Come. Give me your hand and let me lead you into the weekend.
Oscar Wilde said: “Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” But it’s one of our favourite topics in Cape Town since it determines all our activities.
A quick scan of about four forecasts for today and beyond all yielded different results, and this lovely city of ours is famous for several changes in a day. It can also be hot and sunny on one side of the mountain, cold and windy on the other. The best advice is to look out the window and decide for yourself.
Even if today doesn’t deliver the best conditions, Fridays at Freddie’s happens every week at the Bantry Bay Suites in, well, Bantry Bay. The hotel kindly opens up its pool area to the general public, which is always good to know when you fancy a dip. As a City Bowl flat dweller these things are important to me.
It’s a small, intimate area with lounge chairs under palm trees, and secluded from the outside world. The only ones able to see you (besides other guests of course) are the passengers on the upper deck of the City SightSeeing bus which goes past at regular intervals. Speaking of buses, if you are taking public transport, the MyCiTi 104 runs to Queen’s Beach, which is a hop, skip and jump away from the hotel.
Freddie’s is open daily from 11am but between 4pm and 7pm every Friday you can sip the signature apple mojitos, other cocktails, wine or bubbly between swims. There is lovely mellow live music, and if you are struck by a hunger pang, order some snacks such as platters of tempura prawns, chicken satay, spring rolls, samoosas, and empanadas.
* Bantry Bay Suites Hotel, 8 Alexander Road, Bantry Bay. Telephone 021 434 8448.
The L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate will be run for the 153rd time at Kenilworth tomorrow. With a winner’s purse of R1 million, the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate is South Africa’s most prestigious weight-for-age horse race and sees 16 of the best thoroughbreds in the country run 1 600m.
It’s not all about the horses, however. Race days such as these are also all about the elegance, the fashion, the entertainment, the food, the wine, and the hats. The L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate encourages a blue and white theme, and there are prizes for the best dressed. There are a variety of fancy ticket options which you can book at Computicket.
If you despise Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga but want to get your groove on tomorrow night, I suggest Mr Marshall’s Sunglasses At Night, which is where I shall be. It’s the inaugural event of what will be a monthly party at the revamped downstairs lounge at Mercury (De Villiers Street, Zonnebloem, telephone 021 465 2106) that celebrates the music – and clips and videos – of the 1950s through to the 1980s. The theme is Summertime Blues, as in the song co-written and recorded by American rockabilly artist Eddie Cochran and released in 1958, which should give you an idea of what to expect. From 9pm, no cover charge.
Last but not least, to wrap up what promises to be a fab 48 hours, we’ll be going to Kirstenbosch on Sunday for the sunset concert. This week it features MacStanley & Friends, the friends being Ard Matthews, frontman of Just Jinjer, and Craig Hinds of Watershed, and apparently some other surprise guests.
It’s the quintessential summer activity in Cape Town, and I am already making myself hungry while mentally planning my picnic.
* Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is in Rhodes Avenue, Newlands, gates open at 4pm, and the concert is from 5.30pm-7pm Info: 021 799 8783/8620, www.sanbi.org or http://dogreatthings.co.za/music/kirstenbosch/kirstenboschconcert-programme/. Book online: www.webtickets.co.za
Cape Times