Thus begins 2007...!

Sjoe! It's been quite the start to the new year.

Yesterday I took one of my visitors out to Cape Point, completely forgetting the local penchant for being beachside on NYear's day. Almost the entire population was there...! About 20km into our supposedly 2-hour-max 60km trip, we hit the traffic jam. What was a one-lane beachside road became 3 lanes (including those bogged down in the dunes) as taxis and trucks and cars and everythingunderthesun loaded with people attempted to get to the beach. And then it turned into the biggest new year day party as the taxis cranked up the tunes, the walkers and drivers got dancing, and everyone wished everyone else "HeppieHeppieeee!!!!" What would have made some swear and sweat amused us no end - we took photos, we waved, we Heppie-Heppied back.. and three hours later crawled through the intersection 5km away. From there it was a quicker trip (though still crowded) past Fishhoek and Simon's Town, and on to Cape Point. At which point we hit another hour or two's traffic... crawling up the mountain (we counted 150 cars around us in the queue, and more out of sight), paying an exorbitant amount for the privalege of entering, and then speeding off toward the edge of the world.

We did spent about 2 1/2 hours wandering Cape Point, doing the touristy photos, taking the Funicular up the hill and walking down, then making our way across to the most south-western point on the continent. We saw dassies, ostriches on the beach, zebras in the fynbos. And then headed back.

And got caught in another traffic jam. By which time my clutch-foot was starting to give in (I drive barefoot, and the ridges on the pedal had impressed themselves pretty firmly on my sole). The sunburn on my leg from the one missed spot when it came to sunscreen was almost glowing in the dark - and talking of dark, well, the sun was going down. We decided to stop off in Fishhoek for supper and wait out traffic, on a quest for "slap chips" (thick fries). We found a Spur!

And got the world's most psycho waiter!!! When he came to take our order he first stood there saying "I can't take this, I'm going to walk out - don't take it personally" and then took a couple of deep breaths, tried not to melt down completely, put on a waiter face and handed in our wish-list at the kitchen. We then waited for about 45 minutes - while all the others who had arrived after us got their food (we had only ordered chips!). Eventually he came back, said our food was free 'cos we'd waited so long - and then walked away again! We could see our chips sitting on the heated counter, waiting for delivery. Eventually he got them to us - only to not have delivered any eating utensils. Well we were hungry - we dug in with our hands, and were eventually given forks etc by the manager. We left at around the same time as the weird biker chick - about 60, long grey hair, a bit unsteady on her feet, somewhat goth clothes, a strange close-fitting hat plastered to her head with bobby-pins, clips and badges.... Got the feeling we'd landed in an alternate reality.

Back on the road, we were crusing along nicely - until just around the corner, another crawl while all the beachgoers and their taxis cut in and sped by. But we finally made it out of there, travelling behind a guy who had installed a DVD screen above the driver's seat and was watching a movie..! Final event? Hit an already-dead large white beast (calf or goat I guess) at speed, ramped it and fortunately didn't get any car damage. I already have a front light smashed thanks to a fast pigeon last week - didn't need to be picking dead animal out of the engine or anything like that.

We got home about 10:30, and it was a short night - I had to be at work first thing this morning.

So here I am back. And found a parcel containing a half-kilo of the finest dark chocolate waiting for me, a present sent from afar for my birthday! (Along with a few other really cool goodies which will keep me grinning) I reckon any year that starts with that much chocolate is going to be a VERY good one.

I've spent all of today closing down an old computer and installing software on an upgrade for my office. I'm writing this peering at an LG Flatron screen - with such a high resolution that I may need a magnifying glass to read most things. The old computer will be my new home one, so a few more geek fiddlings to do later today. And I'm still trying to gain access to the backup server where all my work is stored so I can import it!!!

All in all, 2007 has already been a heck of a year. Wonder what will happen next..!?