883,008,000 seconds old, give or take

Thursday evening we went off to the suburb of Wynberg to help volunteer at the Community Chest Carnival in Maynardville. The carnival, in its 27-ish year of operation, is a big elaborate carnival with all sorts of food and game booths staffed by various charity organizations. We were working at the Dutch licorice aka 'drops' stand with my host club, the Rotary Waterfront. I never knew there were so many different kinds of licorice! Two kinds of sweet, one with a touch of peppermint and the other with a bit of cinnamon. Then there's the regular mild and soft licorice. And the salty fishes, the hard coins/cats/farm equipment, the super salty 'double zolter', and the even saltier licorice balls. Unfortunately, I had signed Becky up to help too without checking with her, because it turns out she hates licorice. But she was a good sport about it, especially when people asked her about which was her favorite.

I was really grumpy on Friday. Last weekend, I lost my beloved 8-year old Oakleys. I finally worked up the courage to go ahead and just purchase a replacement (since I have a number of perfectly fine replacement lenses). Ouch. The retail on those things is ridiculous, and that's compounded by the fact that I know its a complete extravagance when surrounded by the economic inequity and poverty of South Africa. Oh well, just one more example of the Cape Town bubble.

On Saturday, after missing the UCT Cycling Team ride, I drove down to Westlake and set off around the cape on my bike for a couple of hours. [BABOON PICTURE] However, in the last few kms before I got home, I heard a soft *snap* sound and suddenly felt my saddle sliding backwards. I thought the seat post bolt might have worked its way loose, but a quick visual and (stupid) tactile exam revealed that I had snapped my lovely Campy Record carbon fiber seatpost. I'm not too sure what happened, as I didn't hit a large pothole and I'd been riding that bike for several weeks now here in South Africa. So I gingerly rode back to Cyclelab and eventually bought a Ritchey WCS seatpost replacement. More unexpected expenses.

For dinner, Becky and I invited some of the other Cape Town Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars over. Becky put together a wonderful swiss chard and mushroom lasagna finished off with a birthday carrot cake. Yum!

Sunday was a relaxed day, mostly spent lounging around the flat. Then it was off to Kirstenbosch to hear The Glenn Miller SA Orchestra aka The Johnny Cooper Band. Two classmates joined us for the sunset concert in the botanical gardens, although we (as in Becky) got some nasty looks from the people in front of us because we (as in Becky) kept talking for most of the concert (hint, hint). Okay, okay, I got some looks too. As an aside, this Sunset Series is a real bargain (R25 per student) and a great way to watch the sun set on Devil's Peak and look out across the Cape Flats.

Afterwards, Puna (a very funny and charming doctor/classmate of ours from Botswana) joined us for dinner at the King's Wood Chinese Restaurant in Rondebosch. See review below.

So all in all, a very relaxed but enjoyable (and expensive) birthday weekend!