Today is Day 50 of the South African lockdown. This week was really hard overall. But I think today was the best day I’ve had since the lockdown started.
Around the two-week mark, when the president announced the lockdown would be extended from 21 to 35 days, I was trying to decide if I should continue numbering my lockdown posts. My friend Kate said I should. “You’re gonna want to know what number you’re on when you start to hit the 50s,” she said. I took her advice, but I also laughed because at that point I truly couldn’t imagine “hitting the 50s”. And yet here we are.
I have published a blog post every day for 53 days. (One of those days I even posted twice.) I hit my 1000th all-time blog post on Day 16. I’m also nearing my 10-year blogiversary on 26 June, and two million all-time page views at some point in the next few months. I’m starting to wonder if we’ll still be locked down for those milestones, too.
One thing is for sure: This blog has permanently changed, just as all of our lives have permanently changed. My days of blogging about travel and walking tours and eating out are indefinitely on hold, along with a lot of other things, and I need to start thinking seriously about what comes next for 2Summers.
In the meantime I think today is a good day to pause – just for the weekend – to collect my thoughts for a bit. I promise I’ll be back on Monday. But I’ve realized writing a blog post every single day for an indefinite period of time is not good for my sanity. Maybe you’ll enjoy having a little break from me, too.
After several days of mostly grim blog posts, I’m happy I’ll be able to end my 53-day streak on a high note.
Book Circle Capital, the independent book shop in 27 Boxes, has reopened so I met my friend Nina there. (I had a R500-voucher to spend – thanks so much to reader Nancy McDaniel for purchasing it for me.)
Nina and I had a wonderful chat with Sewela Langeni, Book Circle Capital’s owner. Sewela is a superhero. In addition to running the bookshop, she has an additional full-time office job, a husband, and is raising four children. We talked about books and about life, and Sewela invited Nina and me to hold our next book club meeting in the shop.
Nina and I a chose a book for the book club meeting: Fred Khumalo’s The Longest March, as recommended by Sewela. Then we spent some time catching up in the 27 Boxes garden (socially distanced, of course) and bought bread from the Baker Brothers.
Then we walked back to our cars and Nina gave me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers, because she is awesome like that. I couldn’t wait to take them home. Putting the flowers into a vase and setting them up in my living room brought me so much joy.
Trixie loved the flowers too, and photographing her with them made me even happier. Trixie kept changing her position as the light also changed, giving me an infinite number of frames.
That was my day.
Another thing making me happy today is this song by Max Hurrell with an accompanying unofficial video by the Kiffness. I have watched it at least 30 times today. In fact I’m struggling to finish this blog post because I keep playing the video over and over and dancing in my chair, which makes it difficult to type.
Sorry non-South-Africans, the video won’t make sense to you and it’s too complicated to explain. But it’s only a minute-and-a-half (I wish it were longer) and you might enjoy the beat anyway.
Speaking of independent bookshops, Jacana Media is running a great promotion right now to help keep these small businesses afloat. Spend R100 at any one of several independent bookshops and you’ll receive a free book from Jacana (a South African book publisher). Details are here.
See you on Monday!
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
I’ve been dreadfully uninspired lately, struggling to think of anything I want to blog about despite having a long list of great ideas (many of which you, my readers, provided in September). I’m finding it hard to feel positive about life at the moment. But on Saturday Thorsten and I got the chance to visit Indwe Park, an indigenous garden and sculpture park in Braamfontein, and I knew I had my topic for today.
In 2020, I published a blog post with tips for Americans living in South Africa who wanted to vote in the U.S. presidential election. I thought about simply resharing that post this year. But then I realized: 1) I want to write a U.S. election post that will be fun and informative for everyone, not just other Americans; and 2) Believe it or not, the U.S. presidential election stakes are even higher in 2024 than they were in 2020. So I’m introducing you to some really cool Americans in Joburg – one who I’ve known forever and two who I just met – and tell you a bit about who they are, why they live here, and why they vote.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.