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!

Rotted Milk

There are two types of choices: good ones; and bad ones.  Life’s a whole lot better when you make the good ones…

I should have realized this last week already. But I didn't  No, instead I didn't smell the milk before I used it on my cereal and coffee… At first I thought it just tasted bad because I had brushed my teeth first… Half way through I thought it might just be a new brand…

I thought I’d be a nice sister and cook dinner. But apparently chilli sauces aren't all the same.  Side-of-the-road-Mozambiquan-chilli-sauce is a force to be reckoned with. Dinner was severely diluted with milk. I forgot the milk was off…

3 hours into the document search....

SUCCESS!

And then came moving to Cape Town.  In an attempt to find one very
very very horrendously very important document, I took a trip to Benoni (Think mullets and wife beaters and children who are older than their parents). While it was lovely seeing family and having my first braai since 2010, I knew my mission. It took the better part of five hours, and courage I never thought I could cough up (I also coughed out a lot of dust and cobweb) – but I fought through four households of stored ‘stuff’ (our family being the first to have invaded the cousin’s garage) and came out with not only the document, but a lot more of my earthly belongings than I ever thought I owned. I’m pretty sure they bred and had offspring in my years of absence.

All my worldly possessions...

and the bicycle...

This made relocating home a lot harder than it should have been. Flying was out of the question. I had a full car load of ‘stuff’ so driving was out – not only do I not possess a car – but there was no way I’d drive the 1400 km alone. There are too many luggage limitations on the bus and well, I’d never taken the train…

Sunday morning I rocked up at the train station hoping there would still be tickets. “Sorry” said the friendly Malawian behind the counter “sold out till mid-Feb”. But I pleaded – “there’s no tickets at all??” and that’s how I bought my R340 third class hard seat on board the Shoshaloza Meyl to Cape Town. Like I said, it was a week of bad decisions.

The Zimbabwean next to me was under the impression that it was a 5 hour trip. I probably shouldn't have said anything about the ETA – I’ve never seen a black person turn that white.

Look at all the happy faces!

For every grown up on board there were 37.5 infants and for every seat between Klerksdorp and Kimberly, there were 3 grownups…

The toddlers joined their vocal chords to create a sound track to stay awake to and the plastic non-reclining seats made sure we did. But it could always be worse…  By 3am our carriage was full of police to break up the fights bought on by excessive quantities of alcohol and seat/ floor space reclaimage.

I made friends with 6 year old Kabelo who taught me all about fairies and princesses and marveled at the giftings her 3 year old sister possessed in finding and eating second hand chewing gum. I discussed business plans with people from 4 different African countries and finished reading a book I’ve carried for the last 3 months. But ask any person on that train and none of them will ever take it again. Not economy at least….

A very hot and smelly toilet overflowingly 29.5 hours later – past some breathtaking scenery and some sheep and 3 ostriches and a plethora of other stuff - we pulled into Cape Town. I felt like I’d just single-handedly fought the Vietnam war or run the comrades marathon… and won… and to make it even better, all of my belongings survived too.  

I suppose bad decisions are all part of life and they help you learn and become a better person… but they also get you upset stomachs and sleepless nights and possible diseases… From now on I aim to make only good ones. Life’s too short for 29.5 hour train rides….