The First AfterNoon In WoodStock

Laos lens

I moved in on the 5th of February 2025.

I went to bed at 2 this morning.

First I woke up at 5:30 to help Esther turn the gas oven on in the bakery.

Second, I woke up at 8 tired and a bit weary of what lay ahead today.

The Sprinter was Coming at 10

I can relax and family Until 9

Guin Max and I on this rare occasion occupied the lounge with my mom and I on the couch and Max floating around the kitchen table. We spoke of politics and the world outside and around scarborough managing to not get too visceral about the mining in namibia or the way gold seeps out of south africa. It ended on the topic of the south african army fighting in the congo or something. We think it is Elon and the other tech giants proxy war for Africa's cheap labour and rare earths.

9 0'clock came around , I slouched into action trying to run my brain over what I still needed to pack or not. I pulled the bed frame out of the container, found a big piece of plywood to use as part of the base. One side had been in the dirt so it was a bit wet and muddy but I knew I could make it work.

Uncle Simon and Cousin Timo arrived shortly after this and did derail the process but they are family and I love them so I was conscious and happy to make the sacrifice of stress in 15 minutes for 15 minutes of guffaw and banter . We made our way to the cafe. I ordered our coffees with the authority and entitlement of a European customer.

As the coffees were served the Sprinter arrived and so did that stress. I jumped back into action working with Eddy and Takesure to pack the sprinter. One time bed, clothes, drawing board, bicycle, bedding. Shit I forgot to pack my tech stuff and toiletries. I got 'em in a bit of a scramble, said goodbye to my Mom and the Convoy of Mercy and Sprinter were off.

We arrived in Wood Stock at the apartment. Quite swiftly Eddy and Taksure Unpacked the sprinter and packed my new room.

I was hungry and I wanted some reafer so I cycled down to Observatory. Stopped at Marley coffee for a flat white and some reafer then flowed through main street until I found a cafe that I thought was good. I Was sitting waiting for my eggs when Tobe and his people appeared and joined me for a bite.

The Cycle back was uphill but manageable. I got back and it was time to organise so I called my Mom to go through the motions and show the space, but Mila and Natalia arrived, not long after with their arrival I said goodbye and joined the commotion of setting up the apartment space. Josh also arrived shortly after.

The next few hours were a fun work together vibe of excitement for our arrival in the space. But mila and Zarin were not staying the night like I was . Josh left around 4 and Mila and Zarin left soon after to go get some furnishings from a friend. I was bored and a bit stoned so I lay around reading until I felt an acceptable level of sobriety to go shopping on the main road.

I packed my backpack, wallet, phone , house keys. Walking down main street in the late afternoon is a bit of a carnival busses hooting and bustling, taxis filling any space they can inbetween, Cars just trying to get through without a scratch, motorcycles don't have to abide by the normal traffic rules so they seem to dance and move as fast as they might if the road was empty.

I had almost got to what I thought was the grocery store but I walked past ‘Woodstock Fisheries’ I had to get a sample. I ordered hake n chips for R59, R30 cheaper than Fish Hoek Fisheries. While Trying to stoke up some conversations with the other customers I learnt about lotto sports betting. But the real converasion was with an older Xhosa gentleman from Jo berg. He had a few smaller businesses but he was mainly a financial forensic data analyst. I'm not sure if that just means the very fine details of data analysing or if its data analysis in court and criminal setting . But he mentioned he was going to parliament for the state of the nation and he would be commenting on budgeting or something. I was pretty amazed to just come across a character of supposedly such influence in a fisheries in woodstock, I mean he was going to parliament not many people can just go do that. But what was quite interesting about him was that his opinion on South Africa was pretty similar to what I hear from the older white folk I've spoken to. This I think is pretty real , as a young white person growing up in south africa what has often been a thing for me is whether or not other young black or coloured South Africans think the same way as I do. Within a certain context. Anyway for me this messed up my racist preconceived notions i have. It was one of those moments when racism broke.

It made my evening

Now it has been five days since this afternoon. Enjoy