One time, many years ago, Jono and I drove to Durban to eat the crumbed n fried olives at Cafe 1999. It was worth it. This time no one had to drive.
This time -
We went to Swaziland!
On a luxury bus!
For one night!
For supper!
Cooked by Reuben!
In a glass factory!
And drank (a lot of)
Wine chosen by Neil Pendock!
Very happily the wine Mr Pendock chose is the wine we’d already decided to serve at Mess next yr! SECATEURS! We were much impressed with our new found taste-skills and celebrated by drinking much. We drank this wine out of the reason we were there. Wine glasses. Reuben has made a range of glasses with the Ngwenya Glass Factory. We went into the fire pits and watched the process. It was great to watch but also DANGEROUS.
THE BLOW & CRADLE
We sweated and turned pink and drank more champagne to replace our lost liquids.
Tell us what happened next.
It gets a bit , er, blurry, here.
We drank red wine out of red wine glasses
White wine from white wine glasses
Ate amazing food by Reuben
off glass plates.
And talked about food. and wine. and life. and laughed. a lot.
GLASS DINNER
Wow, that sounds amazing.
It was ! Somehow - educated guess: the wine? - things got pretty raucous in the glass factory. We convinced the keyboardist (a kind man in a maroon waistcoat) to drop the Elton John and rock out to The Beatles. Everyone (including Mr Edcon, the distributor of the glassware) threw each other around the dance floor, doing that couples dancing thing that there’s no space for at The Attic, we ran around the factory, we smoked everywhere, I accosted Reuben in his kitchen - I hope to redeem myself someday soon. I have no idea what time we left but the bus trip was hilarious - much laughter, thanks to David Frederik Cope who gave us a running commentary on the mic.
FOOTLOOSE, IN A GLASS FACTORY.
At the hotel we kept the bar open - with me repeatedly begging the barmen to set up the Karaoke system - until…. 4am. Emma sampled their finest brandy & coke (a new experience) , Cameron fell asleep with a cigarette in his mouth, Colin was still going strong right til the end, and I took the wrong keys and walked into “my” room wondering why it smelled like “boy socks”. I then got lost on my way back to the bar - u know how confusing hotel carpets are? i decided to try and remember what the carpet near the lift looked like ….
The next morning we bussed it back to Joburg, a trip that was more than a little wobbly.
It was such, such a lovely weekend. In the most genuine and heart-filled way.
Much thanks to the Source SA team (who confirmed my theory that the more important and clever a person/company is, the more humble and great they usually are. This insight excludes Madonna - anyone over the age of 80 who wears a lilac leotard should not be allowed on MTV).