I SURE SHOWED YOU

 Ha. 

Haha.

Hahahaha.

Ha.

I told you that you started a war.

The ball's in your court now.

😈

Heritage Trailing, or, A Really Fun Way To Spend A Saturday

Yesterday, I exercised in the form of a Heritage Trail. (Yes, it counts as exercise. No, I was not wearing hike attire.)

Seeing as Mr Boyfriend and I had little to do in a Saturday afternoon - a rare occurrence, mind you - we decided to do something I had never done before: walked the Heritage Trail through Central. For those of you foreigners that don't know (or even the Port Elizabethians that don't know - my mom was blissfully unaware until I told her about it yesterday), the Trail is roughly 4 km of kick-ass history. From the 1820 settlers, to honoring Madiba, to the 1994 elections, Route 67 is one heritage trail that makes me proud of PE. 

Adam and I did the trail backwards, because we wanted to be alternative, hipster and against the mainstream. JUST KIDDING. We actually wanted to catch ArtEC before they closed for the day, and seeing as ArtEC is the end of the trail, we thought we'd rather just start there. Alas, they had already taken down their exhibition, so we headed out to start the walk. The rad concept of painting blue lines on the pavement to mark a trail is very useful in knowing the who's, what's, and where's of Route 67.

There's a mural on the side wall of ArtEC's building, which is über vibrant and eye-catching. It's basically just a whole bunch of portraits of different people in PE, which symbolizes the "unity in diversity" thing South Africa's all about.

We followed the blue lines along Bird Street, passing groovy buildings that were a wonderful kaleidoscope of new and old. The buildings themselves were Neo-Gothic (I know what that is, courtesy of Adam's architecture studies) but the windows were filled with modern art. It was the best kind of mash-up.

Further on, we passed a park that had some artwork woven into the space it was in. The art wasn't just taking up space in the park, it WAS the space. The benches were mosaic, the pathways were made up of symbolic art, and above the Gate was a sign that read "Open Spaces." That's the name of the project that started the Heritage Trail.

The blue lines then took us down a picturesque street, ending in Fort Frederick. To be honest, I'm not sure what historical value the street or houses had, but they definitely made me appreciate the beauty found in unexpected places.

At the end of this road was Fort Frederick: a Fort built in 1799 to defend the Baaken's Valley River mouth. We didn't go inside because the door was locked, but because I'd seen it before, I didn't feel as if I was missing out. 

Walking towards the Little Theatre, I started to think about how beautiful PE is, and how much of that beauty I take for granted just by living here and not appreciating it. This was fortified in my mind after going into the front lawn of the Athenaeum, which was built in 1850. It was originally designed to cater for the Arts and cultural scene in the city, and has circled back after many different uses to be a home for the Arts once more. Outside of the building, a modern sculpture has been erected. It's a mosaic pattern (very similar to mandala patterning) on the floor, leading up to a silver cylinder. If you look into it, it reflects the mosaic pattern back to you. It symbolizes the threshold between the urban and the natural. 

Continuing through the hustle of Central, we found ourselves down Castle Hill, where no. 7 was situated. No. 7 Castle Hill once was a house built by an 1820 settler, and is now a museum for existing artifacts that survived the era. Owing to the fact that it was a Saturday, the museum was closed, and because we aren't inclined to be arrested for breaking and entering, we didn't get to go inside and see everything.

Doubling back up so that we could visit the Donkin, we walked back up the hill and over to the reserve. This, to me, is the focal point of the collaboration between the past and the present; the urban and the natural; the looking back for a way forward.

Sprawled across the reserve are brilliant pieces of art. There are mosaic statement pieces all over the pathways, each one telling a different story. There is a sculpture of a woman holding a chair, to symbolize the role women played in the shaping of PE's history. Poles with quotes from Nelson Mandela are lining the pathway towards the Donkin Lighthouse. It's the most radical thing to see: all aspects of history have come together to form a detailed piece of art. Everything flows from one piece to the next.

We decided to climb to Lighthouse (as if all the walking wasn't enough.) When it was built in 1861, I'm sure that the top held a view much different from the one we saw. Although the city has gone up all around the site, it hasn't taken any of the beauty away from the view. It actually adds an interesting, modern perspective.

Walking past the Lighthouse, we found ourselves at the Pyramid. Sir Rufane Donkin, founder of the city, built the Pyramid in order to commemorate his late wife, Elizabeth Donkin. The plaque and its encryption nearly brought me to tears. 

My favourite part of the Trail was the path leading from the Donkin towards Chapel Street. It was built to mimic the twisting line that thousands of people waited patiently in, in order to cast a life-changing vote for democracy. Along the path are x's in all the colors of our flag - and next to those x's are the names of future voters who collaborated on the project. 

Down the steps at the end of the trail is a fantastic piece of art. It's designed to look as if a stack of newspapers is blowing away, but the pages being blown show fabulous illustrations, quotes and headlines from the struggle during Apartheid. 

Lastly, we walked past St Mary's Cathedral, which is the oldest church in Port Elizabeth, and the Public Library, which was closed, much to my dismay.

I started Route 67 with a mild, complacent view of PE. My attitude followed the idea of "I live here, so I tolerate this place". I'm not saying that I had a life-changing epiphany, but going home after that experience definitely pushed me into a deeper appreciation of PE's history, culture and potential to grow. So many people have the "well it's not Cape Town" attitude towards PE. Seeing Route 67 up close and personal, I realized that PE isn't Cape Town. This doesn't mean it's better or worse: just different. I think comparing the two is ridiculous. Both cities are amazing, with different rhythms, colors and vibes.

I love PE. No matter where I go, I'll be proud knowing that PE will always be home.

I'm Really Awkward When It Comes To First Dates

I mean it man, I don't think you understand.
Do you really want to know what my favourite colour is or whether I prefer action to RomCom?
(Turquoise, and yes.)

It's just, I mean, we don't even know each other, you know?
Here you are, eating your food with table manners the Queen herself would rival, but in reality, all you want to do is scarf down a cheese burger and wash it away with a good craft beer. You're uncomfortable, I'm uncomfortable, even the waiter is slightly uncomfortable. And for what? Why do we put on a show for each other just to go back to our regular ol' selves in a month or two, when we're sure the other is not gonna leave?

So, I've decided to skip the whole "awkward first date" thing and get straight into the good, the bad and the most-probably-going-to-weird-you-out kinda ugly.
But first, here's a quick up-to-date list of things you don't need to know about me but I'll tell you anyway:
Hi, my name is Tayla.
I'm eighteen years and nine months old exactly, as of today.
I don't eat anything with a face. (No, I don't eat fish. Yes, I do eat eggs. It's not that difficult to get.)
I have very small feet.
I punch pretty hard (remember this when you're laughing about my feet.)
I am, in fact, a feminist, and no, I do not hate men.

I'm not quite sure if any of that was at all relevant to anything I'm going to post on this blog in the future, but hey, at least our awkward first date is over, right?

Now you can focus happily on whatever I'm going to post.
Hooray for you.