the other side

friday 14th:

just after 2am, giving up on ganache after hours of struggle then discovering that something i'd done had sorted out ganache-cli

the doors earworms, starting the day later than planned (mr smear continuing to be uncharacteristically uncooperative after waking up at 4am and needing an emergency shower around 5 or 6)

dropping him off at school seemingly alright, heading through to the gym where their printer was out of order (?!) so walking in the rain trying to find a signal for an interesting chat about volunteer mentoring

gd taking longer than planned, skipping the pharmacy to pick up a passed-out mr smear (who'd been uncharacteristically grouchy and clingy), grab all our belongings and rush to the airport fifteen minutes late...

... a good valet experience, checking in but needing a lock, gd desperately hungry and by the time we'd delivered the luggage and taken a few bites we realized that boarding should have been closed O_o

tossing good food, literally running through the airport with hand luggage and a needy mr smear on my shoulder, getting through security without a food issue (could've kept those veggie burgers) and running across to the gate at the other end... to find a good, long queue going nowhere

boarding easily, a long two hours needing to nap but attending to mr smear's complaints about the seatbelt and trying to keep him occupied

last baggage, a long walk to the car rental agency, a generally easy pickup then a nightmare navigation fail; eventually - with miracles and wonders - arriving at the northcliff pharmacy five minutes before closing after driving through the heart of johannesburg (which was quite the experience)

quick shopping, arriving at my brother's home which he's transformed into a beautiful mansion since i lived with him, a big, enjoyable family dinner that i caused havoc with by forgetting to let gd know that she needed to make something

a power outage up the road making my joke about my brother not having internet a lot less funny

mr smear throwing a long tantrum with lots of fake cries, all the way (eventually) to bed, a couple of hours (re)calibrating

saturday 15th:

then finally going to bed just after midnight, cottonmouth from the local dry air

strangely comfortable beds (moving around hurt, but at rest felt amazing), a slow start to the morning taking mr smear into the garden in beautiful weather

my very real concern about mr smear and television

gd beginning to understand how absurdly terrifying being in johannesburg is

quickly shopping for stuff gd had left in cape town, mr smear throwing a tantrum at cresta mall and after half an hour of fake crying and screaming realizing that he was getting nothing out of it

a long and scary drive to kyalami, finally parking and realizing that it was a proper hike to the convention centre - gd couldn't handle that, so we "made a plan" by bribing a crew leader for a disabled pass but didn't have enough to bribe the next guy - no access for us without crutches or a wheelchair and after all that turning around and driving right back to my brother's

a bath and a nap, shopping tantrum management at northcliff corner, hido's home and fun with dobermans (some good, some not so much),  home for a trial before bedtime, an hour or two calming down then an early bedtime for us

sunday 16th:

up early on a beautiful morning, enjoying quite a lot of it, beginning to re-read the warlock in spite of himself outside or on the couch between roughhousing sessions

leaving a half hour later than planned, which was already an hour later than i'd planned, saying goodbye to my brother while mr smear screamed (it became funny once we realized he was prefixing each whine with a particular scream), but overriding him with music to which he relatively quickly passed out, (it really does soothe the savage beast)

instructing waze to take us to the airport without toll roads and being taken on a wild ride through johannesburg's back streets and eventually passing the airport turnoff and realizing we were being directed somewhere else; trying to adjust course and being sent to some obscure cargo drop-off two kilometres away, eventually (angry and stressed) finding the airport itself and struggling to get to the car rental returns, mr smear making the handover and walk really unpleasant but eventually calming down

easy checkin and security, a few minutes for a coffee stop then boarding relief, a mostly pleasant flight but a massive tantrum that lasted the entire landing left a bad taste in everyone's mouths (apparently quite a few people thought i was abusing mr smear because i'd slap his hand every time he hit me)

no trolleys available in an international airport, steers veggie burgers for dinner, picking up the car and being unable to manage the clutch after a weekend with an i10 grande, home, shower, french nursery rhymes, thank goodness for granny (brushing teeth the hard way)

starting tsotsi but stopping because it was too much for gd, a couple of episodes of paradise pd before passing out

monday 17th:

waking up with a bit of a stiff neck, starting the day with sesame street, getting mr smear to school a bit earlier than usual (three batmen!)

a broken spindle dryer, replacing the mixer, fighting with telkom for my money back (winning), eventually napping for fifteen minutes before finally getting an hour of work done on my third coffee

picking up mr smear and getting him home for a positive afternoon with the new nanny, not being able to get much work done then being sent shopping

the new pharmacist assistant 's incompetence

my phone crashing while dialling for the second time, not waiting for sailor, him arriving with delicious vegan pizza in time to read there was an old lady who swallowed a fly to mr smear before bed, an easy bedtime

a long discussion that got pretty heavy for a while (epigenetics fact vs fake news), coffee and gd's chocolate and passing out on the couch

tuesday 18th:

up at 5am, forty minutes of desktop clearing (including some exciting humble bundle purchases)

fiddling with geth for a couple of hours until mr smear woke up, getting him started with nursery rhymes and cereal then dropping out for a really comfortable hour's sleep

dropping him off on time and heading to the gym, a good workout while learning about the carnivore diet, properly relaxing in the jacuzzi (suspended) and feeling really good afterwards

south africa taking a step towards legalization

working well, picking up mr smear and taking him home, not getting any work done (including a surprise trip to sea point to pick up baby wipes and kimchi), yom kippur pre-fast dinner and a long chat about the hypocrisy of jews not wearing leather on yom kippur but beginning and ending their fasts with animal products

leaving mr smear with a sick gd and going to kol nidre alone, an inspiring service even if for some negative reasons, getting pulled over by a cop for no apparent reason, coming home after mr smear went to bed

reading funny tweets from crap dates then going to bed early

wednesday 19th:

up early, managing mr smear, taking him to the temple for a not-particularly-spiritual morning, picking up a box from my mom's, coming home drained and putting mr smear to bed and stuffing myself and crashing

seeing an announcement in the news from SxS

up coffee chocolate shower temple (letting mr smear run free)

breaking the fast at my sister's, mr smear falling asleep to psytrance ("space robot music" ) on the cold (10°C) drive home

a pause for coffee and finishing crap dates

thursday 20th:

getting to bed at 3am after managing tasks and checking out the streets of rage port

sleeping in a little, getting up groggy and paying the local grocer a visit before taking mr smear to school (still getting excited because the indians are selling fudge, still being disappointed because it's not chickpea fudge)

a good workout in spite of oversized shoes (too late now, but i have since learned to only trust japanese sizing), an awkward chat with my cousin at the gym, good work, getting mr smear home, eating some of gd's pizza, driving to the waterfront for a long deliberation before buying gd a new phone (so that I could take hers), home to take mr smear to the company gardens, the sudanese refugee, squirrels and ducks, mr smear assuring the cat that he'd teach him not to be afraid of ghosts and showing off his "pretty bike", dinnertime and playtime, granny visit, quick-ish shower and toothbrush before pre-bedtime tantrum-time

an evening spent configuring and switching phones

friday 21st:

and finally pausing around 1am, waking up periodically but not properly until 7am to continue configuring (and post this from my phone)