Food, Travel And Design. Cape Town To Sydney

After the summer hols IN Cape Town, it’s back to the land of the “lounge room”. Other than a diabolical new government plan for Australia to become a top global arms exporter (almost AU $4 billion in support to local weapons manufacturers is being mooted), Adani coal mine resistance continues, private school fees have rocketed as happens perennially (they have hit the $37,000 mark), Australia Day (Invasion Day to Aboriginal people) protests were duly held, and the iconic koalas and leadbeater possums have less and less habitat because of tree clearing.

- Anne Susskind

A dementia patient who had always longed to go to New York had her dream come (partly) true when staff organised a visit from a uniformed detective from the NYPD. A radio conversation on where to get the best hot chocolate in the world (Perth, apparently) segued into a somewhat less asinine but predictable discussion on exploitative chocolate production.

Food, travel and design and the money they require still seem top of mind – it’s the order that’s debatable. Speaking of design, the architecture firm of ex-Capetonian and UCT alumnus Neil Durbach recently won for the third time the country’s highest accolade for residential architecture, the Robin Boyd Award, for the remarkable Tamarama House, perched on the coastal walk between Tama and Bondi beaches. Durbach talks about it “framing” the views, pointing out that it is not always best to overdo the glass when you have a great view.