Roxilla

In November it will be five months since I packed up my Bo Kaap flat and moved to the heart of Suburbia. Hard to believe how quickly the time has passed, even if sometimes it feels like I have been here forever. Oddly enough, I don’t really miss the city much at all. My chemist, yes. My doctor, hell yes. Long Street, sometimes. Living on Second Avenue in Cottage Central (which is what I call my hood) is awesome. I can walk to my favourite watering hole, and even if the local cafe is on the dodgy side, it is ridiculously close and there are no major roads to cross just to get milk. There are so many trees here too – big, ancient gum trees that make me feel oddly happy when they rustle in the breeze.

So what has been happening the past few months? Here are a few highlights of my new-found suburban bliss.

Kittens…

I have a new kitten. Her name is Koshka, and she is an adorable bundle of fluff and energy. She is also a little monster who spends her waking moments biting my face, attacking any part of me she can get her claws and teeth into, and playing very wild games. She came from my sister’s farm in Piketberg and was TINY when I got her. Now she is a fat little thing, and flippin’ tough too. She tried to kill the vet today when she went for her vaccinations – having her temp checked took a few attempts, and led to the vet being ripped up nicely. Needless to say, the shots took a couple of attempts too, with two people holding her down. I was torn between crying and hysterical laughter at the noises coming from her, not to mention the death stare she gave the vet.

Gardens…

Not sure how it has happened, considering that I have never been able to keep a cactus alive, let along a whole garden, but I am suddenly interested in plants. Like, real plants, not fake plants (that I actually have in my living room – true story). It’s a recent development, and possibly motivated by the ‘keeping up with the Jones” type garden competition in this area. Last week I saw the most amahzing vertical garden, which had lilies and other stuff. Now I have to have one that is even better. Whether or not I will actually pull this off remains to be seen.

Gadgets…

After a good few years of being happily TV free, I ended up with a 42″ LCD. It plays stuff from my external HD, and I can tell you now that there are few things better than watching horrors on a bigass screen. Naturally, I watch a lot of junk too. Cop shows on Sunday through to Tuesday? I am fine with that. Hannah Montana and Witches of Waverly Palace on Saturday mornings? Awesome. I have even gotten to watch a few B-grade gems too. I would say it is my favourite gadget right now, but that is not entirely true.

Until I moved here, I had to do things the hard way. Dishes had to be manually scrubbed, and clothes had to dry on an actual wash line. While my lovely domestic still refuses to use the tumble drier, she has at least come round to the dishwasher. Once I showed her how nice and sparkly the glasses looked, she was suitably impressed.

I may be so tired that I am sleep working through the rest of this insane year, and I may be working my ass off as usual. But just being here, in my lovely home, with a kitten fast asleep beside me as I work… it all seems totally worth the stress. This is where my heart is, and lately my heart has been very happy indeed.