Africa and the East End

I went to a fantastic Lebanese cafe today called Le Comptoir Libanais that had great North African decor. The walls are covered in huge pictures of Lebanese sweets, and the knives and forks are held in old chilli tins.

The boat is also going to be African themed (South, North, whatever, I'm not fussy), and here are two cushions and a curtain I made today for it. The Obama one is from some fabric my brilliant sistaire bought me in our favourite shop in Cape Town. The next pic shows the back with the limo. The red rectangle is a lovely Algerian picture frame Frank bought me. He put in the picture of me, which was taken in Bulgaria.

The floral fabric I bought in a great shop just off Brick Lane in East London. It's run by a Jewish family who have owned it for about 100 years. They have a huge black and white pic of their whole family standing outside the shop in about 1925. It's really near where my granny was born in 1906. She's ill in hospital at the moment. We don't know if she'll make her 104th birthday on 13th Feb.

Safety in South Africa

Everyone in South Africa seems to be obsessed with personal safety. South Africa (Jo'berg in particular) has the highest murder and rape rates in the world, so perhaps this is the reasoning behind it. My sister and I were strongly advised not to walk through the city centre on a Sunday at noon.


This was in the shopping mall in central Cape Town. Carjacking, murder, child abuse, it's all there. Click on the pic to read each card.


This is a security guard in Jeffrey's Bay. Not sure exactly what he was doing.

Thoughts about Cape Town

The next few posts will be pics of South Africa, with some accompanying musings.


This is the view from outside the first place we stayed. Cape Town clings to the side of fantastic moutains, the most famous of which is Table Mountain. It's the most climbed mountain in the world apparently.




We stayed in Bo Kapp, which is very picturesque, but a bit edgy. These are the famous Bo Kaap painted houses. It is a Muslim area. The oldest mosque in Cape Town (possibly in South Africa?) is here - 1834 from memory. Sometime around then.

Arrived in Cape Town

Still feeling spaced out after an overnight 11 hour flight, but the vast blue sky and bright sunshine are helping, as did a vastly delicious creamy iced coffee.

Currently in an internet cafe on Long St - the main young-person tourist hang out. It's a really strange atmosphere here, probably partly because the shops shut at 2.30pm, which means there aren't as many people as you would expect on the street on a Sat afternoon. Lots of vintage shops, independent clothes and craft shops, antique shops, and bars. The busiest place was a pool hall.

Will find a way to upload some pics.

Pro surfer

Well, not quite, but on the way there at least...

Just booked myself into surf camp at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa.

I went on a surf camp in Portugal couple of years ago and ended up with a white, bruise-covered body, and brown neck, hands and feet. But it was well worth it - I had an absolutely brilliant time.