Written 20 May 2012

Aaah……this is nice.

Everytime I think I’m not one anymore, I realize I still am! Haha! What am I talking about? A hopeless romantic! I’m watching a romcom, an old movie I’ve seen before, Dancing at the Harvest Moon. As cheesy as it is, it’s exactly what I want to watch right now. It starts with a woman, an English Literature teacher, discovering that her husband of many years is having an affair. She dumps him and tries to go on with her life, but finds herself just going through the motions. A few months later, she takes a sabbatical and goes to a lakeside village where she spent some time as a teenager, a place where she fell in love for the first time. And there, in that quaint, picturesque little piece of heaven, she finds a project that’s close to her heart, one which energises and rejuvenates her. Oh, and of course she falls in love.

I started watching it, then had an ad-break shower, and now I’m in bed, watching from under the covers. Hah! Brought the tv into my bedroom as a treat. Kids away, have to pamper myself any way I can, to fill the void.

I went to a family gathering today, in celebration of my aunt’s 84th birthday. Good to spend time with my cousins again. Come to think of it, I’ve seen a lot of them in recent months. Nice. Connects me to my childhood. Came home to where my kids had been studying for exams, and found the house reeking of fire – my daughter had left microwave popcorn in for ten minutes instead of two. Fortunately, she hadn’t burnt the house down; it was just the packaging that had burnt. I sincerely hope this smell doesn’t linger for too long.

On the topic of fire: iBuyambo, a really interesting venue I’ve sung at a couple of three times, burnt down in the early hours of this morning. Damn! I don’t know the details, but I do know that no-one was killed and no-one was hurt. It seems the place is beyond repair; it must’ve been a combination of factors that caused it to burn so completely. Old building, etc. What a pity – it was becoming a performance and exhibition space that Capetonians were starting to know about and gravitate towards, for different styles of music on different nights and other things, as well: book launches, birthday parties, etc.

About a week or so before the fire, I went to a meeting there, and met two women, both musicians. The meeting was one to which a number of women musicians (mainly vocalists) had been invited. Despite the poor turnout, we went ahead anyway, and I’m glad I did. Learnt a lot and started a friendship I believe will grow. I choose to focus on the fact that it was fortuitous that we met when we did and not on the scary thought that, had the fire happened that night, ……!

I’m very sad for the owner of the place and his manager, because they put hours and hours into the place and it was really starting to take shape nicely, both as a physical space and a concept that was catching on. I hope that it won’t be too long before it starts up again in new premises. So much momentum had been built up.

‘Kiss today goodbye, the sweetness and the sorrow”