We walk up the long staircase and Leon takes my bag into the office and invites me in for a beer. Once in the office I am introduced to Jackie from Toronto, Canada. She seems really nice and very friendly. She runs the Lions Den with Leon. They tell me that they met in SE Asia, travelled for a bit, fell in love and then she went back to Cape Town with him, and here she is running a hostel! Wow, what a story!

She asks me where I am from and how my journey was and we get chatting. Next I meet Dale, he is half English and half South African, seems like a good laugh - he is working there also. I'm shown to my room which is a small dorm with 6 beds, a sink and well, that's it really.

Not quite up to my normal hotel standard on those business trips to the States, Europe and the Far East, but well, it's a bed! I sit there taking in my thoughts, I'm still lonely and a bit scared, but I've just met some really nice people who seem to think what I have done is perfectly normal

Perfectly Normal - yeah right!

Anyway I am somewhere at least now, tired after the long flight, but somewhere where I feel I can relax a bit, and in the company of people who seem just great and at this point that is good.

Everyone I have met today has been so friendly, so welcoming, so sure I am doing a good thing.

I take a quick rest although I can't sleep as I'm still a bit nervous and, now to a degree, excited too. After a hour or two I wander down stairs, there are a few people chatting in the lounge room, but I'm too shy and too nervous to speak to anyone, especially since they are all getting on so well and are chatting and seem so comfortable.

So I head out into the street, looking over my shoulder constantly, sure I'm about to be mugged. I head down to Greenmarket Square where I'm told there is a pizza restaurant. The square is lovely, again very colonial and quite busy with outdoor tables at the bars and restaurants, people milling about, the atmosphere seems good and relaxed - a lot more relaxed than London.

I find the pizza place I'm looking for, take a bar seat, and order a beer and get the menu. There is a couple sitting next to me, as soon as I speak they look at me and the guy asks if I'm English. I confirm this and then, before I know it we are having a conversation - this is weird for me, I don't like going in to pubs by myself back home and if I do I normally stand there for hours exchanging no more than a few words with the other clientele.

We finish our drinks and the guy offers me another, which I gratefully accept. We talk more, finish these drinks and the couple depart offering me a warm welcome to their country and a card with their address on it should I ever happen to be in this town up the coast. If I am I 'must' look them up and stay with them - Bizarre!

My pizza arrives and I tuck into the most massive most gorgeous Calzone I've ever had, and it's costing me like pence! I ask for another beer, and the same thing happens, two guys sitting on my right, look at me and ask me if I'm from England. This leads to another conversation, they buy me another beer and for the second time in a hour I'm given a warm welcome to South Africa.

OK so by now I'm starting to like this place, I've NEVER been bought a beer by a complete stranger back home (and would have probably declined it suspiciously if I had!). I've been in this country a few hours and I've been bought two already.

I'm not quite so nervous now and I have a strange feeling that I could get used to this...

Everyone I have met today has been so friendly, so welcoming, so sure I am doing a good thing. I have good thoughts in my head as I walk back to the hostel and put myself to bed. It is the end of what has been a long and tiring day, both physically and mentally.

I read a little of this Lonely Planet book I bought wandering what I will do tomorrow: I'll speak to Leon and Jackie in the morning too, they told me they will let me know what to do in Cape Town and will help me in any way they can.

Eventually I close my eyes and replay the day in my head, it's not been so bad in hindsight! I'm not quite so nervous now and I have a strange feeling that I could get used to this, maybe even enjoy it a little! Who knows?

 

©Ian Picken 2004