall, Rubies (that may just be dirt really) from mining in Cambodia, a hat from Greece, t-shirts from Burma and Thailand and Australia, napkins from Vietnam, … the list goes on… and on… and on some more.  Now you might be thinking (as my housemates do) that I own a lot of junk, and I do, but each piece of junk bought back a billion memories. And that is actually quite a lot of memories.

Somewhere in Turkmenistan...

Somewhere on the great wall of china...

a 12m drop into the ground with nothing but dirt holes to climb with somewhere in Cambodia...

The hat was purchased in Greece, the cow was not

I also found many other hats in the garage... this was the better of the lot

I do regret not buying one of these in Burma... (the necklaces, not the woman)

I’ve been living in Cape Town for 2 months today and it’s really starting to freak me out! It’s been more than a month since I’ve licked anything. I’ve had a shower almost every day. I’ve been in the same country for almost 6 months… I fear I might have murdered my gypsy!

I love my job (I get to swing through trees and meet psychopaths and make people smile – who wouldn’t love that?), and love my housemates, and my neighbours, and flipping love Cape Town, and I’ve even come to love my bicycle… but… I’m feeling so guilty about stifling my wanderlust and suffocating the gypsy inside…

The housemates (and family) somewhere in Cape Town...

It’s a horrendous place be in, being torn between two epic lives. It’s almost like having Tom Cruise and Rowan Atkinson both wanting to marry you. I want both and I want both now (life scenarios, not afore mentioned ‘men’)… But with a real job comes real responsibilities. And only 15 days of leave. And with gypsism comes freedom, adventure, breathtaking phenomena’s and not much else.

I am pretty sure this would be an illegal pet in South Africa

Even beautiful beaches have their flaws

I do love that South Africa has real toilets!

Unable to decide between them, I’m living in Limbo. In the lounge. Trying my best not to acquire any more belongings. Changing my mind at least 17 times a day. One minute I decide to go and cycle around Europe, the next I decide to push for regional manager, and then I think I might go climb Everest, but Cape Town too is full of beautiful mountains.  There’s South America and Antarctica or Canada or Japan or starting a company or … ahhhhhhhhhhhh… it’s all so frustrating these first world problems.

AHHHHHHHHHH!

So do I hibernate/ murder/ retire the gypsy or bring her back to life?  

One thing’s for sure though; no matter what I do (and yes, I am open to all suggestions, thoughts, comments, and slaps across the face), life is freaking short – and I want to make it count. I hope you’re doing the same!