Saturday 30 January 2021, Day 35 of Level 3 Adjusted, Day 311 of Lockdown 😷

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#Grateful for another fabulous day, with a later sleep-in than usual; for a 24 C day, the wind picking up in the afternoon as the rain clouds rolled in; for a lovely day in and out of Utopia, greeting clients who enquired via Social Media before making their bookings, for a fantastic buzz, the fullest that I have seen it since I started working with the restaurant three months ago, and with hordes of celebrations; for slipping out in between to put in petrol before the steep price increase on Tuesday; for dropping off my bedlinen at the laundry; for a lovely walk in Mouille Point at its Promenade, lovely so close to the ocean, catching its spray at times; for dancing while driving home in happiness; for a lovely sunset; for lovely dance music on Kfm and its Blokparty ; and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙

I love how much leeway I have at Utopia. I heard two couples speak German at a table, so I played PR hostess, chatted to them in German, and even wrote my first Utopia Facebook post in German, to thank them. I think they were quite surprised. I took photographs of all the celebrations that were in the house today: a 50th birthday, a 40th, a 27th, a 38th, and one earlier this week, as well as a 28th wedding anniversary. The restaurant was full of balloons, adding to its festive buzz. Saxophonist George Sax plays on Saturday afternoons until 20h00, playing fabulous music today, I having to control myself to not dance in the restaurant 💃. 😱 George asked me to take some pics of him and his sax outside on the terrace. We had two winners of dinners in a promotion competition we ran with InstaEats and Dineplan last week, both coming to eat today. We are running a Valentine’s Day promotion with Bush Radio next week, and its Breakfast presenter Yuzriq Meyer popped in – he has 139000 Instagram followers 😱💙

Inbetween I shopped at the Pick n Pay nearby, and then did a 2 hour walk along the Mouille Point and some of the Sea Point Promenades, loving walking there. I had a double scoop of ice cream at The Creamery, so popular that a staff member shouted at customers to socially distance and queue outside! I found the lady that I dealt with rude and abrupt, but the ice cream was good. 💙

It was weird walking my steps in a dress, not having brought my walking outfit with me, nor an Alice band to control my hair. But I did have my walking shoes with me.👣.

Mask-wearing was minimal on the Promenades, less worn by the residents of the two suburbs than by visitors from other areas. 😷

On my way home I had to stop at the view parking spot on Camps Bay Drive, to photograph the sunset.

SA Corona Status 1 449 236 cases 43951 deaths 😷😢

FitBit 10000 steps 7 km 👣

Lovemylife❤️

The Corona Virus Lockdown (Level 5), announced by our President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier to commence on 27 March and to continue until 16 April, subsequently extended to 30 April, lowered to Level 4 from 1 May, lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, lowered to Level 2 from 18 August, lowered to Level 1 from 21 September, and moved back to Adjusted Level 3 from 29 December, and extended to 15 February on 11 January, is an unprecedented event in my lifetime. I am posting my daily Facebook post to journal this Corona Lockdown Journey, perhaps to serve as material for a future Book.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide