Holiday! Celebrate!

Ok... Let's see if I can remember how to do this... Right index on J... Left index on F... tap... tap *damn* tap... tap tap taptaptaptaptaptaptap... (right, it seems I'm back).

Dearie me I've had some tellings off for not updating this but I've been on holiday so while there has been a lot to say, I have had no inclination to sit in front of a computer indoors and say it. I can't tell all that's happened in the last 3 weeks but I can say a little, and I'll say it mostly with pictures since they, as we know, say more than a thousand words. (By which logic the Guardian should have paid me 300 quid for my photo contribution... how about that, guys?)

Holiday times looked a lot like this!

So... before the holiday took off in earnest a group of us went Caving. Which basically means that you find a cave, crawl in and, hopefully, out. Sister and I were worried about this. I was worried I might panic like I did the last time I attempted something similar. That was in 1994 in the south of France. And the tunnels were narrow. And the gas lights kept going out. And our intended exit had caved in.

Sister, meanwhile, was worried there might be monsters. She freaked out when a much bewildered fly appeared, thinking it one of those nightly creatures in that horrible film The Descent. In the end, we were not eaten and I did much better controlling my various phobias than at the infamous Lion's Head climb (see post in August or September). It was fun! And the boys had brought candles and then took AGES nerding around taking no-flash photos of the main cavern as seen below, before we went to Fish Hoek beach to swim in the now 21 degree water and try not to get eaten by the sharks...


Christmas was a hot affair, spent lazing around the pool at these Swedish windsurfers' place in Table View. But first we had Swedish xmas lunch at the flat of the Swedish travel agency girls (who may not have appeared here previously), seen below.

A random shot of dog, sister and Maja in the lounge of the Swedes

Traditional Swedish fare... Sister and I made the meatballs

The Christmas party proper started with a South African braai with Swedish touches and lasted into the night. I'm afraid most people were not too impressed with my DJ-ing. But that's ok because I didn't rate theirs either... Also, I didn't fancy spending Christmas eve in jail (we celebrate on the 24th) so on account of being Ms Sober Pants I did nothing at all embarrassing (so I'm not censuring anything here).

Lounging by the pool, as you do on xmas

Elin in the traditionally male role of braaimeister

Sara playing pool. We lost..

Surfer soup, or the Real Nightmare before Christmas

Then Sister and I wasted a whole day driving 3.5 hours up to Lambert's Bay on the North Coast. Its only attractions are Bird Island, where we learnt a lot about guano (mainly that it stinks) and Potato World - the alpha and omega of the perfect chip (NO I am NOT kidding).

The straightest road ever leads north, it's VERY easy to fall asleep as the crosses by the road attest

Thousands and thousands of Birds. They smell

Then, luckily, my old friend (as in longtime, not ancient) Kerry popped down for just over a week in time for New Years Eve which was spent at a rather cool (both cool-trendy and cool-cold) electronic music festival 40 minutes' drive out of town. The scenery was spectacular, but our focus was much more fixed on the glasses in our hands. It was a drunken affair.

Kerry was cold, she didn't think New Years in Cape Town would entail Arctic breezes so she hadn't packed a windbreaker. Luckily, there was a large alternative.

In terms of partying, Sister gave up first, she was back in the tent by half past midnight. Kerry lasted longer, probably until 1.30 am. I discovered a really clever way of keeping warm so I was last to bed at about 3.

Kerrry, Rebekah and the Author, being very rude to the photographer

During the night, the wind picked up so the tent of Jimi and Steve who were sleeping next door to us three gals had fallen down on top of them. Embarrrassingly, I had helped Rebekah put that tent up earlier. Oops...


Our tent, lent to us by my pregnant friend Camilla who won't be using it any time soon, held up. Just. Not that it falling down on us would have woken us up...


The rest of Kerry's time here (until day before yesterday in fact) was spent doing what you normally do here at around this time with a guest. We went to the beach, saw not one but two great whites off Cape Point, drove a bit north, drove a bit south, did some karaoke (Kerry did the sit-down, silent kind), hung out with the Evol crowd, the Armchair crowd and above all the Fiction crowd (eh, Kerry?) and also had time to visit a luxury spa for a divine massage.

There is no interesting photo evidence from all these times, on account of Kerry being shy and me taking the pictures, so I leave you with this delightful rendition of how I would look were I a character in South Park. The headset, in particular, is spot on.