I have mentioned before how we have so many challenges to deal with in South Africa that people in other ‘First World’ countries seldom experience. My village of Hout Bay was without water for over 4 days. Some areas were without water for about a week. Our house must be on a different reservoir or something (she says vaguely) as we were not impacted until Monday afternoon when our taps slowed to a dribble and finally stopped flowing. We kept getting promises from our government representative that it would be resolved soon and then amended reports afterwards that it was going to take longer to resolve. The workers were down far underground in their attempts to resolve the issue.
Load shedding was halted last Friday and we had a weekend where we did not have to to contend with lack of electricity at the same time as we had no water at least. But then on Wednesday we get an announcement that load-shedding was implemented again and that night from 8pm to 10pm we sat in the candlelight feeling annoyed. But carrying the energy of anger towards the ruling political party only harms me, not them. They could give two craps about how their corruption and ineptitude affects the residents of SA.
Since naughty little Finn had woken Norm at 4am that morning he had a nap while the lights were off and the animals all are generally snoozing at that time anyway so it was quite peaceful other than the annoying roar of my neighbour’s generator. I just played games on my iPad and drank a cocktail. Life must go on.
On Wednesday Norm and I went to a doctor in Hout Bay who had ordered the yellow fever vaccine for Norm’s upcoming trip to North Africa. We both had the shingles vaccine as well. We had to take Finn with us as he cannot be left alone so we took turns standing outside with him while the other one got their vaccines. Finn wandered around the car park eating anything he could dig up and staring down the surgery’s resident cat. There was a reflective glass door and Finn spent ages staring at his reflection wondering who that other dog was and why was he attached on a lead to his Mommy? I love watching his little brain tick over, he is a very clever boy but you have to consider that everything in the world is pretty much new for him.
Finn is growing so quickly. In one week he has gained 1.65kgs (that is 3.63 pounds for you Yanks 😊). His little tail was a nubby thing when we collected him and is now growing longer and fluffier almost daily. He whacks the other dogs in the face when he is wiggling around with excitement.
Neither Norm nor I are getting a proper night’s sleep thanks to our little bundle of white fluffy energy. He wakes in the middle of the night to poop. How do you adjust the time a dog poops? If anyone knows how to adjust it please let me know. Sometimes he will go back to sleep if we bring him back upstairs afterwards and pop him back into his crate, but often once he is awake he wants to play, which in puppy speak means he wants to attack our heads and hands and chew on anything he can reach. He annoys Panda by jumping on him or nipping him. He also loves to steal Pixie’s ball and annoy her.
Hopefully he calms down when he gets a bit older. He does have moments of calmness.
And moments of sulkiness when he gets into trouble. This is him hiding under my desk because I told him off for eating a succulent.
On Thursday I was working at my desk and looked up to see a large hoopoe wandering around the grass eating.
I love hoopoes, they are so interesting looking and the colour markings are just so unique. The black and white stripes are quite zebra-esque and very African to me. Occurrences like this remind me of why I love this country.
On Friday I went to the dentist again. This time he removed the old bonded front incisor tooth I had done about 50 years ago which had cracked and was causing me pain. He put on a temporary cover to last for the 10 days it takes the technician to make the perfectly coloured veneer. One of the clamps he put in cut my gum and the inside of my lip very badly and I have large blisters so it is very sore, not from the repaired tooth just from my gum. Norm bought some numbing gel so that is helping a bit. I am finally feeling like I am nearing the end of my list of things to sort out with my health. Other than being a fatty patty of course (no slur on women named Patty).
Speaking of being a couch potato (couch patty?), this week I started a couple of new shows on my own. The first show is the Netflix series ‘Maid‘. Norm watched a bit of episode 1 but he kept saying annoying things about what the main character should do (like she could hear him) so I cut him off. It is also a very emotional show for me and I would rather not have a witness to my tears and trauma. It took me a few days after the 1st episode to feel strong enough to watch another episode and episode 2 almost finished me. It brought back my memories and emotions of going through the same experience except I had 3 small children not just one and lived in a foreign country very far from home or anyone I knew. I do not want to give anything about the show away but when I watched the scene in episode 2 about being ‘familiar with the carpet’ – it broke me. I remember that feeling of powerlessness as a young woman with no independent income. Add to it that I was in a foreign country where most people spoke another language. When they have the scene in the courtroom where they replace the dialogue with the word ‘legal’ repeated over and over I completely related, add in ‘Afrikaans’ to the legalese and I see that I had no hope of succeeding in that court. The victim becomes further victimised by the patriarchy and by people not believing her stories of suffering from domestic abuse.
The show stars Margaret Qualley as Alex, a young mother of a three-year-old daughter Madeleine “Maddy”. Alex leaves her emotionally abusive boyfriend and gets a job working as a maid. Alex’s mother’s character, Paula, is played by Andie MacDowell who just so happens to be Margaret’s mother in real life! I have always loved Andie, starting in the late 70’s-early 80’s when she was modelling and I even had my long hair permed in an attempt to look like hers. She was (and still is) a beautiful woman and her daughter Margaret is also a stunner. The boyfriend, Sean is played by Nick Robinson. I will attempt another episode soon but I cannot binge this series.
I also started a new series on Amazon Prime called ‘Kevin Can F**k Himself’. I only started it because of the fabulous Annie Murphy who plays the lead character and whom you should remember from Schitt’s Creek. If you don’t, go watch it immediately!!! It is one of the best series ever made IMO.
But back to Kevin and Allison McRoberts in the new black comedy. Allison is unhappily married to the immature, moronic, narcissistic misogynist Kevin who is played by Eric Petersen. Kevin has a beer belly and weird hair and is not even attractive so you wonder what the heck Allison saw in him as it was certainly not his personality. The show is filmed in two different styles in order to give contrasting perspectives of her experiences. Her ‘real life’ is filmed with canned laughter and a multiple camera set up whereas her ‘imaginary life’ is filmed with a single camera set up. There are a lot of laughs and a lot of relatable drama and Annie does a great job with the Massachusetts accent. I have only watched a few episodes so I hesitate to rate it yet but I am enjoying it.
Today is a stunner of a day.
I got up and out of the house and into the village this morning as I had some things to collect for my Mom at Rock Chic and some gifts to buy for my trip. I treated myself to some new cushions for our bedroom from Colours in Mainstream Mall. They are hand-painted. (Don’t look at my wrinkled linen bedding and unkempt bed.) Do you like the pillows? I adore them. I like to support local and buy in Hout Bay when I can. I also like that I am supporting not only the shop but the artist who painted them.
For new music I am giving you a bit of South African mixed with American. The gorgeous Doja Cat (aka Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini) was born and raised in the US but her father, Dumisani Dlamini, is a South African actor of Zulu descent. Even though Doja (Amala? Miss Cat?) claims to have never met him, we can still claim a bit of her genetically, right? This song is a duo with The Weeknd and their voices sound fabulous together. I hope you enjoy it.
I have some friends coming for coffee and cake tomorrow as they want to meet Finn. One friend has a little boy and he is so excited. I hope Finn is gentle with him. It will be nice to have people around again, I feel so isolated most of the time. I am looking forward to some girly chat.
I hope that you enjoy the rest of your weekend and your week ahead.
Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten x0x0x0x0x
Kitten in the City 