The Footprint Has Moved....

Now in Cape Town

I arrived here in late June and am planning to stay until I return to Melbourne, in March 2013. I visited Cape Town (CT) for a few weeks 2 years ago and really loved the city and met some great people, so always was keen to come back.

The first couple of weeks I was here I stayed at Tracey’s place, by the beach in the southern suburb of Muizenberg. I had met Tracey on my previous trip, and this time round we have been hanging out together a lot – she is great value. She is from the UK originally but has been in CT for 12 years, doing her PhD in botanical genetics here, so she is another plant person. She has a couple of lively dogs and I was sole carer of Rusk and Bandit for a week while both she and her house-mate were away. It was good to take them for long walks on the beach – Rusk insists that you throw shells for him to chase, which can get a bit tiresome, while Bandit amuses himself exploring all the debris that gets washed up on the beach, including the dead seals!

How many Capetonians does it take to change a light bulb?!

 

Tracey and Pete

Then about a month ago, I moved into my own flat which is also in Muizenberg at the western end of the beach, about 5 min drive from Tracey’s. The flat is part of a complicated house that has been sub-divided at some stage into 4 separate living areas. My landlord lives in the biggest part, while I live next door, sharing a wall with him. In front of me is Flat 3 and new tenants moved in there at the weekend. The fourth flat is on the other side of the courtyard and isn’t let at the moment, it is currently used for storing stuff.

My landlord is a friend of mine, Peter, and I stayed with him (on his side of the wall!) when I came to CT first time round. He does restoration ecology, particularly of mining areas, so it is always great to discuss his work. He is also a keen spear-fisherman and I have been the very grateful recipient of a couple of his recent catches!

My Place

My flat is very spacious, especially for one person! As well as the kitchen (basic but serviceable), bathroom and small dining room, there are two large rooms either of which could be a lounge or a bedroom. At first, I set up my bed in the sunnier of the two while the other room contained the desk, but that didn’t work so well as the sunny room doesn’t have any doors (there aren’t a lot of internal doors in the house!) and the draught blowing through made it too cold. So now I am sleeping in the other room, where the desk is, which does have doors. It is plenty big enough and more efficient, as I only have to heat one room. In additional, there is another small room, commonly referred to as the dungeon, as it is down a few steps and very cold! It could easily be a second bedroom, but I am using it as a storeroom for suitcases and summer clothes.

Lounge

Bedroom cum study

My little kitchen

The flat faces north, so it does get a reasonable amount of sun, when it’s around! The whole house was probably built in the 1920’s and has very thick walls, some lovely wooden doors and windows and little features like arches in interesting places, so it is a lovely place. But like most places here it is not centrally heated, and is very cold. There was an oil column heater here when I arrived and I have since bought a fan heater as well, to try and make it tolerable. But on the cold, bleak days, I have been wearing layers of clothes, and wrapped myself in a blanket in order to try and stay warm!

There was some basic furniture here already and I have borrowed various things like crockery and cutlery and bedding etc from folks, and have bought a few things myself. A couple of weekends ago I got myself a second-hand lounge suite and a couple of floor rugs, so it is now pretty well set up. I only really need to get a microwave and I will be set. But I am missing not having a TV to watch any of the Olympics – might have to see if I can go next door to watch the men’s 1,500m final tonight.

The suburb of Muizenberg itself is great – I am 5 min walk from the beach, 2 min from the supermarket and a few other shops, and there are at least 3 good bakeries close-by and lots of cafes etc. There are some beautiful character homes in the area, so it is a really attractive place to live. And as well as the beach, there are the mountains just behind us to the west. The train line goes past my bedroom window, and the station is 2 min away so I can into the central city easily (about 20 km away) or out along the bay further. I don’t hear the trains when I am asleep, and don’t really notice them much during the day either.

The other great thing about Muizenberg is that it has quite a lively vibe - there are a lot of environmental/ecology types and artists and other creative/professionals living here, plus a very strong surfing community as it is one of the best places to learn to surf in CT. So it is quite funky. And I have already met a lot of people here in different social contexts – everyone seems to know everyone and all live locally. The woman who used to live in my flat, Emilie, who I had met previously, now lives up the road with a couple of guys, so she pops round sometimes. It certainly makes it easier to socialise when everyone is close-by.

View to the west from Peter's garden (my flat to right)

View to the west from my garden (Peter's place to left)

My garden - the train line is just beyond the back fence

  

Avocados

Not everything here has been going smoothly though. Stupidly, on the evening I moved in to the flat, I cut myself quite badly. I was trying to take a stone out of an avocado and the knife slipped and went into my left hand. Thankfully Pete was home next door and he bound up the wound. I went to the doctor the next day and they cleaned it out and put in 3 stitches. I have severed one of the nerves in my left index finger, that runs up the inside of the finger. Apparently we have 4 nerves in each finger, and so after discussing it with the doctor I decided to not go to hospital to see a plastic surgeon about micro-surgery to re-attach the nerve ends. The nerve may heal itself anyway. 

However, the doctor was very insistent that I keep a really good eye on it all and take the prescribed anti-biotics as hand injuries can easily get infected and cause major problems. I was being diligent about this, but after a few days I became concerned about the level of swelling, and as it was the weekend, went to a private emergency clinic so they could check it was ok. They decided to be very cautious, even though I didn’t have any infection, and put me on an intra-venous drip of anti-biotics, which meant an overnight stay in hospital. I ended up seeing the plastic surgeon after all, who was quite happy with the healing progress and said he wouldn’t have operated on the nerve as it is on the inside of the finger so not critical. 

Four weeks on and the stitches are out and I have a reasonable range of movement in the two affected fingers, although my index finger is still a bit swollen so doesn’t bend fully. The nerves in both fingers are still not right and putting pressure on the actual wound itself is painful, so I am still doing things awkwardly, with one and a half hands! But it is getting better slowly. 

Moral of the story – don’t use a knife to take out an avocado stone!! 

Beach boxes on Muizenberg Beach

Looking west down Muizenberg Beach