Day 353 / 118

Date: 31 March 2023
Sleeping location: Conti Inn, Queenstown, South Africa
Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 21947 / 7110
Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 208400 / 90400
Hair: cut
Day in three words: Hustle and bustle

I did actually have some admin to do on my rest day but I made the most of a lie in, the first in a couple of weeks, before heading out to a nice local cafe for breakfast (actually, two breakfasts, and what was referred to on the menu as a “mega coffee”).

Queenstown is moderately interesting, with a centre built in a hexagonal layout so that you could fire a cannon in multiple directions from the middle. Architecturally it was kind of like a crap British town, with a few old Anglican style buildings plus a load of dilapidated 60s and 70s shite. It was a lot more bustling though, with the streets heaving and massive queues at ATMs and shops. I clocked that it was the last Friday of the month - people here seem to treat payday in the same way as at home. 

I hadn’t had my hair cut since Harare and it was looking awful, especially in the picture that had been published in two national newspapers, so I asked around and was directed to a salon containing a South Asian man called Obama who was dressed in a delightfully silky green tunic. He gave me a good cut in an extraordinarily quick time, about 10 minutes including a little towel head massage. 

After picking up provisions from the heaving supermarket I went back to the hotel and blogged for most of the afternoon before cooking a meal. The apartment was “self catering” but this didn’t extend beyond a microwave, a kettle and a toaster plus two each of a plate, bowl, mug, glass, knife and spoon. See what’s missing there? I ended up using my own stove and pans, supplying my own fork and cooking my potatoes by microwaving them in mugs full of water. I’m the urban Ray Mears.