Perks of the job
One of my favourite magazines I work with is Private Life, an arts and culture mag for FBN’s private clients. Here’s an article on coffee I did for their latest edition – a story I really enjoyed working on. I hope you enjoy it too, maybe over a cup of java?
Pandora’s box – still best left unopened!
One of the best stops on our Namibian adventure was lunch at Canon Roadhouse near the Fish River Canyon. This delightful motorcar-themed establishment is an unexpected gem in the middle of the harsh Namibian landscape. As a bit of a petrol-head, the old automobiles and road signs appealed to me, but I must admit that the ice cold Coke in a 300ml bottle (the only way to drink the stuff) appealed even more, as did the delicious chicken mayo sandwiches made with thick-cut homemade bread.
We enjoyed browsing through the signs and the cars, and a visit to the loo revealed even more entertainment. Movie posters covered the wall in the women’s restroom, except for one giant space, taken up by this:
Tjongololo's Box
I thought it was hilarious and snapped a photo, hoping that nobody would notice my camera flash going off.
I’m not sure if I’m a bit slow or whether I just have a pure heart (I choose to believe the latter), but it didn’t even occur to me to open Tjongololo’s box.
My husband, it seems, is not quite as innocent. He discovered a similarly sexy picture in the men’s restroom, but of a woman rather than a man. Her hands covered her breasts and a box covered her other bits and was labelled “Pandora’s box”. Hubby had no qualms peeking into the box, but discovered with a shock that when he opened the box, an alarm went off in the restaurant!
Yes, when you tamper with that box, everyone knows where you’ve just been looking. And what was inside? You’ll have to visit yourself to find out.
Here are a few more photos from Namibia:
Luderitz Boat
Blue Dunes
Bowling with Ghosts
Something I (re)learnt on holiday
One of the sand-filled houses at Kolmanskop Ghost Town, Namibia
I’m back from a mini-break to Namibia and then Easter with my in-laws, and while I was away I did not a jot of writing. But I did do lots of thinking about writing. In fact, I’m pretty desperate to chronicle my trip in typed words.
I think that writing helps me to crystallise the random thoughts flitting through my head into some sort of order. It also gives me something concrete to look back to, when I want to remember the holiday and how I felt at the time, what we saw, experiences we had. It also inspires my other writing. Yes, I find that often my unpaid, heartfelt scribblings that seem to gush forth onto my screen with so much more ease that my commissioned work are the inspiration I need to do the tougher jobs.
I’ve tried to explain this to myself before and I honestly believe that amid the deadline-driven client-orientated work that makes up the majority of my days, I sometimes lose the magic of writing. I forget why I love it. I lose the urge to write and forget the way that words can come together so beautifully to express a thought, a feeling or an experience.
When I take the time to just sit down and write for myself, I feel refreshed. Once I’m done letting the words tumble out, without questioning whether the grammar is perfect or if a client will agree with a particular term, I am reminded why I love what I do. And I’m ready to tackle my writing jobs with relish again.
This also provides me with a very good reason to take a holiday once in awhile!
The lighthouse at Diaz Point in Luderitz, Namibia
A sand-swamped parlour in a Kolmanskop house, Namibia
Recent Comments