At some point, I stopped writing. Online and offline, I ran out of words. Things haven’t been great these few weeks, months, this year. I grew tired of that narrative. I didn’t want it here, on this blog, and writing it offline wouldn’t help. I told myself I’d come back when things improved, when I was in a better headspace, but that has not happened. Nonetheless, there are good things, too.
Moments like this. I’m sat on my bed in my parents house, with my sister’s cat curled up next to me. I’ve missed my own cat so, so much this year. Nothing has been the same since she died. I am very happy to have some cat time. I’m at my parents house with my parents, my sister, and my sister’s cat. We will open presents tommorow and have Christmas lunch. It’s really good to be at home and not be at work. I was counting down the days until Christmas break and I was almost giddy with happiness, hyper, on the last day on Friday.
I’ve never been one to believe in New year’s, or enjoy Christmas. But with things so otherwise bleak I’ve thrown myself into festivities – hanging lights in my apartment windows, buying too many presents, crafting an ornament for our Christmas tree- and I’m looking forward to trying to reset things alongside the change in year.
Anyway, wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, or a happy holiday break, and a happy new year.
We then ascended the Roaches. From up there, the countryside stretched out for miles and miles. It was a clear, bright day. All the heather was blooming, in various shades of pink and purple. We were very lucky to spot a Peregrine Falcon as soon as we reached the top, and then later, as we sat down to lunch, there was another Peregrine Falcon scouting out the fields right in front of us. 
Except we decided to take a detour from our original route to go see 
From there we headed back through the forest to the car park, thoroughly tired out. I headed to my sisters that evening for junk food and to play with her cat. The next day I had to go back to my apartment, where I chilled out and enjoyed the remainders of my long weekend. It was tough going back to work today. Work is a little boring right now which doesn’t help. Still, in the end I got the relaxing break I craved. And my parents, as always, spoilt me and for just a while, I could be free of the responsibility that comes with being an adult. It was nice to take a break from it all. And I’m glad the weather played ball – it was bright and sunny the whole weekend, with hardly any rain. :D 
Today I was in Tesco (supermarket) when I discovered something I’ve never seen before – a South African section. Not just a part of the world foods, which would have been unique enough, but an actual labeled section. There were biscuits. Chips. Biltong and wors. Guava fruit roll. Beer and cream soda and rooibos tea. And of course, big jars of Mrs Balls chutney and large bags of mealie meal. There must be a community of us! I thought excitedly. An actual community of us, here, in this random northern city, in order for us to get our own section. (Our own section! In the nearly two decades of being here I’ve never seen anything like it. We don’t usually even demand a corner of the world foods. We’ve never had any space in the supermarket that I’ve ever seen…) Alot of the stuff was sold out too, with the dates of restock noted, which must also mean there is a lot of us. To have that kind of demand. I wonder where these South Africans are, how long they’ve been here, why they’ve come. I jokingly thought to myself I should stake out this corner of the supermarket, just to see who turns up.
I now have three running aquariums. D: