I love living in Melville because it’s a walkable neighborhood. However, “walkable” is a relative term. I can walk up to 7th Street to meet a friend for dinner, but walking home alone at night is a risk. And although walking from one place to another within Melville is easy, traveling on foot from Melville to any of the nearby suburbs – Parkview, Emmerentia, Greenside etc. – is a mission.

This is my third summer in Joburg and I’ve yet to write a post about jacarandas. The jacarandas bloom around October or November, and the Jozi suburbs become shrouded in purple for a couple of weeks. We need to appreciate jacaranda season while we have it. Jacarandas are an invasive species in South Africa and the public is banned from planting new ones.

For the first time in a while, I’ve accumulated a backlog of blog material. I’ve had three blog-worthy experiences over the last couple of weeks and I haven’t had time to write about them yet. I’ll start with the most recent and work backward.

I’m not in the habit of using this blog to plug myself, at least not in an obvious way. I’m also not in the habit of using exclamation points in my post titles. But today I am making exceptions.