Gap Year Experiences

La Med and the Sunday night crowd

Wednesday 21 November 2007

It’s raining in Cape Town again! After an amazing weekend we have now been hit by a cold front that feels like the middle of winter. I'm sitting here looking out at waves of rain..in the process of getting to grips with the new IT system that’s been set up for Pepper. I cannot get my mind round how these guys design this stuff. Its like they see the matrix or something. There are fields in the accounting module that I'm not even sure what language they're in. If anyone could tell me what an ANA code is, I would really appreciate it! And a "discount matrix"? Anyway, Pepper is slowly moving forward into the scary world of servers and realtime user interfaces! The amount of time I've been spending in front of the computer lately is starting to get a bit depressing...the highlight of my week so far has been the purchase of a new Skype headset....let the good times roll!

Occasionally however I get the chance to leave the computer for 10 minutes and Sunday night was one of these occasions. I ended up joining a few friends at a Cape Town summer hotspot..La Med. Now I haven't been there in years but I was really impressed on Sunday. They've revamped the place and done a really impressive job at it. The setting is unbeatable and the pizzas are some of the best around. A few sundowners and a bit of dinner at La Med followed by a night out on the Camps Bay strip provides some fun times that will take a lot to beat! Anyway..so Sunday we are standing around having a few pre-drinks on the outside deck at La Med when this deranged cackle starts up behind me. That was the first thing I noticed. A very close second was some of the worst breath I have ever smelt on a human being. In fact before I turned around (and judging from the cackle and the stench) I was almost positive that it wasn't a human being. I was almost correct. I'm not sure if you will ever be able to imagine this properly but I'm going to try describing it to you anyway: He looked about 40 (was probably 25). Long, dark, greasy hair...way too much sun on his face (the special leather look that you generally only see on the beach in the south of France). A flannel collared shirt with the sleeves cut off, unbuttoned to reveal an interesting pattern of chest hair and a special physique (inverted pectorals and a beer belly). Very short denim shorts and to finish off this amazing look, a bright orange pair of crocs. What really got our attention however was how he had stuck his head out like some sort of crow and was leaning over my mate Mikes shoulder attempting to get involved in our conversation. We had just been talking about the beach and this had obviously got his attention because he was just standing there with his head stuck out repeating the word beach over and over and cackling madly at the same time. He looked like the sort of guy that wanders around late night bars looking to spike young girls drinks. I think maybe he may have spiked his own drink on Sunday because he was in a very special place. Between the cackling, mumbling and general all round smell that surrounded him, someone managed to ask his name.

"um..Andrew..no no....ah Colin...f*&^ I'm not sure bru!..hahahahahahah!!!!!"

He had actually managed to forget his name..very very special...its an interesting crowd at La Med on Sunday night. Who needs tv..you couldn't dream up entertainment like this!!