Good times
I don’t go out often but I made an exception last night and met up with some people from work at a restaurant called the Yellow House. We had been there a couple of times before and liked it because you can bring in our own wine and not be charged corkage, and because there was no sense of being rushed to finish your meal and leave. The only bad thing about the place is the décor. The walls are a dirty cream and brown with badly framed pictures of cocktails hung up too high to see properly. A half-hearted attempt was made to create a rustic African look by hanging wooden masks here and there and placing an odd assortment of animal sculptures in the on the window sills. I suppose it can be argued that the lack of interior design is what actually gives the place its unpretentiousness, which is its charm.
Anyhow, a band was playing there last night and they seemed a bit like their surroundings at first. The sound equipment had not been not properly adjusted before hand so when they started the vocals where practically inaudible. The guitar caused the speakers to whine and the violinist seemed to drown out the rest of the band. Amid this a faltering start though the two vocalists suddenly did a heartfelt a cappella which silenced the audience immediately and kept them quite for the entire duration. It was brilliant. After that the band somehow got their act together. The restaurant filled up, people started mixing with one another and dancing and a really good vibe was generated.
There are times like last night when I really enjoy being in South Africa. I’ve had the best times of my life in this country and have never been happier elsewhere. I just wish that things were different here and that South Africans could really exist as peacefully together as they did last night when conditions were just right. It would not matter so much then that government is like the restaurant itself, which is basically run very badly; for the sake of good company that can be forgiven. But I don’t see South Africans getting their act together any time soon. Who knows if they ever will?
