Lovable quirky Cape Town

Of course one of the fun bits about travelling is the different way places operate.  I was reminded of this the other day, when we were walking around Bo Kaap.  My attention was obviously on the colourful houses and my mind was trying to work out the best angle to capture one of the more colourful houses when I heard what I thought was an explosion ....

Apparently at noon each day, they fire a Canon.  And I'm not talking about a Canon camera either!  I'll keep this in mind.

When you're in a restaurant or cafe, you are just as likely to be told by the person showing you to your table that "your waitron will be with you shortly".  A 'waitron' seems to be the politically correct term for a waiter/waitress.  Or perhaps for those who are confused and can't tell if they do have a water or a waitress???

When you're driving, make sure you obey the robots.  We call them traffic lights.

The Parking Marshalls are not to be confused with the Car Guards.  The Parking Marshalls are official, and employed by the Council.  There are no parking meters.  When you find a marked car parking space, no sooner than you've parked and switched your engine off you'll find a Parking Marshall appear, who will charge you the amount based on your guess of how long you are going to be there for.  They'll even issue you with a receipt.  A Car Guard is unofficial, and also found in the burbs and smaller towns - he's just a regular good guy, who will promise to keep an eye on your car and of course you tip him generously when you return to your car.

Service Stations are Garages (not to be confused with places where you park your car) and there is NO self service.  The attendant - usually one per pump - will "fill 'er up", wash your windscreen, check the air pressure and anything else you ask of him.

You're in a shop making a purchase.  You hand your credit card to the sales person who inserts it into the electronic gadget, and you are asked "budget or straight?"  Of course, your first reaction is to give the poor sales person a very blank look.  Apparently here a budget credit card is one where you have stipulated how many months you have to pay off the balance - and if you haven't paid it off, your card is cancelled and presumably 'the authorities' come to reclaim the unpaid goods.  So, best to just answer "straight" - and keep a straight face too!

The cocktail menu at the Mount Nelson Hotel has a section entitled "Liquid Lunches" and one of the cocktails is called "Sweet Chilli Garlic" - garlic, ginger, chilli, lemon and honey muddled with brandy and this concoction can be all yours for just R55.  I say "all yours" because I can't honestly imagine anyone wanting to share it with you.  I wonder if they serve mints with it?

There is also a cocktail called "Abstinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder - as drunk on the Rive Gauche (Left Bank) in Paris."

I've mentioned the wonderful meals we've enjoyed this week.  Well, in the "Best 100 restaurants in the World" listing for the past few years, 3 of the top 100 restaurants are in Cape Town and 3 are in Franschhoek.  Amazing.

Some of your grocery shopping will be done at the Slaghuis and the Drankwinkel.  Of course, you may also need to visit a Krapwinkel store as well at times.  (You can have a guess at these - or ask me and I'll let you know).  Don't they sound great?

I know this isn't a Cape Town thing, but in Swaziland a crocodile is called a Flat Dog!

And Table Mountain:  one of Cape Town's icons.  Usually you can recognise it

but today it looked like this:

Cape Town's "motorway to nowhere" makes you realise that perhaps we aren't the only country in the world with traffic woes.  This motorway was built about 20 years ago.  OK, I exaggerate, most of the motorway was built then.  They built the bit you can see, and then at the other side of this major intersection, they have the 'other side' of the motorway built.  They just didn't finish it because a survey or something was done and council/government decided that they just didn't need it any more.  So no middle bit!

and in case you have trouble understanding that, here's another view .....

Gotta love the place!!!