Lipstick on a Bulldog
I am so well and truly bonded to my new Croc slops that I have been considering sticking sequins on them to make them look a bit more eveningish. I am going to a birthday party tonight (friend Kevin turns 60) and the thought of putting my tender little feet into proper shoes is causing anxiety. The Croc slops makes you believe you are walking on marshmallows. They are so, so comfortable. Could someone out there invent something for all shoes that makes you feel like you are walking in Crocs…. And just a bit more glam please.
The Long Walk to Beit Bridge
On the subject of walking….. our friend Ray Chaplin has just completed a walk from Cape Town to Beit Bridge. And you may very well ask “Why?” (He tells me that just about everyone asks him that.) Why did he do it? Well, why not….. Ray is one of those people who just does extreme physical things. This is the sort of thing that keeps Ray alive and well. He just has to do it. He has also pulled a little Zozo hut thing from Cape Town to Johannesburg. This Sunday, after a week in Johannesburg, Ray sets off for Cape Town on a bicycle.
Ray is a big strong lad so I am don’t even ask about his fitness or ability to complete such a feat – it is a given for Ray and I never for a moment doubted that he could do this walk. I must confess to wondering about his state of mind though: did he get scared, did he get depressed, despondent, did he think of packing it in? Firstly Ray says (to quote Alex Harris) that once you reach the halfway mark there’s no point in turning back – you might just as well carry on. He doesn’t get scared but does get anxious sometimes – like meeting groups of aggressive locals on the road, cars that try to run him off the road – going so far as to chase him into the bush, the first few minutes camping out the bush with absolutely nothing around you. But, on the whole, he says it is a wonderful experience and he meets some very friendly people along the way. By the way, he pulls/pushes a little cart that holds all his goodies – tent, lap top, food etc. Does he get despondent? No – he says though, that he has some wild mood swings. He says he feels so damn happy at times he wants to cry and then sometimes he feels so damn down that he does cry – he walks along with tears running down his face. But, he says, he just lets these feelings run their course – he expects them and knows they will go after a while so he doesn’t get in a great state over them. His website is: http://www.raychaplin.com/
The walk from Cape Town to Beit Bridge took about 70 days.
Bracken’s Birthday
15 years ago we went to the SPCA to get a kitten. Bracken literally grabbed us by climbing up the chicken wire and sticking her skinny little arm out into the passage way at our shoulder height, clawing at us and yelling her scraggy little head off. We took her home only to discover she was riddled with ringworm, wasn’t house trained and she immediately put our other cat in his place. She learnt, within days, that cats went outside for the toilet, to eat whatever was put in front of her, to suffer being bathed 3 times a week for about 2 months (the ringworm) and, how to rule the roost.
It her birthday on the 1st April – well at least that is the date we guessed she was born on. She can be a real clown at times. And wow, she has been a treasure, a much loved, very beautiful and charming cat. Happy Birthday Brack.
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