The Bird

Dimitry’s first visit to South Africa started off with a day full of surprises

- EMILE EMTOCH

I DON’T think I’ve ever felt cold like this before. There wasn’t a hint of snow anywhere but the cold went all the way down to my bones. Even here in a minibus taxi packed with plenty of warm bodies, the cold bit. I was only wearing a T-shirt and a thin tracksuit pants and hadn’t packed warmer clothes.

Why?

I thought Africa was a place where the sun was unrelentingly hot and the sky strikingly blue all year round. The movies certainly made it look that way. The prospect of warm sunny days was one of the reasons I came to South Africa.

Visiting Cape Town and seeing Table Mountain had always been on my bucket list and I jumped at the first opportunity to leave the grey skies of Ireland for a while.

My friend’s cousin, who lived in South Africa, was going to France for three weeks and needed a house sitter. He’d originally asked my friend, Harry, but Harry had to work and couldn’t do it, so he asked me to go in his place. He knew how much I wanted to travel (and also how much I needed the money).

I was so excited about getting on a plane for the first time and seeing the world from the heavens. The food on the plane was less than appetizing but I hardly noticed as I sat fantasizing about what a great time I was about to have.

I imagined myself sitting on the beach all July just sipping exotic drinks and munching South African delicacies.

AS I sat in the taxi, looking at the endless grey skies above I didn’t think I was going to be doing that anymore.