Number four- day one (again)

I forgot to mention, while I gatwick airport departure lounge I went looking for a book to read (I know, what else would I do with it?), anyway browsing the shelves of WHSmith I picked up two random books. The first told me that 'I am independent because I am single and I am single because I am independent' apparently if this is to change I have to break my cycle! That's all very well but how the hell am I going to get to work every day when I get back, walk? I don't bloody think so! The second book told me (well anyone really) 'if you hold on to your career your career will hold on to you"!- trop tard, preaching to the converted- I bought neither of them.

Soooo the plane touched down in a rainy Namibia- yep the first rain for 8 months happened a month before it was due and the morning I got there. The stop over was 10 hours and unlike my fellow passengers I elected not to spend it at the modern but small and quiet (dead) airport (go figure). As the mini bus ate up the 40 k journey in to the capital city Windhoek, the clouds cleared, the sun came out and the wet roads began to steam which gave the place the feel of a concrete sauna- with a few palm trees dotted about. Locals were on the whole friendly and I spent a few hours drinking coffee and people watching. The most interesting subjects being countless Dutch Harry and Hilda couples (from the sit-com Ever Decreasing Circles- they wear matching clothes and take delight in not doing things but doing things together, in their world everything is wonderful, not so bad maybe), I even saw the real Goldmember, evil Dutchman from the Austin Powers movie.
Food was cheap so after lunch I sat in a local park to write some postcards- but nodded off laying on the grass. I woke with a start hearing a scraping noise. A groundskeeper had raked up leaves from all around me and I got up to find leaves on the grass where I lay, shaped like me!
Eventually I got back to the airport (having done a deal with a taxi driver when I arrived in the city) and boarded to Cape Town. It was a special flight because the moon was full on the port side (so big and bright it was hard to look at), the sun setting red and orange on the starboard side and a thunderstorm flashing in clouds around us as they rolled across the desert below- you don't see that everyday.
I got to the backpackers hostel late on Monday, Cape Town was wet and cloudy. After a quick shower I headed out for a beer- I deserved it. On sitting at a table I was soon approached my a huge, fat but friendly German guy who was happy to converse in English while I did in German. It soon became apparent that his interest in me was not entirely lingual (but possibly.......fill in the gap yourself). After an invitation to 'spend some time with him' I took my leave and went to my comfortable if musty bed.
First morning, with an iron will to take it easy, find my way around (alone), not to over plan- all those things you told me to do- I did. I covered some ground on foot but got the measure of the city and having missed lunch treated myself to a glass of wine and the biggest seafood platter you ever saw (American readers disregard- you proabbly saw bigger) all for a tenner. After a wander back to the hostel I joined some fellows in the lounge. As they were engrossed in a programme about Aids orphans and a sex predator killing 7 year olds girls in the townships I couldn't even start a conversation so I went out for a beer, carefully scanning the clientele for my Teutonic friend before committing to a purchase.
Tired I went back to the hostel to find a different crowd up for a chat before bed. My vague plan is to visit Robben Island- Prison to Nelson Mandela by boat this afternoon. Interestingly, in the tourist area is a shop selling 'presidential shirts' in the outrageously colourful Nelson styleee. Tomorrow- weather forcast still cloudy, try to get to the wine region. Friday, forcast clear, hire a motorbike and ride to Cape Point, the end of the Cape Of Good Hope and Southerly tip of the continent. It's inhabited by friendly jackass penguins and highly recommended. Sat- climb Table Mountain. Sun- still thinking. Mon, head off to Hermanus to see Whales breeding (I'm not so interested in the fact they are breeding but that's what they come here to do and it's all they do when they get here and it's happening now!)

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Chris