Come one, come all

Hello everybody! Thanks so much for all the sweet comments I have received about my little runaround I had last week, when I went to Mozambique. I feel much better now, and have been slightly busy, which is why I am a bit slow on blogging the last two weeks. That, and the fact that I was bed ridden for two days.

I'm hoping I can pick up on it again this week.

Tonight, I will be attending this:

I am very excited to meet some other bloggers in the local sphere! I'm hoping it goes down great and that there will be a lot of people in attendance!

Looks like this week is quite the week for meeting bloggers.

Philoméne likes the sound of the cat's bowl on the tiles. The cat likes overhearing children's stories.

On July 9, at exactly 3 pm, a man buys flowers for his wife who just gave birth to their 3.1 kg baby boy, with black curly hair and still blue eyes. At the same moment, a foreign exchange student blows out the sole candle on a cupcake for his birthday. Meanwhile, on a bench in a park, a beggar takes his last sip of his R19 Tassenberg and tosses the bottle in the paper bag aside. A stray dog slightly sniffs at the bottle then lifts his leg to urinate against the beggars leg.

::: At the same moment in front of a restaurant nearby, two girls meet. A friendship was born. :::

The two girls actually met a few months before. Through their blogs. The odd comment on each other's blogs led to longer, more elaborate e-mails and a mutual interest in travel, among other things, was discovered. They also added each other on facebook and eventually decided to meet in person, but their schedules kept them busy over weekends. And then finally, on the afternoon of the 9th, we met. Jenna and I.

We went to Fratelli's, a quaint little restaurant in the leafy suburb of Greenside, which main street is lined with little treasures, such as this one.

The vibe is very relaxed, packed with trendy people, even during the day. The drinks prices was also very reasonable and we helped ourselves to caiparinhas, mojito's and gin and tonics.

I was very nervous at first, I even admitted it to Jenna, who blogs over at Home Away from Home. In fact, I was so nervous that I wanted to smoke a cigarette. And I despise smoking. Well, when it suits me anyway.

I was scared that we might not have a lot of things in common. Or that there would be a lot of awkward silences, but there weren't any and we chatted like old friends. So much so, that the waitress at the second restaurant, The Office, which was just a skip and a jump away from Fratelli's, asked what the occasion was for us coming to the restaurant.

Well, actually, we were on our way to our cars when the waitress came outside and invited us in. She was quite shocked when she realised this was the first time Jenna and I had met. She was in total disbelief and asked if I was telling the truth. We just laughed.

We were surprised in turn, when the bill came after we drank our two fishbowls (the blue drink in the picture at the top). It was buy one, get one free! Score! And the waitress was super sweet, full of compliments and such a nice person. I would definitely go back to this 'hip' spot. But maybe again during the day. At night, this place is packed to the rafters! But still a lot of fun.

Everything turned out so good that we are going over to their place this weekend for a little braai. And for the boys to meet each other.

::I thought I would leave you with this piece of wisdom.:: 

That's my handwriting.

Travel Tuesday: Mozambique and other interesting happenings

I am down and out. Yesterday, I flew to Mozambique. But before I get any jealous faces, I was only there for the day and visited a mine in the northern province. I had four flights throughout the day, and not only did it drain me physically, I was dumb enough to take a little sip of water from a tap, and ended up with gastro.

I didn't sleep at all last night, as I was in so much pain with all the cramps. Shame, even my editor phoned to hear if I'm okay, he thought I was airlifted to hospital! haha. Luckily Flip's mother took me to the doctor to get it sorted out. I couldn't drive, I felt so sick. And I got an injection! Eep!

I did meet some interesting people on the trip though: a Londonite living in South Africa with her husband and their dog Zapiro; another Londonite that had five flights, coming from the UK, and at twelve in the night still managed to look fabulous (jealous); an Englishman who tried to charf the girls and try and convince us that he was born in 1990, but was actually born in '75, as his passport proved; an Englishman trying to speak Afrikaans and saying all the crude words he has learned from living in SA for four years and a whole pile of other interesting characters, including Aussies. It was a mixed up day, but was a lot of fun.

Other interesting happenings
On Friday evening, my friends and I decided to 'lose our minds and let our crazy out' as Kesha would put it. I haven't gone out like this in almost a year and we really went crazy! Except we didn't shoot rainbows at unicorns. 

The end of the night was a bit of a struggle though as two of the girls, we won't name names, but they know who they are, had a fight. They were shaking and screaming at each other at like half past one in the freezing cold morning and we had to stand guard. It was about who would drive and who should not be drinking more. It ended with drunken tears, two cups of coffee, three packets of chips and me driving. 

See, I also have drama in my life. Not always moonshine and roses. 

"She licked me!" (Tracy actually did!)

But they still love each other

What is she doing!?

The boys talking about how crazy the girls are

There will be some changes in this here parts...

I am bored with my current blog layout and will attempt to change things around here myself. It will take me a while to get all my ducks in a row, so it will look like someone is hacking this poor thing to bits. Just ignore the changes around it.

Meanwhile, I thought I might tell you a few things I learned today:

No matter the history, saying goodbye to an old friend is difficult.
It also resulted in a mini-breakdown after work.
It felt cleansing, in some ways.

Having restless legs while lying in bed is really a little mothereffing bitch.
It also brings about little sprigs of Tourette's syndrome.
I curse like a sailor when my legs just won't rest.

Pickled onions is a good substitute for dinner.
Flip came home late. So there was no cooking tonight.

That's the only words of wisdom I have.
I'm looking forward to my blog's facelift.