If you live in Cape Town, you can absolutely guarantee that by an early age you will have completely mastered the whole getting dressed and undressed thing. I know that sounds a bit odd, but believe you me, around here you get a LOT of practice at putting on and removing clothes. The simple reason for this is that in winter, you will have days when the temperature goes from very very cold to pleasantly warm all within an hour or so. 
Today, for example, I put on jeans, a long sleeved top, a jumper and a cardigan. Not to mention warm socks and my fluffy slippers. (I’m working from home today!) By 10.30, the sun had come over the top of the mountain and it was warmer outside than in. When I opened the front door to let the sun in, I could smell the fresh, salty air and I came over all funny like the Mole in The Wind and the Willows when he smells the spring air and the scent of the river. Having emailed off the report I had been promising to our director, I decided that my reward for having done that and for having had to stay inside for two days earlier this week when the rain was coming in horizontally, was to walk into town for a few errands and maybe a sneaky little coffee by the beach. And clearly a wardrobe adjustment was required. Off came the socks and slippers, the jumper and the cardigan. On went a cardigan that matched the top, a pair of shoes and off I went. I nearly changed into cropped jeans but just couldn’t be bothered! My mother will be disappointed (but not surprised) to know that I didn’t put any of the shed layers away. But actually, there is no point. They will all be going back on again later. And I’ll still have a blanket around me on the sofa. So, we are really good at getting dressed. And undressed. And re-dressed.
And things we’re not so good at here?
1. Walking on the pavement. 
I snapped this lady walking in front of me today. It’s not a great photo because the sun was shining on the screen of my phone so I couldn’t really see properly, but you will see that in spite of the presence of a perfectly good patchwork pavement (sidewalk, whatever…) she has chosen to walk on the road. This is actually fairly normal here. Probably because quite often we just don’t have pavements, so walking on the road becomes a habit. Or maybe there’s some subtle cultural thing I haven’t picked up on yet…. And I’m now known as that funny woman who walks on the pavements.
2. Driving sensibly around roundabouts (traffic circles).
We really seem to struggle with this one here in the backstreets of Fish Hoek. It probably is a wider problem than just Fish Hoek though, given the confusion in “official” circles as to what the rules really are. According to one bit of the AA South Africa website, circles operate on the same basis as 4-way stops, i.e. first come first go. However, if you go by another part of the AA South Africa website and the Arrive Alive site, you must give way to traffic from the right. Further research seems to indicate that it all depends on whether it is a mini roundabout or a big one, with mini roundabouts operating as a 4-way stop and bigger ones having priority to the right. What actually happens is terrifying and unpredictable, perhaps because nobody wants to be the first one to get out of the car with a tape measure. Before I started looking into this, I was a little confused. Now I’m just plain bewildered. I think perhaps the motto is “He who dares, wins”.
And yes, I did take a little walk along the beach and sat on a bench with a coffee enjoying the warmth. Until a middle-aged man with a rubber ball on a piece of elastic wandered by and asked me if I was as lonely as he was. He didn’t stop to wait for an answer which is just as well, because, unusually for me, I was lost for words. The bouncy ball was a little distracting.
African Crossroad 