Category Archives: Friends

The friendly gecko

Friends

A few days ago, a gecko arrived. I came into my room one morning – I had just made a cup of tea – and there he was, clinging casually to the ceiling. As I went to sit down, he scuttled across the ceiling and stopped, just above my head. I carefully set down my tea. Above me, the gecko twisted its head back and forth, looking at me. We sat for a while, staring at each other. I don’t really mind geckos but I had visions of him falling into my hot (and yummy) camomile tea.

As I watched, the gecko curled himself around and bit his tail, curled into a perfect ‘O’, with little gecko hands. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots. As soon as the flash burst forth, he uncurled and started moving stealthily away. He clearly wasn’t a fan of bright light.

He didn’t move far, though. During the rest of the day, he wandered backwards and forwards and around the edge of the room, where the ceiling met the wall, keeping me company. He was back the next day, before disappearing when the colder weather arrived.

I posted the pics on facebook and enjoyed the reactions. Responses from New Zealand, London, Canada, the UK, South Africa, New York. Some of these people know each other but most are utterly unconnected. Unique individuals scattered around the globe sharing the joy of something as simple as a friendly gecko.

Old friends

Friends

It’s a quiet Friday morning. I’m sitting in a friend’s lounge in Grahamstown. There are clouds in the sky. Perhaps there will be some much-needed rain later. The flowers bob in the breeze outside. I can hear birds singing. It’s gentle. Grahamstown can be so gentle. This is not the Grahamstown of my student years. Nor is it the buzzing, almost-overwhelming ArtsFest town. Visiting here in the past couple of months, I’ve become more and more comfortable with that. I don’t need this to be a place of nostalgia. At least for the moment, this is somewhere I come to visit friends.

I spent last night on a friend’s couch. Nothing dramatic about that. And yet, when you’ve been so far away, there is. Not that I didn’t meet people and have amazing times in Korea, but it’s different with old friends. There was a discussion about it in the crazy week we’ve just returned from – a week of working together. It is always more fun to work with someone you know. It hasn’t always been plain sailing. There have been times we have disagreed. There have been times when we were barely speaking. There have been times of tension and times of fear and times of joy. This particular friend is one of the  reason I managed to get on that plane to leave the country and one of the people with whom I shared that amazing trip to Mozambique.

I’ve never been very good at being completely comfortable in someone else’s space. I’m a bit of a loner and I like my own time and place. I am comfortable here, now. Grahamstown now is people and place just as comfortable as an old, worn jersey you’ve had for years and years.  People I can know through changes and growth and not lose. There is something Simon-and-Garfunkel-esque-ly special about that kind of old friend,

“Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park-bench quietly?

How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friend, memory brushes the same years, silently sharing the same fears”

Simon and Garfunkel, “Old Friends”

Cape Town fake day

Adventures, Cape Town, Friends, trains and train stations, ,

On Tuesday I got up early and headed to the station. I had planned to take the Premium Express train – a “business-class” train that runs between Strand and Cape Town each week-day, complete with complimentary coffee, tea, newspapers and SAPS-on-board. Sadly, it appears to be impossible to buy a single-journey/one-day ticket for this train.

So I found myself buying a perfectly ordinary Metro-plus return ticket on a perfectly ordinary (beautiful) Tuesday morning. I found a comfortable bench on the platform and waited. Other passengers drifted in and found their own benches. Some read books. Some stared into the distance. A community-safety volunteer in reflective vest wandered along the platform. A cleaning-lady was sweeping. The place was close to spotlessly clean already. She picked up a stray sweet paper. A delivery-man arrived with some pies and they chatted about her recent trip to the Transkei. It was so peaceful.

The train arrived and I climbed (well, stepped) aboard. I had a whole carriage to myself for a while, but then one or two others joined me. The trip was quiet and beautiful. I sat at the window and looked out at a beautiful world. Mountains rose in the distance. A dam sparkled in the morning sun. Arum lilies grew beside of the railway line, white on green.

We passed settlements – suburbs? townships? – where houses were being built and extensions done and walls painted. Everywhere building, growing, developing. But pretty rather than commercial. Attractive. Each house with a garden, some just lawn, some with beautiful flowers. Hibiscus flowered next to jasmine. It was so good to see built-up areas with space and light and gardens.

As we came into Cape Town, the mountain rose huge and magnificent above the city bowl. My sister has this concept of ‘fake days’ – days that are so beautiful if they were pictures they’d be rejected because they’d be unrealistic. This was a ‘fake day’ in Cape Town. Seriously, no one city should be allowed to be that pretty. It was exquisite.

I met a friend at the station. They’ve just redone Cape Town station. It’s huge and open with shiny tiles and brand new, easy-to-read signage. It looks good. Most South Africans – or at least those born into or who have now reached the ‘class’ where they can mortgage their lives to buy a car – never use public transport. It makes me a little sad because they miss out on so much. When you’re in a car, even if you’re not driving, you miss out simply because roads tend to have more houses beside them than railway tracks. I had a moment of wondering what would get South Africans back onto public transport. The whole experience from beginning to end was great for me.

Friend and I wandered off into Cape Town. We started at a super sandwich place and then took a wonderful, gentle stroll. We went down to the Artscape to look at the Zebras. The Zebras are part of an exhibition around the theme “not all is black and white”. They’re fascinating and add yet another reason to visit Cape Town city centre.

Later, after various stops around the city, we made our way to Company Gardens. The day was still ridiculously beautiful. The sun streamed into the lush, green gardens as we wandered along the shady paths and squirrels scuttled up trees and flocks of pigeons took off in a flutter of wings. Some seagulls have moved into the gardens and as we watched, muscled their way in on the crumbs people were throwing to the pigeons. I felt a little sorry for the pigeons. The seagulls, in turn, were displaced by a set of amorous Egyptian geese. I was lovely to sit in these quiet, beautiful gardens with the lunchtime crowds settled on the grass enjoying the beautiful weather.

Later, after that friend headed off back to work, I caught a cab to the Waterfront. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the Waterfront. Ultimately, a mall is a mall but after a long stint in a country that doesn’t really have malls in the sense that we do, it’s pleasant and relaxing and just a little luxurious to wander around an upmarket mall full of brand-name stores, the gorgeously rich scents of chocolate and coffee, the glimmer of artificial light off perfectly polished tiles and freshly painted signs and walls. If feels safe, secure and familiar. I had coffee with a friend at a little chocolatier and coffee shop that served the most delicious chocolate eclairs. It was a delightful place. The whole mall was fairly empty on a random Tuesday afternoon. Here I think it was just us and perhaps one other table. We drank coffee with sugar lumps. Luxury comes in many forms; good coffee, delicious sweets and delightful conversation is one of my favourites.

Back at the station, I found my platform, thanks to the friendly and efficient info desk, and hopped onto my train. I travelled through the growing dusk towards Strand Station. There were far more people on the train this time – my carriage was full. It was still beautiful. I got back before dark and headed home to change before going off to have dinner with two more friends.

A beautiful day of sunshine in stupidly pretty city and lots of wonderful time with friends.