Sunday was a stunning warm sunny day but it was still pretty windy. Retha and I had plans to go for lunch but we were then invited to a braai at our friend Carol’s so we encouraged Norm to come with and we headed out around 2. Carol is an artist and she wanted us to have first option as she is selling a few pieces.

The Naval Festival was on that weekend so we expected the town to be a bit busy.

We had heard from Carol that the traffic coming into Simonstown was chockablock and that we should go around via Cape Point rather than directly into town on the main road. We drove over Chapman’s Peak. The traffic was busy as usual for a Sunday, but we were behind a Rastafarian on a bicycle with a giant headdress which scraped the sides of the mountain when he went around a curve too tightly. It was such a surreal sight.

We were stuck behind him on the curvy roads until we got a spot where it was safe to overtake him. The views from this road are amazing.

We got to the other side of Chappies and cruised quite the thing until we hit the main road where the traffic was backed up as far as we could see in both directions. We could see blue lights ahead of us but could not tell what was going on. We got into the lane to turn right towards Cape Point but the police told us the road was only open up to Capri so we had to turn around and head back into the traffic chaos.

We later found out that there was another protest in Masiphumelele on Sunday. From what I can piece together from the various news reports, the story is that the demands are numerous, but the 2 items I see consistently in the reports and posts are that Felicity Purchase, the area’s ward councillor, is being encouraged to resign for not supporting the plight of the people who live in a state of poverty with no electricity or decent standard of life, and that the land they have been promised since 2003 has never been developed into housing for them. There are also reports of shacks being knocked down and removed resulting in people being made homeless. Whether this latter part is due to the City attempting re-blocking of the area is not clear to me.

The protestors are trying to make the Western Cape ungovernable. The Western Cape is under DA rule. The poster below is a member of the ANC judging by his profile pic (I snipped his name to avoid potential law suits or protests on my own front garden.)

I saw pictures of the protests on social media.

We carried on to Simonstown but the traffic was a nightmare and it took us ages to get to Carol’s. Carol had also been stuck in traffic when she had nipped out to the shops to get some shopping in and therefore only just arrived home before we trudged in!

The view there is just so stunning.

We settled in to enjoy it.

There were 3 submarines which could be seen in the harbour which was very cool!

We could hear the music and tannoy from the Navy Festival but it was not offensive it was just festive.

We hung out on the balcony other than when we were inside having lunch, it is just such an amazing spot.

Carol was beavering away in the kitchen for ages it seemed. As our plans had changed I was unprepared and Retha had brought all of the salads.  Carol had started the chickens on the braai but it was not being cooperative so she moved it into the oven. The chickens were in the Weber long enough to get the smoky braai flavour though and they tasted divine.

Carol and I spent far too long in the kitchen trying to get a pic of those chickens with the gorgeous view in the background. It was an either / or option. The bright light from outside was creating too much glare to focus on both.

View with shaded chickens:

Or just the chickens and no view. How lush do these birdies look? Yum.

When we finished eating, the traffic was still back to back so we relaxed a bit longer until the sun went down and then we could see that the road was clear. After Retha dropped us home we had a quiet evening in and enjoyed being out of the crazy wind.

Monday I worked from home and didn’t have to get up too early. I set up in Norm’s desk and worked all day but it was 29 deg C and so unbearable with no air conditioning. The local glazier came round to replace our window pane damaged in the wind over the weekend.

Then Vanessa came around in the afternoon to do my monthly pedicure. 

Later I thawed some prawns and scallops that I had in the freezer and I made a lovely dinner that night. I cooked the prawns quick in butter on a high heat, then lowered the heat and added zucchini and butternut noodles and a tin of coconut cream with a splodge of tomato paste and heated it through. I grilled some streaky bacon and steamed some asparagus. I cooked the scallops in lemon, butter and garlic. 

To serve I crumbled the bacon over the top and draped the asparagus over and placed the scallops on top. Scallops are one of my favorite foods.

Later that evening the air was broken by the sounds of thunder and we even had a burst of intense hard rain. The ground greedily sucked it up.

We hoped it would cool things down but no such luck, it was so hard to get to sleep in the heat. 

Today was a public holiday in South Africa. “Human Rights Day is a national day that is commemorated annually on 21 March to remind South Africans about the sacrifices that accompanied the struggle for the attainment of democracy in South Africa.

The 1960s were characterised by systematic defiance and protest against apartheid and racism across the country. On March 21 1960, the community of Sharpeville and Langa townships, like their fellow compatriots across the country, embarked on a protest march to march protest against pass laws. The apartheid police shot and killed 69 of the protesters at Sharpeville, many of them shot while fleeing. Many other people were killed in other parts of the country. The tragedy came to be known as the Sharpeville Massacre and it exposed the apartheid government’s deliberate violation of human rights to the world.”

The irony is that the current government has done little to better the lives of the voters and there are still frequent protests about service delivery and the plight of those still living in such inhumane circumstances and conditions.

We had a lazy morning but we had some errands to run and we braved the intense still heat. We went to The Woodcutters Arms. We were lucky to get a table in the garden. 

I had a cheeky cider on ice while enjoying the shade of the trees by the river.

We both ordered a starter and a salad.

I had the jalapeño cigars.

Norm had the scotch egg.

Norm had the chicken Caesar salad.

I had the red pepper and halloumi salad.

We had a walk over to the shops after lunch. On our drive home we saw the organized fire relief redistribution process was still well underway.

There are so many people affected. The guys who fitted our window yesterday both lost their homes. Our gardener Mzudumo didn’t lose his shack but he lost his TV and DVD player and other things as they were stolen when he removed his home contents for safety as the fire encroached near his shack. Everyone in the village knows someone affected in some way.

It will take a long time for the village to heal.

I’m back in the city bright and early tomorrow and in the afternoon I am facilitating a workshop with the client.

Wish me luck! Xx