Today marks the day the pre-extention-lockdown in South Africa would have been lifted. As many people have been referring to it, parole day.
It’s almost uncanny to believe that in three weeks I’ve only left The Cave a handful of times for food and essential work. I find myself missing my parents and friends a great deal, but I’ve adjusted to being home a lot easier than I thought I would.
Admittedly, I’m turning into a paler shade of the Oros Man. If I continue to feed the sugar craving beast within I will surely rival The Marshmallow Man from the original Ghostbusters. Yesterday I craved anything and everything that contains refined sugar, including an ice-cold Coke. I’ve not drunk the stuff in years.
Anyway, it’s been a quiet, yet productive couple of days. I’ve been following my coffee mug’s advice:
In this post, I mentioned, amongst other things, my intention to start a potted garden. Imagine my surprise when I popped the heart of a lettuce in some water and it sprouted leaves overnight!
I am quite excited despite my fingers only green when I accidentally stain them trying to make green beer for St. Patrick’s Day. Before I can become a full-on Cave gardener, I am going to need to invest in some flat-sided five-litre water bottles. Next I’ll look at carrots, ginger, onions and peppers. This is entirely unchartered territory for me, considering that I forget to water the single houseplant I do have. Oddly enough, it thrives.
In the same post, I said I needed to make waffles. Well, I finally got around to christening the waffle iron I bought for myself for my birthday last year. My virgin waffles had fresh Granny Smith apple pieces and cinnamon in the batter and even if I say so myself, they were de-li-cious! Next I will try banana and peanut butter ones. Unlike the rest of the lockdown world, I have not baked banana bread, nor do I intend to. I found an interesting recipe for an olive, bacon, ham and cheese bread, which I am most assuredly going to make.
I also want a dragon. I know that it is wishful thinking, so I settled for an overindulgence of dragon eggs from Woolies. They are delicious if you like apple-tasting stuff. That reminds me, post-lockdown I am going to get myself an apple lollipop, or even better, a shot of apple sours.
There is not much to tell otherwise. In celebration of The Toppie’s birthday I made myself healthy hotdogs and downed an ice-cold citrus flavoured Devil’s Peak non-alcoholic beer. Birthdays just aren’t birthdays without cake though.
Today I started de-cluttering the spare room and have found some odd things that I will donate to the SPCA charity shop. I also found some soft toys which I will be donating to Aldrich the Strong to take with him to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital when he returns next month for his medical treatment.
His mum and I were at school together. Although we were never friends, we had a few classes together. She, her husband and her daughter are drumming up support for their youngest child and brother who is battling a strain of cancer, which is rarely found in children. The brave, young lad is fighting a tough battle, with such dignity and grace. It’s awe inspiring. I have kept more plushies than I’m donating, but all of the ones I’m keeping have sentimental value.
I will also be cleaning out my clothes cupboards. I remember fondly when Sarah was still sharing The Cave with me how she’d clear out her closet and have me try on everything and keep what fitted (even though it wasn’t always age-appropriate). The rest was donated. We always had fun with our ‘fashion shows’, laughing and drinking wine.
As I continue to purge, I feel a see-saw of emotions. Letting go is never easy. At one stage I took a breather and while watching an episode of Elementary, a few tears rolled down my cheeks. I found myself thinking again of how fortunate I am to be healthy and blessed with a job, home, and social media connections that have turned into friendships, how I have friends that genuinely care about my welfare, knowing my condition and how being alone my adversely affect me.
On the reading front, I expect I shall be finished with The Skin Collector by Monday at the latest. I thought that I would be devouring my TBR pile, but the yearning to turn pages into the wee hours of the night has not taken hold of me for a long time.
I find myself questioning a lot of things as confinement continues. I’m re-evaluating many things too. I can’t speak for everyone, but lockdown is changing me – mostly, for the good.
(Lucky number) thirteen days to go.
Reflections of a Misfit 