Is it truly possible for half-day Fridays to ever start off wrong? I don’t think so, and this Friday certainly didn’t prove to be any different from my previous half-days. Though truth be told, I was a little sad to pack up and go at 12:00 because I’m in the middle of some interesting coding and didn’t really want to leave it there. Oh well, what can one do – the weekend beckons after all! :)
From work I shot off to Kirstenbosch (a place I seem to rather frequent these days) where I got my grubby little hands on two tickets to Sunday evening’s Watershed concert. That mission complete, my next stop was some …hobby browsing’ as I like to call it. Ryan had given me a good lead on …Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary’ being sold dirt cheap at Musica in Canal Walk so my first port of call was pretty much settled.
With Lara safely tucked away in my possession, I then proceeded to browse the various book shops until I finally grew tired of the expanse that is Canal Walk and went back home where I exercised my remaining demons by clocking the awesome Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition. I have been a Devil May Cry fan since the first time I played it, and this special edition certainly didn’t disappoint! (Though it is a lot more forgiving than the original I must say – almost no swearing, cursing or throwing the remote away in disgust this time around! :D)
Chantelle eventually arrived at my humble abode after a long week of work, and we wiled away the next couple of hours just relaxing and spending some quality time together. Unfortunately we missed Pop’s call to invite us out to supper with them in celebration of the good news that Ryan got his UNISA degree, but we did drop by for some late night coffee and extremely delicious homemade Cheesecake with them.
Shame, Saturday morning Chantelle was up and out of the flat before 5:45, thanks to some crazy scheme they had hatched to take Michelle out on a kind of a mini kitchen tea get together. I on the other hand got to spend some extra quality time with Mr. Pillow, arising from my deep slumber only after 9:00 (so much for my plans of some early morning squash)!
On my own for the morning, I wasted no time in getting stuck into the chores and then grabbing the controller for some well-deserved quality time with Tomb Raider: Anniversary. The game is proving to be a wonderfully nostalgic trip down memory lane and the modern updates by Crystal Dynamics looks as gorgeous as they did in Tomb Raider: Legend. My only hassle is that I can see I’m going to become rather frustrated with it this time around (again) – I can’t remember how to solve any of the damn puzzles anymore!
Chantelle eventually got back from the girls’ little jaunt, exhausted and ready for an afternoon nap. I gave in, tucked her into bed and then sat down for even more Lara Croft while my own little adventure girl peacefully snoozed the day away.
Early evening and we decided to get out of the flat by going on a shopping spree to Tygervalley. First stop was a healthy late lunch at Kahlua and then some joint shopping in the form of book browsing. However, the moment she stepped into the first clothing store I was gone – heading off to do my own thing in an attempt to get out while I still could! Actually the shopping was highly successful for the both of us, with Chantelle returning with plenty of shoes and clothes while I ended up with Terry Pratchett’s Wintersmith and a golden oldie CD from Sting.
Our shopping urges quelled, we then jetted off to Cape Gate to catch a movie, the movie in question being …We Own the Night’ – a flick Chantelle assured me stars Jennifer Lopez and involves something about a serial killer. Charming. Unfortunately for her, she got the title a little wrong and we ended up watching a movie about two brothers on the opposite ends of the law, but tied together through family loyalties – which turned out to be thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable anyway, even if it didn’t feature any serial killer corpses (thankfully).
Sunday morning Chantelle was again out and about way before me, mainly because she needed to attend practice for the morning’s praise and worship – that she was partaking in, together with Andri and Malcolm. I on the other hand opted to sleep in once more, only joining them in Parklands at the beginning of the service. After church we again abandoned one another as she once again had a singing practice session and I simply didn’t feel like hanging around twiddling my thumbs. So instead I buggered off home, bought some Romany Creams and then enjoyed some coffee, cookies and anime.
Chantelle eventually finished up with her singing practice and I rode through to Tygervalley to join up with her in picking out Gary and Michelle’s wedding present for the upcoming wedding in February. I was hoping for a quick in and then out, but C pulled off a clever maneuver that trapped me in Edgars, forcing me to stand and wait with all the other men while the women tried on countless new clothes. Thank goodness I wasn’t the worse guy off though – one bloke was standing there in his manly small shorts and tight spandex t-shirt clutching his wife’s oversized leather handbag. I couldn’t help but snigger at his misfortune. We eventually left Edgars empty handed, but we did manage to pick up the wedding gift from @home so it wasn’t a total loss in the end.
From there we had time for a quick three quarters of an hour nap before getting up, packing the picnic food and jetting off to Kirstenbosch for the concert. Funnily enough, despite the raging wind from Bellville to Cape Town, Kirstenbosch itself was completely wind still and in fact had the most perfect weather imaginable for the evening’s sunset concert. As it was, Kirstenbosch was packed to the hilt, with an absolutely huge crowd sprawled across the huge lawns, some of whom had been waiting there since 14:30 already! I didn’t realize just how popular Watershed is in fact and this was evident just by the sheer number of people seated there alone.
As per usual Chantelle and I had arrived just in time for the concert, meaning we didn’t have too much say in picking out a spot to sit. In the end we squashed ourselves into a little corner under the bush which was bearable only because I got to sit with all the food in my lap! :)
The concert itself was brilliant, with Watershed giving a thoroughly entertaining performance that saw them employ a piano, violin and even a harmonica for goodness sake! Professional and polished, they kept us entertained with all their hits, finishing off the unusually long set with a rendition of their ever popular Indigo Girl, the song that pretty much launched them into stardom.
So with the concert a success, our next (and final) stop for the evening was a visit with Chantelle’s folks who we haven’t seen in a little while. The visit wasn’t too bad and in the end we ended up staying there for almost two hours, mostly (the beer had an influence as well) with the comical The Devil Wears Prada flick to blame for our lengthy stopover.
Home at last and the last couple of late night hours to spend in each other’s company, the weekend slowly ground to a halt, bringing to a close a weekend that had been busy as always but even fuller of quality time spent together than what we’ve been able to enjoy for quite some time.
Happiness I tell you :)