The nights are drawing in and the sun is setting earlier in the evenings. Some mornings I leave while it’s still dark outside.  It’s getting cooler, the cats are now cuddling up with us in the evenings.

  
Saturday evening we rented Rock The Kasbah. It had a brilliant cast with Bill Murray, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, Bruce Willis and the delicious Taylor Kinney. However it was a bit slow. But not terrible. Just…meh. 

That night we hadn’t shopped so I thawed out a bag of Woolies prawns and a bag of scallops. Norm popped out for mushrooms and zucchini noodles. 

Lily and I made Zucchini ‘pasta’ with a creamy tomato and red pepper sauce with prawns and chorizo topped with scallops fried in garlic butter, served with steamed asparagus. It was lush. 

The last few weeks have been full of controversary over our President. The President and the public protector Thuli Madonsela have been at loggerheads over whether work done to his personal compound could be classed as ‘security upgrades.’ Thuli said no, he must reimburse the state coffers for the work not deemed compliant with legislature over what is due to him. For example a chicken coop and a swimming pool were classed as vital for his security. 

  
Despite the condition of them. 

Advocate Thuli stood her ground despite being harassed by some of Zuma’s cronies. She was finally vindicated when the Constitutional Court ruled in support of the Public Protectors report. 

Zuma has to pay! 

When even one of the national newspapers has headlines such as this:

  
You know a change must come.

Whenever any behavior is questioned its put down to a difference in Culture. 

For example at work there were 4 of us waiting to enter the elevator and as I was first to arrive in the foyer I entered first and a young lad nearly ran into me, pushed his way into the elevator in front of the other woman. She proceeded to tell him that men generally wait for women to enter or exit first.

He said “not in my culture”. So she said “well I’m talking about the culture of this building and of this company which employs you”.

He didn’t seem bothered.

But this lack of respect for women is endemic in SA. It’s at the root of the rape culture.

This story described in this blog is typical of this behavior. This was my reaction as I felt so angry for the blogger. If it had happened to one of my daughters I’d have wanted to arrange for him to lose a kneecap. 

  
The president runs a patriarchal government where state funds are treated as his own personal bank account. The every day citizens see this entitled behavior and the repeated dishonest and immoral behavior and think that what is good for the chief is good for them. And downward the moral fibre of SA goes. 

It is the same as our crime. If the president steals then why shouldn’t everyone else? It is all intrinsically linked, from the lack of planning and governance over the infrastructure for water and power to the lack of policing of the extreme levels of crime, murder and rape. 

It’s the Broken Window Theory. Minor crimes unreported and major crimes sanctioned from on high.

“The broken windows theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments to prevent small crimes such as vandalism, public drinking, and toll-jumping helps to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, thereby preventing more serious crimes from happening.”

In SA the police discourage you laying a charge of trespassing if you catch someone on your property.

In our case once the intruders traversed an obstacle course consisting of jumping a wall, avoiding triggering multiple beams while getting across the lawn, and crawling up the front steps to avoiding setting off those beams. 

We saw this on the neighbors cameras. The police were like, “nah. No damage so don’t bother. ”

It can be frustrating living here. 

Sunday Lily worked and Caitlin had stayed at a friend so Norm and I decided to go out for breakfast as we had to go do a shop anyway.

We went to The Riverway Café in Hout Bay. Due to my continued eye issues I’m wearing no make up except blusher and lippy.

  
The coffee was delicious. Norman had an omelette with Banting bread.

  
  
I had the Eggs Benedict with bacon and Banting bread.

  
It was divine.

We ran into our friends Andy and Alison who invited us for a braai later that afternoon. After we finished we did a huge shop at both Pic n Pay and Woolies. Norm and I both bought jeans as ours are all too big. You can manage with loose shirts but not jeans.

We went back for a rest and Caitlin came home full of cold. She went straight off to bed bless her and we went off to our braai after Norm walked the dogs.

We joined our friends Andy and Alison and their family for a fillet braai. They have a garden and grow loads of organic veg and made the most divine salads. The food was gorgeous, the wine and the conversation was flowing. To crown a perfect evening they had Banting ice cream! There is an authentic Italian ice cream place in Hout Bay called Ice Dream and it’s justifiably renowned. 

  
Our entire dinner was Banting and if you weren’t aware you would never know!

Seed crackers and cheeses to start, fillet steak, a creamy pepper sauce, a gorgeous cauliflower salad and a green salad with ice cream to finish? “Diet” food? Exactly. I’ve not felt this good in years. 

Our spontaneous evening out resulted in my schedule being off a day. I had a pork roast to put in the slow cooker and so I started that when I got home tonight. It is a shoulder which I’ve never cooked, I didn’t notice that was the cut I bought, so we will see how it turns out. 

I put a chicken in the oven to roast for tonight, surrounded by mushrooms. I made brussel sprouts cooked with bacon, chili and stock. And I steamed some cauliflower and puréed it to make mash. I made a gravy with the chicken drippings to top it. 

  
I’m now ready to relax a wee bit before bed. Have a fab week!