26.05.07 - The Meeting of Mindy.

I am encountering a frustrating problem about traveling alone. How on Earth am I to take a picture of myself in these beautiful surroundings? While sitting on the same empty beach in Clifton today I decided to have a go. I quickly came to the conclusion that the 'arms length' approach does not work. While I am pretty good at aiming the camera at my face the picture that is taken always depicts a giant Ed-head blocking out all of the beauty that lies behind. I can do that in my living room in London for goodness sake! The next attempt made use of the timer function on the camera. Having placed the camera carefully up on a rock I set the timer-a-tickin', bolted back to the rock that was the focus of the shot and struck an awkward pose. At this point I am feeling incredibly vain and in the picture I seem to be more severe than the rock in the background!

Having intended to make my way to the beach early today I was a little disappointed to be in Cape Town still at 14.30. On waking up I found that the flat tyre on my hired bicycle was still very flat. The rental shop was closed so I pushed the bicycle to the local petrol station where the pump attendant set to removing the tyre and replacing it, using a blunt stainless steel table knife and a fork handle (no not four candles... that would be silly). The tyre was then seemingly over-filled with air and adjusted a little more with the make-shift tools. At this point I parted with 20 Rand to thank the attendant who probably had no idea what he was doing, and off I went. My backside had barely touched the saddle before I heard the flapping of rubber on the tarmac. FLAT TYRE.

Waiting for the owner of the shop to return to replace my wheel I sat in the sunshine at my favourite Caribbean restaurant on Long Street with a coffee and a bacon, cheddar and banana sandwich! What a concoction... but quite satisfying to be honest. I offered my table to a couple of London gals who will be popping up to my hostel for a braai tomorrow by coincidence. One is called Deborah and the other is Spanish. I cannot divulge any more information than this and I have no idea whether this will be of any future relevance.

The exciting event of the day was that I would be meeting up with fair Mingus (also known as Mindy but christened Mandy Swart) whom I used to work with in the Kingston branch of Habitat. Mingus used to give me a reason to look forward to going to work each day as I knew that I could share any frustrations I may have (of which there were many in Scabitat) and we shared the outlook on the whole Kingston thing as a whole. I won't go into this any more than to say that our catchphrase was "there is nothing wrong with having standards".

As I sat down alone to have a bite to eat in my favourite hip local cafe while I waited for Mingus to arrive a rather merry Cape Tonian chap laughed at me for sitting alone at my compact table outside and insisted that I join his group inside. So there I am, thrust into the middle of a table of locals who are all up for a night at Roosevelts nightclub. I immediately took a shine to Renee, an elegant black lady sporting a full 80's look comprising of fitted leather jacket, black leggins, polka-dot heels, plastic earings and a neat afro tidily swept back under a headscarf. Renee sure was up for a dance but I had Mingus in mind!

Suddenly a girl stepped through the doors staring,smiling and waving at me, all at once. I was briefly baffled, and then thrilled when I realized it was fair Mingus! Where her hair was black (just like her surname which translates from 'Swart' to 'black') she now has shoulder length fair hair. Isn't it incredible how different someone can look after an attack with some hair dye?! On the end of her arm (she does have two arms but I did not feel the need to mention the other) was her boyfriend Herman. We popped down the road to a local bar and caught up over some cheeky vodka concoctions. It was great to see Mingus and my heart was warmed by the sense that we have never been apart. Have no doubt - she will be making another appearance in my travel diary.....