cape-town-people

I like Cape Town. Random people talk to you a lot, which can get annoying or exhausing but it's often memorable. I think more people randomly spoke to me in the last two days in Cape Town than in 5 years of living in Europe.

There's a young guy who waits outside the supermarket and always asks 'excuse me, are you from around here?'He wants money (I assume). I kind of remember him from previous trips to Cape Town, or maybe even from when I lived here. I say no and keep my fast-paced walk and he gives up and moves on to another target. The second time I said "still not" and then he doesn't ask me a third time.

I see a very old man digging in the trash outside a different supermarket. He looks unwell. I buy him some bread and peanut butter. He seems grateful but doesn't communicate much in words or gestures.

There's an old guy with a beard. He tries to talk to me, and I keep walking, ignoring him. He takes offence and makes some comment. I ignore that too. He gets more offended and said "may god have mercy on your soul" super aggressively. I ignore that too. The next morning I see him again and he says 'you always ignore me'. I get annoyed and tell him I don't owe him anything. He apologizes. I feel bad. I see him again later and greet him awkwardly.

A white guy stops his car to get four takeaway cappuccinos in the cafe where I'm having a morning coffee. He's barefoot and he sees me noticing. He leaves shortly after me and calls to me. I turn around. He asks if my shoes are 'Vellies' but gets close enough to see they aren't. I ask him a bit about vellies but he's keen to go. I don't know what he would have said or wanted if I had been a vellie wearer. Here's a picture of a vellie.

And old well-dressed well-spoken white woman tries to stop me. She says she's not a beggar or a street person, but she is. She has a Dutch accent which is unusual and tells me her sob story - dutch and afrikaans parents. She wants me to stop and talk, but as always I keep walking but respond to her. Unlike most, she follows me and keeps telling me her story. She asks for food and I offer to buy her some at the same supermarket I bought the bread and peanut butter for bin digger. She immediately goes to counter and asks for a whole cooked chicken. Then she tries to get more stuff too and I say no. Then she starts talking about 'the africans' and making racist comments. I wonder if I can just leave her with the chicken that is packaged and given to her but not yet paid for and walk out. I don't know if she's racist or if she just assumes I am and that that I'll be more sympathetic if plays to my opinions. I buy her the chicken.

I go to a street event with my brother and his wife. They're turning the festive lights on in Cape Town - it's a big event with DJs, crowds, several roads closed in the city centre. We get bored and go have dinner at a restaurant with tables on the pavement. A guy walks by and stops to ask why we and many other people are wearing cheap flashing LED rabbit ears. We tell him about the event. He is happily drunk or high both. He says he wants to go but his friends want to go home and he is only here for a week. We ask him where he's from. He says "I'm from here" and leaves.

Another guy stops at our table and says please please please can he have a cigarette. None of us smoke.

Another guy comes up with a woman. He is very drunk, eating a hamburger from a takeaway box. He is causing trouble and the bouncer won't let him in. The woman goes in. The guy's chips blow away in the wind. He still has the burger and the box. He tries to sit at our table. The bouncer stops him. He says he wants to share his burger with us. We indicate that we definitely do not want to share his burger. He gets mad. He tries a few more times but the bouncer is skilled and the guy is not nimble so he gets intercepted each time. He tries to go inside the restaurant again. The bouncer says he can't come in with the burger. He hurls it at a car. The woman comes out. They go off together and I realize they are a couple, but before I assumed he had been harassing her.