Forever Summer

It’s exam season in Brunei, and that means I’m two short months away from slipping back into forever - specifically, the forever of Cape Town. I can practically feel the familiar chaos of home: the taxis weaving through traffic jams, hitting the outside lanes and cutting back in; the watchful car guards calling “merrim” as they direct you safely into a parking bay; and the flower sellers whose hands carry the layered scent of damp petals and loose change. The city is a vibrant, living thing. I’m waiting to hear the familiar sound of Long Street laughter spilling onto the hot pavement, to find my spot in the tiny, sunlit cafés of Kloof Street that serve up coffee and coconut bread.

I miss the easy, crowded mornings, the fresh produce, and the cheerful hum of chatter and clinking kombucha bottles at the Oranjezicht market and the Biscuit Mill... and the tuna sandwich from that stall in the corner... It’s the slow joy of stumbling on a hidden gallery in a quiet alley, a perfect craft stall, or a vendor who recognizes me after eight long years.

Let's Do Summer

Right now, I crave just a taste of Cape Town summer. So, I need something lighter, frothier. I need the “holiday-me” with wavy, salty beach hair, sand-crusted toes, and lips stung by the sea air. There is no better vibe...

And if you want to understand it, all you have to do is Think Watermelon.

Imagine it: bright green and bulbous, a fresh one bobbing in a cool rock pool, sunlight splintering and dancing off its rind. Now, think of the wedges: biting into that chunk of syrupy sweetness, dodging the smooth, dark pips, the juice trailing down your chin and wrists, dripping onto tanned skin that glows beneath a friendly sky. And the skins - cool, juicy, perfect for a mock beach war, smeared teasingly on the arm of the one you love. The leftovers used by Mamas to make konfyt. Hands sticky, bodies glistening, the laughter rolling in and out like the tide.

That’s summer’s secret formula: salt, sugar, and skin. It’s bright and reckless like me, and full of the promise of the sublime.