Coffee Bay, Comet McNaught and the weekend in Kasouga

I resumed work on January 8th, 2007, the date on which the Legal Resources Centre office in Grahamstown was open for business again. Fresh from the holidays and in good refreshed spirits, it was wonderful to see all my colleagues again and swap festive stories about adventures, food and embarrassments. The sound of office phones ringing, the main door opening and closing and Sarah's voice calling out for someone in the office was like music to my ears.

Geza left the following day to return to Kingston to complete his Bachelor of Education, and I had to get used to having the apartment entirely to myself. There was no-one to blab to about this, that and the other, so I took to sewing, listening to Maria Callas (thanks, Grant & Sharon!) and doing laundry (I had become quite lazy with that after mother left).

COFFEE BAY

I actually headed back out to Coffee Bay with Ms. Ruth Williams, my esteemed colleague, and spent a long weekend at the Coffee Shack. I managed to avoid being "Buffalo-ed" again [read previous post about Coffee Bay to understand what this is] and spent a lot of time on the beach, swimming, playing chess with Charl, playing a card game with many people called "shithead" (great fun!) and just relaxing.

Every afternoon around 17:30, the Coffee Shack took people who were keen to watch the sunset to a good spot with the Coffee Shack lorry [immediately below]. Even though it was a bit overcast, the view was fantastic and everyone sat around chatting about whatever they saw fit to chat about, until it was time to head back to Coffee Shack for supper.

Here are the two fish purchased by some Coffeeshackers from fishermen on the beach. They cooked it up right there, and I was invited to sample these fish, and also some prawns that they had bought earlier on....

COMET McNAUGHT

After arriving back from Coffee Bay to Grahamstown, I was informed by a brief acquaintance via a text message that there was a comet in the sky and that I must look for it around 8 o'clock in the evening. When I received this text message, I was at one of the main bars in town having some greasy food and beer with a good friend and didn't manage to spot the comet. It was visible the entire week, and towards the end of the week, nearly everyone in Grahamstown had seen this damn comet but me! So, on the last day it was to be visible to the naked eye, I ventured up a mountain with a friend and finally saw comet McNaught! I didn't take a picture of it since I had forgotten my dear camera at home, however; I promise you, my readers, that this is what it looked like to me:
This is another picture of the comet (my thanks go out to Cathy, my partner-in-crime at the LRC, for providing me with this picture). It's taken in Cape Town with a mountain which Cathy and I both suspect is the legendary Table Mountain. Please note that when I saw the comet, it looked exactly like the picture above.

KASOUGA

The following weekend, Sarah (my boss at the LRC) suggested that Ruth and I go to her summer cottage in Kasouga. Kasouga is a small holiday location with a community of cottages, located about 60 km from Grahamstown. We gladly accepted, and invited Charl and Stephany. As the old saying goes: "the more the merrier"!

After work on Friday, the four of us departed for Kasouga. We arrived late, but Ruth and Stephany whipped up some tortillas and various toppings for it such as refried beans, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and what have you. Delish! The following day we went for a walk on the beach. Beaches in South Africa are beautiful. There is a loneliness to them and the contrast of the sand and the dunes is gorgeous [see below].

At this same beach, I came across a large grasshopper [see left for a much smaller version of this mad grasshopper] - about the length of my extended hand - and decided that I would take a picture. Everyone halted and I crouched down to get a good close-up of this insect. All of a sudden, it was airborne and fluttering angrily my way. I screamed like a blonde teenager watching a horror movie, and began scrambling up the sand dune. Given the fact that I was laughing at the same time as feeling terror, it made it more difficult for me to clamber up the dune. When I thought I was safe, my three friends were howling with laughter, and told me that the grasshopper had actually followed me while I was scurrying away for dear life, unbeknownst to me! I think I would have suffered a heart attack had I known! Needless to say, I never got my picture...

That afternoon, after my near-death experience with the gigantic angry grasshopper, we played chess and relaxed. We headed back out to the beach with some snacks and beers to watch the sunset [see below].
That evening, Charl and I were responsible for the braai. We went on a mission for firewood, and found plenty. What a feast. Ruth, a vegetarian, held her poise quite well :)