Every Sunday my step daughter volunteers at Tears Animal Rescue about 7kms away from Fish Hoek and Kalk Bay. And every Sunday my partner and I drop her off and move on to the main street in Kalk Bay, mostly to brunch, sometimes if the weather permits, for a swim in our favourite tidal pool.
It was a really hot weekend in Cape Town, the first hottie of the season and the Elizabethans were out in full force, walking along the main road in their Birkies and shorts looking for a cooler place to brunch. On that day in particular one could have called the small fishing village Elizabethanville.
I’m an Elizabethan. I knew this before I was 10 years old.
Let me explain what an Elizabethan is.
A few years ago, when I still lived in Johannesburg, I had a therapist (let’s call her Vicky for confidentiality purposes) who told me this story during one of my sessions with her.
She always used to talk to me about her 4 year old granddaughter. Her granddaughter was the light of her life and very bright (much like her granny). Vicky was and still is a young granny who runs 8kms per day following her regular 4am wake up. We were obviously quite close back then and I knew much about Vicky (which I shouldn’t have –
the therapist-patient relationship and all…).
Back to her story. Vicky saw her granddaughter regularly, if not daily, and during this meeting her granddaughter was telling her about a birthday party she’d recently attended. Vicky being curious of the ins and outs of her granddaughter’s social life then enquired whose party it was, and her granddaughter began to explain. She mentioned it was so and so’s party and then continuing the conversation Vicky wanted to know who the parents of so and so were. Vicky asked if the parents where John and Mary (a couple she had met and knew) to which the 4 year old replied “NO granny her parents are Elizabethans!” Meaning lesbians but she obviously couldn’t remember the correct term.
Ever since then I’ve referred to myself as an Elizabethan.
Getting back to Kalk Bay… It makes my heart warm and glad to see other Elizabethans out brunching, living normal, boring lives and it’s one of the reasons why I moved here. I mean apart from the great outdoors which is literally on my doorstep, Cape Town is so much more liberal and forward thinking than other cities in SA. I can count more than 10 vegan restaurants in my vicinity where there were less than five in JHB. And in my limited observation, Capetonians seem more liberal, less inclined to hurt and rescue stray animals and are fiercely protective over their mountain ecosystem which I’ve discovered isn’t only Table Mountain but spans all of the Western Cape.
It feels good to be here. I’ve found my place. Now just need the sea view and off grid shipping container. How lucky am I to be alive?
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