Walking home

Nearly every night I walked home after dark. Often around midnight. Foolhardy, I know.

(I have a functional bike now, so this really isn't a problem anymore. Sometimes I take a taxi home--expensive--fridays, for example, are payday, so it's a good idea to take a taxi then).

I like the feeling of adrenaline I get walking the mile from the Liesbeeck Gardens res to my homestay.

I walk out of Liesbeeck, a res that looks roughly like a prison cell. I turn right, waving at the Security Guard so that he opens the gate since my ID card doesn't swipe.

Another right onto Durban Road. Speed walking time. I cross Liesbeeck parkway, the highway that divides the suburb of Mowbray.

Past Fat Cactus on my left, and the Greek Restaurant on my right. The two gas stations. Up the left, cross the street and left onto Raapenberg Road. Almost there. 26 Raapenberg Road.

One night I was in for a scare. Usually the streets are abandoned late. It was midnight, and out of the darkness two bakkies (pickup trucks with closed hatches) came screeching down the road, driving tandem. The first one slowed down and out the back jumped a man, poster in hand. He sprinted to a sign post across from me and then another a little further down the road.

It's was just newspaper employees updating the newspaper signs all around the city, at midnight.