Saturday 18 July 2020, Day 48 of Level 3, after 66 days of Levels 5 and 4. đ·
Corona Gratitude đ
#Grateful for another âsummerâ day today, even though a little cooler than the beautiful day yesterday; for a trip to the Southern Suburbs, wanting to check out Quince Restaurant in Diep River; for meeting Facebook Friend Colleen de Villiers for the first time, and Friend Louisa Andrews Stroebel for lunch, chatting away whilst eating healthy salads; for checking out Constantia Emporium for the first time, its brewery restaurant being a member of the Facebook Food Delivery & Collection Group, and for meeting Duane and Anastasia of Beerâd Food Truck, also a Group member, who generously offered me a lovely portion of hake and chips to take home, as a thank you for the work done for the Group, amazing đ; for a quick shop for German treats at Hartlief at High Constantia; for a good walk through Camps Bay, for bumping into Lisa Hayden and her dad Jonathan, with an amazing small world of connection between Jonathan and one of my sisters, for bumping into saxy George Sax; for seeing the Camps Bay restaurants doing well this weekend, especially Tigers Milk, and for Ocean Blue having reopened today, having announced its permanent closure previously; for the lovely sunset; for seeing a new set of 10 chicks of the Egyptian Geese family; for shopping at Pick n Pay, so busy that we had to stand in a queue as in pre-Lockdown; for another lovely concert by Daniel Hope of Hope @ Home on Tour from LĂŒbeck and its Bach ending in particular; for looooong chats with Jenny Stephens at the beginning and end of the day; and for being happy and healthy. đđ
The Little Orchard nursery and Quince Restaurant are on the same property in Diep River, and the service at the nursery was really disappointing. I bought strawberries, chives, and some other plants I didnât know the names of and unmarked, with no planting instructions provided. It looked shabby and unkempt, and no manager/owner on site. đ„”
I wanted to experience Quince, having seen their offering in their posts on my Facebook Group. We sat outside, at a table next to a family who brought their dogs, leading to a lot of barking at other dogs and at a waiter, not quite what we planned. It was wonderful getting to know bubbly Colleen 
de Villiers and to hear how well Lulu is doing in her commercial rental business. Quince has a two-room restaurant inside and the outside seating, plus a Deli, selling mainly jars of preserves and bottled fruits. I met Rael Abramowitz in the shop and Graham Isaacson who runs the kitchen. It was hard for me to extract information about the newish restaurant from the two owners. They also offer Food Collection and Delivery.
I hadnât been to the Constantia Emporium before, predominantly consisting of a Checkers, and smaller shops, including a Woolies Food. I wanted to buy an ice cream at The Creamery, but they wouldnât take cash, and I finding it silly to pay (an expensive for one scoop) R41 by card! It was great chatting to Black Beerâd Food Truck owner Duane, and fortunately business has been going well for them throughout Lockdown.
I was surprised to see how very busy it was in Constantia, when I drove past, from Silvermist Vineyards to the circle at Constantia Nek, packed with cars. I couldnât see what attracted so many persons to the area.
On arriving back home, I met the new tenant Rob living in the apartment block until December. I did not hear any noise from his apartment in the past 24 hours, amazing. đ. We had a lovely chat, and I shared with him the âcat fightsâ in our building, pardon the pun.
Pick n Pay incorrectly charged three items out of four I bought, the till price being higher than the shelf price. đ±
In thinking back on my day in the South, it concerned me greatly in how non-evident any Corona protocols were. No sanitizing anywhere, alcohol drinking observed, no client register, no temperature taken, and paper menus taken back, hopefully to be destroyed after our use. The only Social Distancing was at Checkers, with a queue to get inside. Outside Restaurant tables at Quince are too close together.
SA Corona Status: 350879 cases 4248 deaths đ·đą
FitBit 10000 steps 7 km đŁ
Lovemylife â€ïž
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, and lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, 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 Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein
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Chris, is it not a little odd to criticise the lack of coronavirus measures “in the South”, when this photograph shows you and two people not observing social distancing at all, nor wearing masks?
I also applaud shops like the Creamery for insisting on card payments… cash is an easy way to spread the virus, so why not avoid it wherever feasible?
By the by, the busy Constantia parking lot is, I’m sure, simply people making the most of the good weather to be outdoors. Silvermine and Newlands were equally overflowing all weekend.
Good morning Richard
Iâm always surprised when I see your comments, wondering why you would read a personal post about my day on Saturday, when it was clearly not a restaurant story.
We were eating our meal, clearly not wearing a mask, and asked our waiter to take a photograph of a special connection of friends. The table did not offer 1,5 meter distancing per chair.
My comment about the Covid protocols not being seen in the South stands.
Quince had no regulatory measures in place: no diner register, no sanitization, no temperature, the paper menu possibly reused, and wine drunk at the neighboring table. The Deli is so tiny, that not more than one person should be allowed inside. I wore a mask when I entered it, until we sat down at our table in the courtyard, and drank our tea, and then ate our lunch.
All the other places I visited in the South (Constantia Emporium – The Creamery, a clothes shop, the Brewery/Eatery – and Hartlief) had no sanitisation or other Covid measures in place.
Chris