Wednesday, 10th August

CHARLIE -

Realising that for the first time we are not being looked after by someone to whom we have paid loads of money, and are now completely self sufficient, we get on a big bus to Durban.  About an hour in, it is involved in a near disastrous altercation with several other vehicles.  I only notice some abrupt wobbling, but Jamie sees the truck in front suddenly swerve lanes, causing us to do the same and nearly colliding with an oncoming vehicle.  No actual collisions occur, however, and everyone is fine.

We arrive at Tekweni Backpackers which we immediately decide has the perfect hostel atmosphere.  We begin by playing shithead in the bar, then go to a mexican place and eat burritos.  We invent a game called Cigarettennis.  I take longer than Jamie (who is its principal pioneer) to develop my strategy but once I have done so we have some highly competitive rounds to the amusment of the restaurant staff.  We then induce giggling fits in each other by doing silly accents and have to leave feeling really rather silly.

Oh, on the bus we composed a poem. It will be published for your reading pleasure in a separate post.

JAMIE -

Arose this morning feeling a lot better and actually - brace yourselves - before our 7am alarm had sounded. I was therefore showered, dressed and breakfasted with a short time to spare before our car to the bus station. And, regarding our bus journey to Durban, it would not be unfair to say that we endured a slightly slippery moment. Now, before people start getting accusatory, saying that "we told you to be careful!" or "I said don't die!" can I please stress that this mishap had absolutely nothing to do with any recklessness or irresponsibility on the part of Charlie and me but was merely a road incident the occurrence of which we had no way of predicting or preventing.

Basically, what happened is this: we were travelling in our bus on the inside lane of a dual carriageway and moved into the outside lane to overtake a van ahead of us. Unfortunately, this van in front had been driving rather too close to the vehicle in front of it and, when this latter vehicle had braked hard, the van - though also braking hard - swerved onto the outside lane to avoid a collision. This swerving coincided with our own attempts to overtake and so we were suddenly forced to veer out further onto oncoming lanes, knocking the wingmirror off the van (the shattered remains of which went flying past the window) and sending both vehicles on a slightly skewed trajectory. This then left us driving on the wrong side of the road directly towards another oncoming bus and we luckily just managed to veer back onto our own side before a head-on collision.

In reality, it was all over in the blink of an eye and it is worth me remarking that this incident is not at all indicative of the level of danger to which we have so far been exposed in South Africa. While it would be foolish for Charlie and me to relax to the point of complacency, Johannesburg was a far cry from the crime-ridden hellhole we had been encouraged by people back home to see it as, and all the South Africans we have interacted with have been so helpful and welcoming that it really has been a very easy country around which to travel.

We arrived at Tekwini Backpackers at about 6:30pm. It is a social, nightlifey sort of hostel, which is just what we're after, replete with pool (of both the aquatic and billiard sort) and a bar. It does seem, however, that travellers this time of year are somewhat scant and we have yet to be able to socialise in the way we would like.

Though our attempt to go out was rather stale, it would be unfair to the evening to end without reporting on the highly silly dinner experience we enjoyed at the nearby Taco-Zulu bar. The venue had been recommended as a nice place to both eat and drink, and we began by getting stuck into a couple of cocktails and devising an entertaining game of Cigarettennis, the rules of which will appear elsewhere.

Having used these elements to direct us towards a distinctly merry state it was a great shame to have Charlie bring the whole mood crashing down with what can only be described as a catastrophic failure of travelling spirit. Because of course we all know that there is a right way and a wrong way to travel: 'sticking to your guns', 'playing safe', 'keeping to what you know' should all be abhorrent phrases to an open-minded traveller. Instead one must embrace the unexpected, lovingly caress the adventurous and positively grind against the daredevil, or risk losing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and be forever looking back with regret. How disappointing, then, that Charlie adamantly REFUSED to stuff an entire Mexican burrito into his mouth at dinner, no matter HOW persuasively I tried to communicate to him the foolishness of his actions. I know, I know: it's pretty disgraceful behaviour. But I suppose Charlie's punishment will come in the future realisation that he had this chance to seize the moment and he fucking blew it like a twat. C'est la vie.

Thence ensued much more cocktail drinking and hilarious accent adopting.