Last Saturday I said goodbye to my friend Geri who is moving back to the UK. I adore Geri, she is such a kind and giving person with an amazing heart. I first connected with Geri when I saw a notice of a course she was conducting and I reached out to say I was interested in learning more about my heritage and she took me under her wing. Geri studied under Grandmother Robin and then in turn Geri taught me many of those teachings. Geri led our women’s circle and she and her daughter Jesse led our drum circle.
Before Covid hit, a group of us met once a month to drum collectively on Mother Drum and sing. We would drum for various dances or events as well so sometimes these were practice sessions with a set song list, or some sessions were more spontaneous and we sang whatever came to our minds.
On Saturday I drove over to Geri’s house in Marina da Gama. We were having a day of singing & drumming and a ceremony to thank the land and burn the ribs of the sweat lodge on the fire. Afterwards everyone was having a shared meal but I cannot see at night so I could not stay too late. I arrived around 2pm and everyone was starting to arrive.
They laid the lodge ribs in a pyramid over the fire pit and tried to light them in the pouring rain. It took a bit of determination but they finally got a fire going. I had taken my hand drum so a few of us drummed and sang outside for a bit until the cold driving rain pushed everyone inside for a bit of warmth.
I remembered us building the lodge, bending the willows into the shapes we needed and tying them together. That was at Geri’s previous house and I remember the comedy of them trying to move an intact sweat lodge frame to the new house. I have been inside the heart of that lodge, the ceremony of the hot stones being brought in and feeling the building up of heat in the lodge, sweat running down my body and my soul communing with the beat of the drum. If you have never been in a sweat lodge I fully recommend it, it is good for your skin and good for your soul. It is purifying.
We then gathered around Mother Drum and sang some of our fave songs together.
I will really miss Geri. Our drum circle is now so small and dis-jointed and Geri was our glue. We had sadly already lost 2 of our sisters from our tribe due to cancer and now Geri (and soon Jess) will be leaving SA. It makes my heart sad.
On Tuesday our friend Steve flew to Malta to start their new life, Mel and Chloe will follow soon. So many people are leaving our circle, it is practically more of a dot than a circle. Which is funny because I used to know an Indian from India who used to say he was ‘the dot and I was the feather kinda Indian’.
I am sure there is some sort of clever analogy I could make but we all know how rubbish I am at that.
I had also been stressed all week because we were advised that our department has to start going back into the office 3 days a week. I have been working from home really productively and was really stressed about the thought of having to spend 2 hours driving into the CBD every day especially with the high costs of petrol. Just funding my coffee addiction would bankrupt me.
On Thursday we had a mandated face-to-face meeting at the Head Office and I drove into the City Centre using my GPS which took me to where I thought the client parking garage was located and when I turned in they told me I was in the wrong place and that the correct one was just down the road. However by the time I backed out onto the main road and watched for oncoming traffic and pulled out, I missed the right place completely. The CBD traffic is a nightmare and there are mostly one way streets. I went around the block and ended up going into the Head Office building’s parking. I parked in a spot that said it belonged to another company but as not that many people seemed to be in the office I thought it might be OK. When I got out of the car I saw a woman nearby getting out of her car too. I asked if I could follow her as I had never parked there before. She looked at me like I had 3 heads and I followed her to an elevator. We got in and went down to the ground floor and when we popped out I realised I was in completely the wrong building. I went onto the main road and found my way to the offices for the meeting.
After the meeting I was fretting about my car being clamped and I raced back to try and find where I had parked it. I could not find the door I had followed my car park friend out of to get onto the street. I asked the parking attendant if I could dash up the ramp and he looked blankly at me as if he could care less if I lay under the wheels of the next car, so off I trotted, except the strap of my backpack got stuck on the boom and I was whipped backwards awkwardly. How embarrassing. I then wandered up a level to try and remember where I left my car. I could not figure out how to get from the 1st level up as it seemed to just stop. I spotted the internal elevators and got in. I went up to the floor where I thought I left my car and when I got out of the elevator my access card would not work (refer to the part about it being another company’s parking area).
Basically I was trapped in an elevator landing area.
