the corner office

I suspect that if the Durbanites didn't need to occasionally cart goodies from the sugar mills and harbour up to us folks inland, the entire city would just fall asleep.

Hot. Humid. Strange place.

Johannesburg is a city that makes you old, Durban is a city you can grow old in. It's the weather, and the sea, and the history, and a lot of things. It's part olde-worlde British colonial charm, part third-world chaos. I mean, nobody retires to Gauteng... apart from the locals who've slowly steamed away for generations, Durban is a city full of people who've had enough of everywhere else and come here to live a lazy life where lazy weekends meld into lazy weeks until years have slipped by and it simply doesn't matter. I think that people in Joburg and Cape Town invent fancy expressions like 'quality of life' and aspire to it or pretend to have it while people in Durban just live it. It's so completely different in mindset and lifestyle to Joburg that it's hard to believe we're all in the same country.

That's the romanticised version. Give me another week in this bloody heat and I'll be far less generous in my prose. Right now I'm staying with my folks a block away from the sea, while Ronwen is up in the hills in Westville with her family (her new nephew is cute as can be). Looking out the window of my folks' 16th-floor flat, it's all hazy and drizzly, fragrant sea breezes wafting in.

Seeing anywhere from the 16th floor with the lights of the city shimmering in the mist, and it's hard not to get romantic. I start getting that ah-man-I-wish-I-lived-in-Durban feeling. Then I sit down, realise I'm sopping wet with sweat (in Joburg you perspire, here you just sweat), and I remember why it is this tropical climate thing is best taken in small doses only.

Durbs is a great place though. I lived here for nearly a year in '99, Ronwen is a local. My parental units have been here for nearly 9 years, Ronwen's folks for ever, the majority of our families live here. The place is busy as hell with all holidaymakers at this time of year, but it's great seeing everyone, relaxing, and eating like a pig.

The first thing my mom does every time she sees me is tells me 'you don't look like you've picked up any weight', and then proceeds to ply me with food and goodies for the entire duration. I suppose that's what holidays are about :-)