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

— @HaggardHawks

Long story why, but I was driving around Long Street and Bree Street late last night. What I saw happening in the bars and restaurants around there made me despair. When I think what trouble we take in order to gather in small numbers and still keep safe – mask, distance, ventilation, reason – to keep going in these precarious times, on a social and economic level … and then all these hundreds of people just partying with abandon, not a care in the world, nor a thought for the consequences of their actions. Deep sigh.

I haven’t been taking good care of myself lately, but I intend to work harder at it for the rest of the month, especially now when one’s immune system will need all the help it can get (over 16 000 new cases today …). So, I treated myself to one of my favourite things in the world this morning: a green juice. This one was from Organic Zone, but there are many place that make really nice ones.

I took my love’s cat to the vet today and had to do quite a lot of driving around town. The heavy traffic in Cape Town is back, big time. Luckily, one of my routes went past The Hoghouse and I picked up some goodies there for the weekend and beyond. In the late afternoon, I could no longer focus on anything productive or creative, so I opened a Hoghouse beer and made a fire for a dinner braai – the perfect way to end a busy week.

Mozart was first to join me next to the fire, but eventually all three Cats came and then my love arrived after work, and the five of us had a lovely, simple dinner on the stoep.

Salieri’s evening ritual: wallowing in the dust.

Sir Antony Sher passed away. I did not know that he was suffering from cancer, so the news came unexpectedly. I still remember reading his beautiful personal essay in Stephen Watson’s Cape Town: A City Imagined, and I was lucky enough to see him perform on our local stages. A great loss to his loved ones, and to the world.

Earlier today, I asked someone I work with how he was doing. ‘Horrible,’ he said with that panicked, end-of-the-year look in his eyes. ‘I can’t even explain. It’s just horrible. Horrible.’ I said that there was no need to explain and I wished him well. I hope he has something nice planned for the weekend. So many of us are barely holding on …

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

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

— NICD