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

— @HaggardHawks

Stellenbosch – my first home in South Africa when I visited for research in 2004. I love going back, and today I was invited to have lunch with a friend from overseas. She usually visits every year with her husband and they stay for a few weeks. This time, she arrived first and her husband was supposed to join her in early December, but … omicron. She is now hoping to go back as soon as possible instead of at the end of the month. That’s roughly what the tourist experience is like in SA right now. No wonder that I keep getting one email after another from local restaurants trying to make up for all the overseas cancellations in their booking diaries. Well, my love and I decided to use the opportunity for Christmas and are treating ourselves to a divine dinner we would have otherwise not had the opportunity to enjoy.

After my lunch in Stellenbosch, I decided to do a bit of tourism myself – the local industry will need us to survive – and walked around the town, mostly only window shopping, but I did stop at Oom Samie’s and got myself a bottle of Muratie wine, a funny soap and a chipped antique champagne glass. It was a lovely visit. We had waterzooi for lunch – simply delicious. I need to try cooking it myself.

Even though it was the last thing I felt like, I did work this morning, but in the afternoon, when I came back home, all I wanted to do was nothing (despite the to-do list waiting). Nothing won, thank goodness. The to-do list can wait until tomorrow. I feel much better about the world and my place in it tonight.

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