Traffic like Christmas...

Last week I had to meet a friend in town. I made sure to arrive early as she is so punctual you could set your watch by her. Five minutes before our scheduled meeting I got a text - "running late...traffic like xmas..." 

I always feel that we should be approaching the end of the year slowly, winding down and taking stock. Instead we usually hurtle towards the end, trying to fit in all the things we meant to do earlier in the year. And then visitors start appearing and the entertaining begins and so you are either feeling guilty about having fun when you should be finishing something off, or frustrated about wanting to be having fun while you rush around completing tasks. 

It doesn't help that businesses start closing their books at the end of November for any new orders and schools close in the first week of December. Yoga classes ended more than a week ago. At least Run/Walk for Life is carrying on until the 21st ... before all the eating begins!

I am quite excited that we are going to be here for the holidays. I plan to be a tourist in my own town and have been collecting snippets from the newspapers of what's hot (or cool!). 

So far I am definitely checking out Bree Street for its restaurants and local designs. There is a coffee shop on Bree called  Escape Caffe which is owned by a Nobel Prize winner, which deserves a visit. Woodstock seems to be getting trendier and more arty by the week.

An old favourite which I share with my daughter is to trawl Kalk Bay. A really great day out is to drive to Muizenberg, have breakfast at Knead and then walk all along the boardwalk to Kalk Bay, stopping for coffee and shopping. There's a great independent bookshop, Kalk Bay Books, worth a visit.  

But today, I am going to enjoy the jazz as played by the Delft Big Band at the Helderberg Nature Reserve. Will keep you posted!

A Photographic Morning

I have had a good week, photographically speaking. This week our 10-week photography course came to an end with the last lesson a session in Kalk Bay harbour. I was looking forward to having a guided photo shoot - a little bit of help with setting up and experimenting with shots in the real situation would be very helpful. Of course, after all these glorious sunny days we have been having, Tuesday morning dawned heavy with mist. The 30-minute drive was punctuated with us peering nervously at the sky, willing the mist to lift.

A grey Tuesday morning in Kalk Bay harbour

On our arrival, our lecturer and two classmates were stomping around to get to warm, but raring to go. We  were disappointed with the weather, but Max felt that the show must go on! (or something like that). He said that these were the moments that the best photos were taken, when others were put off by the weather. We listened to the voice of experience... 

local school outing

There was a wealth of subject matter - boats, sea, people, fish and, of course the resident seals.

lobster boat

I was surprised at the number of people out on a weekday morning. There were three elderly women out for a stroll who we later spotted at Kalky's - a popular institution which serves generous helpings of perfectly-battered hake and chips. There were fishermen out to catch "the big one" and a group of children on a school outing. As well as some people having quiet moments and I picked up a few foreign accents, too.

lobster coming in - ready for inspection

All in all, quite a productive morning - a fitting end to a very informative course. Now it is time to start practising! And the sun made an appearance as we were leaving!

Cape Town School of Photography