Kommetjie festival and other socialising

It's that time of year when holidays are upon us, for those at school, and expats come home for Christmas. Then it is the endless round of brunches, lunches, braais and coffee shop meetings. It's the time of falling off the wagon of healthy eating and nibbling on all those things you know will make you suffer later. But it will be over soon enough and a new year full of new resolutions will begin.

Robert's brief holiday is almost over, with one final family gathering before he jets out again to winter in the northern hemisphere and we prepare ourselves for the long, hot summer. It is the Kommetjie Festival today, in this fairly sleepy village and the roads and parking areas have been filled to capacity as people flock to spend a day strolling the streets, browsing at the craft stalls that have sprung up under every tree and on every pavement, and enjoying a day on the lawns with live bands, food stalls and plenty of friends. On the whole, the weather has been kinder than last year, with the southeaster being more fresh than gale-force as it was yesterday, but as the evening draws in the trees are starting to bend and darkening skies are moving in from the north east, promising thunder showers tonight or tomorrow.

The music sounds good from where I am sitting on the couch, possibly because it is a few blocks away at the Kom lawns, and if I weren't feeling tired from all the socialising today, I would be down there with the rest of them. But hey ho! someone has to make sure dinner is waiting when the family return after a long, long day!