brass bell in kalk bay

i took my folks on a day trip today.

we visited muzinberg, kalk bay, fishhoek, st james, and boulders beach.

one of the most chilled places in the cape must be kalk bay.

it has wonderful restaurants, antique shops, and the pier, fresh fish, and the seals (are they seals?) in the kalk bay can keep you entertained for many a hour.

we had lunch at the brass bell restaurant.

the brass bell has been an institute in kalk bay for many a year, and i expected a musician to be playing in the short walk under the train line to get to the restaurant. i wasn’t disappointed – an acoustic guitarist was strumming when we strolled past.

we were lucky to get a great table at brass bell, as someone cancelled as we inquired, and so we had the perfect spot to enjoy the yellowtail.

the picture above was taken from the brass bell.

we also visited the olympia cafe, which has been mentioned in every foodie and eat out guide in recent years.

i’m constantly surprised when i visit, as i’m never blown away by the food, and the service is usually passable at best.

but you can’t go to kalk bay without visiting olympia cafe. today it was relatively quiet when we visited.

i like the ecentric quirky nature of olympia cafe, but at the same time, i just don’t get why it’s SO popular.

anyway, burnt from a good day out in the sun, we quickly visited boulders beach, and although we didn’t go in as it was already late, we managed to spot the penguins sunning on the rock.

cape town summer

the weather has been really hot in cape town the last few days, but i haven’t had much time to enjoy it. i’ve been working hard on our 2nd clothing shop which opened in sea point a few weeks ago. to see what is happening on that front, visit eSquared Fashion.

i also decided it’s time to get a little fitter, and so have been hitting the gym every day doing tons of cardio.

and i decided to cycle around as much as possible (and although it’s mainly to get more fit, i’m also feeling good about doing my little bit to conserve energy and help the anti global warming campaign (as an aside, one of my good friends, gareth, is putting up a site on global warming. i’ve taken a sneak preview at it, and he’s put a lot of effort into the research – i’ll mention it when it goes live).

so back to the cycling – i bought this mountain bike about 2 years ago, thinking i would go on mountain bike trails every week or 2. and in the last 2 years, i’ve cycled ONCE!!!
that’s right – from my place to a braai at a beach house nearly 2 years ago.

anyway, today was my 2nd cycle in 2 days!

joburg tyres and crime

i spent the weekend in joburg, and was finished yesterday afternoon.

joburg looks green and bright at the moment with the flowers and trees enjoying the summer. but the roads are shocking – they’re getting to a state where you actually have to watch carefully to avoid the potholes. and i heard a story that a new fund has been set up that you can claim funds for if your tyres get damaged due to the state of the roads – eg: you hit a pothole and damage the tyre. i can see that one being taken advantage of in a big way.

also, the security is everywhere, but as everyone feels that crime in the last 6 months has been on a sharp increase, it doesn’t look like it’s working having a security guard on every corner. in glenhazel, they have just introduced a new security initiative, the GAP – the glenhazel active patrol – when walking around glenhazel, you see them all the time – driving around in 4×4’s, and on street corners visibly holding massive “shotgun’s” (i’m not sure what they were, but they look like they came straight out of a wild west movie). anyway, lets hope that the glenhazel active patrol are successful in preventing crime.

the wedding went on till the early hours of monday morning, and after flying back to cape town midday yesterday, i was finished.