The beauty of writing a blog anywhere in the World

byRich908

3.4K followers

Updated 6 years ago

From Cape town with Love

It is Monday morning 4.25 am. I am in Cape Town, sitting in bed writing my long overdue blog. My wife and I flew from Ireland via London direct to Cape Town on Wednesday night. After a 12-hour flight we arrived in sunny Cape Town the following morning.

My son was waiting for us at the airport and we were overjoyed to see him. I was exhausted as I packed three large suitcases full of kiddies clothes for my grandchildren. My wife is terrific at spotting bargains especially when the Winter sales begin in January. My grandchildren are well stocked up for the Winter and the Summer months.

As you may have read in the news there is a big water shortage in Cape Town at the moment, and every visitor and citizen alike has been asked to use water sparingly. So what is it like to be water rationed you may well ask? Every household is allocated a certain amount of water per day. My sister in Cape Town told me that if you exceed the amount you will have to pay a water levy. It made me realize how fortunate we are in Ireland where we take water for granted.

Life goes on in Cape Town despite the water crises, there is still a terrific energy and vibrant feel in the mother city. March is my favourite time of the year because the heat is bearable. It is the start of Autumn and the weather gets a bit cooler. Cape Town has a lot to offer and dining out is a sensory delight with International dishes ranging from Chinese, Thai and continental dishes.

Cape town is a mecca for all kinds of curries. My grandmother and mother cooked all the south African dishes from tomato South Afican (stew) curried tripe and trotters that was our Thursday dinner served on a bed of rice. The Malay cuisine is still my favourite as it is a mixture of dutch and Indonesian cooking. There is a long history attached to the Malay Cooking.

The spicy dishes with it is fruity flavours and aromatic spices are unique to Cape town. East African slaves under dutch rule during the seventeenth century brought their culinary skills with them and it was handed down from generation to generation.

I see your mouth watering already. Cape Town does the best koeksisters ever ( doughnuts) the secret is powdered satsuma peel with powdered cardamon. We are staying for two months and I have a lot to pack in with my grandchildren. The beach is still a hot favourite with the aquarium at the waterfront a close second. I have to include Mc Donald s and of course the afternoon cinema. At this rate I may need another holiday to recover. I still have a few friends I need to see and we will probably have a braai (it is an Afrikaans word for barbecue) somewhere on the beach with the kids running around or building sandcastles.

This holiday can make one lazy. I find it better to write posts and connect with the WA community early in the morning till 10 am. After that my grand kids have my full attention untill 3.pm. What is it about grandchildren that makes grandparents want to go gaga when you see them? Is it guilt I wonder! -we try to overcompensate because we were so busy working we hardly spent any time with our own kids when they were little?

Anyway I am not going to turn this into a debate. I am just having a ball and so grateful that I can see my family again. Until the next post. I have included an image of the most famous land mark in the world. Sir Francis Drake called it the Fairest Cape when he saw Table Mountain