I started to panic and then I told myself off sternly to get it together. I took a deep breath and decided to see if I could get back out on the lower floor. I got back in the elevator and went down a floor got out and no card was needed to exit the elevator area! I was free!! Except I was back on the ground floor again where I had started. So off I trotted around and around the ramp and eventually I found my car. Thank you creator!!
The best news coming out of all of that drama is that the Data Architect project team will be allowed to continue to work from home! I am so relieved.
Finn had a bit of drama this week himself. He managed to get the clip on his harness caught on the door of the red unit behind my desk. When he felt trapped he panicked and bucked like a bronco and ran off with the door to my cupboard still attached to his back.
I have had various items of clothing caught by the hook on that unit before too, it catches everything. Except I do not panic like a giant fluffy baby, so there is that.
In a meeting this week a colleague was presenting and when he flipped to another screen I saw a message from another colleague about something I had said in the meeting. I did not bring it up in the meeting, I sent a WhatsApp to our team chat afterwards and told them that I saw it and that it was very hurtful (it was not really that hurtful, the dude who wrote it matters not a fuck to me but I thought the other dude was my friend and we all know I like to be a bit dramatic.) They both apologised to me and the other colleagues who were not involved in the school girl gossip messaged me privately to express their appreciation for all of the help and input I give to them. I am not the team lead, I am not paid extra to spend time helping them, I do it because they ask.
That is over. It is now every man for himself, sink or swim baby, and I hope you have some big ass water wings.
I have continued eating low carb all week and even cooked a few times. One night I made a cauliflower mash topped cottage pie which was delicious. Another night I grilled some hake and fried a few scallops and served it with sweet potatoes and asparagus. It was nice and light.
I also made a creamy chicken breast and bacon dish one night and served it with steamed broccolini and sweet potatoes. You may look at this plate and think ‘hmmm that is not many sweet potatoes’ and the reason for that is that the corner of the packet was torn so when I took it out of the fridge, half the packet landed on the floor. There is no ten second rule in a house with 3 long haired dogs.
This week I’ve watched a few new things which I really enjoyed.
First, I watched the new Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum film ‘The Lost City‘.
Sandra plays ‘Loretta Sage’ a recently widowed, reclusive, cheesy romance novelist who is kidnapped while on a book tour with her cover model ‘Alan’ (Channing in a wig) and they are swept up in a crazy adventure. I absolutely loved Brad Pitt in a cameo role as ‘Jack Trainer’, a sexy (no surprises there) mercenary who is sent to rescue Sandra.
However, I was surprised to find wee Danny Radcliff hot, but then again, I have an obsession with men in waistcoats. Throw in a well groomed haircut and beard and I’m swooning. Of course IRL he would only come up to my armpit if we were standing up, so there is that.
It is such a silly ridiculous film which takes the piss out of itself in a big way. The chemistry between Sandra and Channing is very tongue in cheek, whereas I felt the heat when she looked at Brad! But I laughed a lot and enjoyed it so I will give it 4 Kitten Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.
The second thing I started is a series called The Flight Attendant with Kaley Cuoco. It is a dark comedic thriller following a flight attendant who wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man – and has no idea what happened. It is bizarre and funny and I absolutely loved season one. I give it 5 Kitten Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ #WellDonePenny
It made me think about how we can either be the type who is attracted to drama, or we can be the type who is always prepared for any eventuality, or I guess we could be ‘normal’ (I would not know about normal). I was telling a colleague at work that my anxiety means that I prepare for any imagined scenario that may occur. Despite that I seem to often be poorly prepared so that tells you my value as a fortune teller is strictly limited.
However, as a consultant trekking to the CBD? I was up there next to Dora the Bloody Explorer hunty!! I had my phone which has a compass, a camera, a multi-mode communication device, I had dehydrated protein snacks, a bottle of water, a plethora of pens (some of which, in an emergency situation, could double as an airway to a victim of suffocation), a laptop, a charger cable, both a cordless and a USB mouse, not just a large A4 notebook, but 2 smaller hand sized ones. I had a sweater in case I was cold, a mask which did not come off while I was there, comfy shoes in case I have to walk (which I did).
I was prepared for anything.
Except I still parked in the wrong building twice and got trapped in an elevator.
Welcome to my life.
Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxoxoxoxo
Kitten in the City 
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