OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

I am usually good at following instructions, but when these are not clear and no one is around to assist you, things can become very frustrating, especially when you are trying to juggle a million other tasks at the same time. Needless to say, I really failed – again – at something, and by the time I discovered how to solve the problem, it was perhaps too late. Let’s see. The good thing is that when I was running around this morning like a headless chicken, I found another lucky coin which cheered me up. Rainbows, lucky coins, signs. In all this chaos, one has to hang on to something.

Did you see the petrol price increase!? It made me reconsider my attitude towards bicycles. There was a time in my life (between the ages of fourteen and nineteen), when I cycled and trained every day and participated in two road races almost every weekend (I was hopeless at it, but I finished every single race I entered). Then, I let go. And since coming to live in Cape Town, I haven’t cycled apart from rare occasions when I visit my family in Austria again. Looking at the petrol price, I wish cycling was as safe and effortless as it is in Austria. Luckily, I am still a walker and I often walk to my destinations. Topolino will have to stay at home in the garage more often from tomorrow onwards …

Loadshedding. No surprise there, but oh, what a nuisance! Navigating most days without loadshedding is a challenge. With loadshedding, I just want to sit in a corner and give up.

Following the election results, I cannot help but wonder how people denied the vote for decades do not actually exercise their right when it is finally possible, especially in a country where things are not exactly going in a great direction. I was heartened to see that many of my friends exhibited their inky thumbs throughout yesterday and today, but still … It’s like vaccinating – if not enough people do it, the results are good for some, but not the majority of people.

My last task for today was a lovely book delivery (reading copies for the festival). I got home by about five and was relieved that the only thing remaining to be done was cooking dinner. And now, I am just going to have an early night. I am a walking zombie.

585 days since the beginning of our lockdown.

Good night.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD