Welcome to The weekender
At the end of the week, you are probably looking for an escape from the regular routine to a place where you can rest for a while and enjoy the view. Welcome to The Weekender, the latest creative offering from Life & Style Media. Each week our creative teams in Cape Town and Ballito search the mountain, scour the beaches and mine the internet for fresh ideas and inspiration to entertain and inform you and to fire you up for the week ahead.
We hope that you enjoy this weekly missive and that you will share it freely with your nearest and dearest. In this way we will build an inspired community that is firmly in touch with the nuances of what we want to share with you and, in the fullness of time, we will be bringing you real opportunities to embrace the best of everything in the form of special offers, hidden gems and so much more – from Ballito to Cape Town and beyond.
- Dave
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Things we love
Notion →
An all-in-one workspace for your team's notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. Basically, it's a WFH wonder tool that you can use to keep in touch with your office, your varsity group, or your side hustle!
Love laugh is a local florist situated in the Ballito Lifestyle Centre whose mission is to create experiences that curate a story.
Scoop →
We love the pastel tones of Scoop's counters! Scoop up artisinal, small-batch ice creams and sorbets at this local gem for a taste of Durban summer.
Durbanites might shudder at the thought of an Atlantic dip, but the Cold Water Social Club is taking off in Cape Town. The Wim Hoff method is winning us over!
Recently, we're obsessed with Kalki Ceramics. This local Durban company produces stunning handmade bespoke tiles, the likes of which can be seen in community favourites like the Glenwood Bakery.
WORTHY 5: DAVE CHARLES
Five recommendations by radio personality, Dave Charles.
A piece of advice worth passing on:
DO IT NOW! Don’t put off doing what needs to be done. The sooner you get into it, the better the outcome. The more you avoid the difficult or unpleasant tasks, the more difficult and unpleasant they become.
A word with knowing:
Loquacious - Talking or tending to talk much or freely.
A podcast worth listening to: Great South African Tales. Herman Charles Bosman was a South African writer and journalist who became famous for capturing the rhythms of backveld Afrikaans speech even though he wrote in English
A book worth reading:
Third World Child: Born white, bred Zulu. In many ways GG Alcock’s story mirrors that of many of his people, the journey of a tribal society learning to embrace the first world. He does not shy away from the violence and death that coloured his childhood years surrounded by savage faction fighting, nor how they affected his adult life.
A recipe worth trying: Cornish pasties. My Cornish heritage compels me to roll these out occasionally. They are quick, easy and delicious.
Heard & read
A pick what we've been listening to and read that's caught our eye.
Winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, this stunning novel by South African author Damon Galgut traces the decline of a white South African family over the course of forty years, cursed by a broken promise from long ago. On her death bed in 1986, Rachel makes her husband Manie promise that he would give her maid, Salome, the deeds to the small house she occupies on their property. But after Rachel’s death, Manie apparently forgets, and doesn’t care to be reminded. A must read!
Spectacular, soaring and sonically exceptional, “Two Hands” is the second album from Brooklyn-based rock band Big Thief, and it is an absolute stunner. Led by inscrutable frontwoman Adrienne Lenker, the band careens through a breath-taking round-up of songs which will leave you deep in your feelings, and wanting much, much more.
SNIPPET OF THE WEEK
"People posting about wordle annoyed me so much that I looked it up and started playing wordle. Masterful marketing ngl " – Erika Harlacher
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Curated selection of good reads
The one who sings
I never label any of the recordings that I make using the voice memo app on my phone. Because of that, they all get automatically saved under the name of the location where a recording had taken place. Before the release of Thetha Mama - Zolani Mahola’s debut album as The One Who Sings - I revisited a short recording that I had captured at The Baxter Theatre in Cape Town at the end of last year.
It was a spellbinding moment during the final night of Zolani’s one-woman stage production (also called The One Who Sings) when she had invited the audience to repeat a series of affirmations after her. Read more →
What your gut says to the brain
If you think you are in control of your behaviour, you may need to think again. There are more microbes living in our bodies than human cells (roughly 38 trillion bacteria). The communication between our gut bacteria and the rest of the body plays an enormous role in our health, and our mood. Read more →
Why hiking nude is the new confidence builder for men
Is hiking in the nude the secret weapon to overcoming a negative body image? In recent years, people have protested the unrealistic expectations for women perpetuated in the media. But men also struggle with the pressure of having a certain body type. Read more →
This survivor is going nuts for testicular cancer awareness
Don’t mind the man running below Table Mountain in his Speedo. As a cancer survivor, Torsten Koehler is drawing attention to Love Your Nuts, the campaign he founded to get men talking about testicular cancer. Read more →
Coast to Coast
Aesthetically pleasing images from opposites ends of South Africa
Top of the pods
Overhead on the podcast this week:
Tune in to "True North”: our podcast chronicling the stories and people of the KZN North Coast. In this bumper episode, hosts Mike Charles and Tim Johnson call sit down for a chat with celebrated journalist, author, and foodie Erica Platter. She takes the boys from the coastal Umhlali farm of her youth, up through the Sahara Desert, down to the Cape Winelands, and back to the KZN North Coast to celebrate the curry flavours that bring people together (as chronicled in her phenomenal food storybook, "Durban Curry Up 2 Date"). Listen here →
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