In the process of doing my first kefir trade, got offered a full manicure – unexpected, but then again that’s exactly what I had in mind I’m pretty happy to have made the first trade, delivery this week, manicure in a bit. Just plain fun doing something different.

Did all my preparations for the wine tasting - got the guest list & had a second dry run on the snacks at Elmari’s cozy dinner party - the test subjects were duly impressed. Now for the main event…

I’m having a ton of fun with my new climbing partner, climbing harder than I probably ever have. I’ve been getting in good practice on my bouldering wall (up @ Elna’s place, no space here and there I at least have a training partner too) and with another reliable and trustworthy partner it’s easy to push myself harder.

I did my first trad lead this weekend and I do believe I’m hooked. Such an adventure, even if the climbing is easy.

I do think I’m going to go on many more big adventures with Johan in all sorts of places, from the crags of Gauteng to some remote walls in the countryside - looking forward to it!!!

Congrats to Nico on his internship!! It was really good to hear that, knowing you’ve been working hard towards it. Hope you have a lot of fun doing what you love.

That’s me, I have a date with the couch…

 Buildering 2011-11-01

So this is going to be one of those not so neat posts, just a random bunch of things I remember happening and some stuff I’m planning to do…..and a pic of sexy girl, just because I can.

I mailed that musician, but it seems he does not remotely recall the incident and he reckons it could not have been him. Not the result I expected, but at least it was not negative.

My Kefir from Elmarie is still going strong (not yogurt as I thought before). It’s grown from a grain that’s actually hard to find, can’t really be bought and has some amazing health benefits. What a great gift!

My property transfer and bond registration is finally done. There will be drinking of fancy wine this coming Friday night!!

I’ve lined up a potential climbing partner who sounds like he has the same sort of goals as me, hope to start climbing with him soon. I may also get to take a Scottish guy on holiday climbing too, from our conversation it sounds like we’ll have great fun. I took out a Elna and her kid climbing and she’s now hooked - so much so that we’re putting up the bouldering wall. I’m really quite excited about it, pity I’ll have to wait until Sunday to finish it.

Last weekend I went down to Umdloti with Elna – her friend had a wedding and it sounded like fun just driving down for the hell of it. The weather was not great so we did not climb or fly the kite, but it was really fun nonetheless. We arrived about 1AM Saturday morning and had a few celebratory tequilas at the local pub before going to her friend’s house where we would be staying.

The wedding was a bit unusual for me, but the food was fantastic!! We ate leftovers until Monday. Thinking back of the neighbourhood we stayed with all the views of lush green bush, humid air, the sounds of the frogs in the swamp and the birds everywhere I really get why people love the place so much.

A change in lifestyle
I’m staying in my mom’s place, babysitting the cat sorta thing while she’s in the USA. Not knowing how long she was going to be and the whole move happening a bit hastily most of her stuff is still there and my stuff in storage. That’s gotta change as I found out I have at least another year to go.

In an apparent moment of weakness Elna offered to help me , or at least rope in a friend with some interior decorating skill to help me out. There’s nothing wrong with what’s there, it just does not feel like mine.

I’m planning to hold a wine tasting thing soon, so I’ll have to get cracking on the dining room for starters.

Speaking of which, the wine tasting is part of a larger experiment – I’m looking to find something different to do in terms of making a living. Bringing the wine up from Montagu will in no way make me rich, the idea is purely to experiment with doing something I would not normally have done, trying something new, getting in touch with new people and having fun while doing it.

I’ve been talking a lot for a long time about doing various things. The time do has arrived. I’ll be focussing on quite literally de-cluttering my life – catch up on all my admin and get the house neat and then to start doing, specifically the following:

• Get the wine tasting thing done
• Build a small aquaponics setup
• Learn about and practise share trading

I’m super excited and motivated to make things happen. I don’t have great expectations of anything specific happening, I’m just very keen to try it and see what happens – I do have great expectations of something happening, having fun and learning something new. Will keep you posted…

It’s probably not the best thing to be counting down the hours until the weekend like this, but I’ve had suck a lekker weekend and the next one looks to be even better.

This past weekend I went climbing with Tam & Clifford, a really pleasant morning out. There’s this climb called “R.I.P.” named so after the small commemorative plaque at the start of the climb for a guy who fell to his death there many years ago – this obviously freaks the beginners out a when they notice this. It is a beautiful route: really easy with big moves on big holds, the sort of stuff that’s very satisfying to do and gets one hooked on climbing.

A fireplace, five friends, fine food & wine
Saturday night Annie treated us to her fine curry once again. I probably should not say this out loud but last night I realised that I actually have a couple big pots, they are just not in the kitchen where one would normally look for them. One is packed away with my camping gear and the other in a box that I have yet to unpack. So thanks El & Takkies, but I probably owe you a beer for turning around and bringing yours.

I’m in serious danger of becoming a domesticated man animal despite my concerted efforts to the contrary. Last night as I (enjoyed) washing the dishes I could not help but smile thinking back to the good time we had.

30 seconds – Ms Galaxy – good one! I thought someone was going to get hurt there

Wine tasting, drinking rum and seeing how the other half lights a fire made for some good laughs. Make sure to have an ostrich burger & honey ale at the “Mystic Tin”. Many thanks to Justin & Riki for their hospitality and showing me around!!

 The campsite is basic, but one of the nicest ones I’ve ever camped at, partially because I got the best stand but also the general setting and of course the other people there. It’s a 10 minute walk from the camp site to absolute classic climbing such as “Girl on my mind”. Personal safety is quite simply not an issue.

The billboard ad is quite cute – the town name “Worcester” (close to where the brandy is made) is pronounced the same as the Afrikaans word “woester” which means “rougher”. There is also a fermented condiment sauce called “Worcestor sauce”. The brandy, the sauce & the town are all pretty much household names in South Africa making for a clever word play.

So I drove on past to Cape Town. Past Blouberg, Koeberg and into town. I then proceeded to drive through all the small towns: Muizenberg, Fish Hoek, Houtbaai and really got to know some parts of the city around Long street. I ended up getting a room at the Formula 1 and had “Long street chilli poppers” at about 11pm.

I spent most of the next day driving around too. Had a terrific sea food platter at the famous Brass Bell and booked in to the Formula 1 again as it’s close to Long street and I wanted to go out & party properly. The taxi service is great and I had a blast – more “Long street chilli poppers”, a pub called the Waiting Room where they played live music and then consumer partying at some rather random Irish themed pub – got back to my room around 3:15am – quality as Riki said