Fab New Bag

Okay, so here's an unusual Saturday afternoon update ... it's that or help my mom bake for tomorrow's memorial / wake (none of us can decide what the right term to use is since we're not religious and won't be having a funeral service of any sort. I figure it's a memorial cause we'll be remembering Gum ... Any opinions?).

Anyhoo. So I flew down to Cape Town on Thursday late afternoon / early evening ... from Lanseria nogal. I must say I was quite impressed. Checking in was speedy and efficient, I guess cause at the moment only Kulula offers flights from there ... and there are only 3 flights to Cape Town a day (not sure where else they're flying to from there, but my point is, there is far less air traffic and hence nothing in the way of the par-for-the-course crowds one finds whenever flying from Ort). Varen & I had a quick bite at their only restaurant and were thrilled to enjoy the open-air deck (probably ideal to just visit if you have any young boys interested in aeroplanes!).

My flight was on time (a luxury I have long since forgotten with most regional flights these days!). Sadly however, I couldn't listen to any audio books on my podcast as planned since the plane noises (and all the bizarrely chatty people around me) were just too loud. At least I took my real book along just in case ;)

Friday I went shopping with Mom to stock up on all the ingredients she needed for her share of Sunday's baking and then we went to collect the Peeb (and I got a look round her & Button's new flat - jeez, but it is big ... although the lack of discernable decor / furnishings are not really my style ;) but at least they have the chance to spread out now and a lovely view over Cape Town /* a little jealous */) and went thru to Hout Bay to visit Marga (my gran) and my cousins.

I gave Marga a book I bought for her ... and she was even more thrilled than I expected. I think it's really her sort of read :) And it was fab to catch up with the family in general.

That evening, the folks, Peeb & I had dinner at CTFM in the V&A Waterfront. What a horrendous experience. Our theory is that the restaurant has just gotten a little too big for itself and hence rather unmanageable ... which just ends up for a shoddy experience for patrons. But dad had a R500 voucher for the place from the St Luke's Hospice Auction so we persevered. Dad sent his food back cause it arrived cold (it took absolute ages to actualyl get the food in the first place either). Peeb & I had sushi ... sadly because we were sitting at a table "outside", it was quite a hassle to keep wandering all the way round to get inside to their sushi-go-round. And we struggled to find anything we were interested in when we went back - it sucks only being able to carry 2 plates at a time! I must say I thoroughly enjoyed their salmon roses. While at the sushi-go-round, Peeb & I overheard a conversation between the manager and some other eaters. Seems the waiter had miscounted (he counted an extra plate) and over charged them. The manager promptly told them the bill could not be changed and the waiter would have to cover the cost of the mistake (this is apparently standard practice there). A good thing we overheard this because when our bill came there were no less than 4 mistakes adding up to R88. It didn't seem fair that our waiter who seemed barely capable of understanding English would be charged for an extra plate of food that didn't exist (when I'd eventually gotten sick of waiting for something interesting to pass by on the sushi-go-round, I went back to the table & ordered what I wanted. When the bill came, those plates were on our bill as separate orders as well as part of the colour-coded plates he'd counted on our table). Mom promptly called the manager over. Luckily we did manage to get our bill corrected and our poor waiter was not out of pocket. But I wonder how often this happens to them because I don't think many people eating there would assume such an injustice is taking place - I mean waiters earn so little generally as it is! You can sort of justify it if they spill a plate of food or drop a bottle of wine, because then the restaurant has lost the ability to sell that food and it has to be paid for somehow ... but to charge them for food that was never lost or didn't exist in the first place just seems so unfair! Anyhoo, just something to keep in mind if you do happen to enjoy dining there ...

This morning has already been quite eventful :) Mom has started on her mini-quiches (I'm taking notes!) and carrot cake (yummy!) for tomorrow and Dad took me to the Farmer's Market at the 3 Arts (I remember watching the Garbage & Placebo concert there way back in the day!). It was fab and I was quite glad not to have eaten yet because there were so many good things to taste. Everytime I come here there's some new produce market or another and I just wish I could find some more in Joburg :) I did buy some yummy Snoek Pate to take back to Varen ... although I know he was hoping for an actual Snoek that we could braai but, this did not seem like a practical item to take back to Joburg as hand luggage ;)

And then (highlight of my day so far!) I headed to Constantia Village to meet Wren and buy one of her fabulous bags (bigger & better pic to follow shortly) :) We had a wonderful time chatting away for at least an hour ... and here's a handy tip: She's got a discounted price for locals (since the postage is cheaper and the exchange rate exorbitant ... plus, local is lekker!). I love that my new bag is completely unique and made by someone tangible who, it's such a novelty and you just don't get that very often :)

That's my trip so far. Will no doubt next update when I'm back at work (but I sorta felt I should get all this out of my system now and not leave it all to a marathon update then ... I'm a busy girl and I know it's sometimes a lot to read at once!)