Joburg shapes and colours

I’ve just spent a week in Johannesburg, doing the FoodWineDesign fair, which is held annually on the roof of the Hyde Park Corner shopping centre. I spent a lot of time driving in and out of the centre, and really came to appreciate the parking lot on the 3rd floor, which has a great paint job, don’t you think?

Despite it being a tough, tiring week with way more smiling and small talk than I’m used to, I seem to have returned home feeling pretty invigorated. It’s probably because the Joburg air smelled like jacaranda blossoms, and the irises were blooming like crazy, and the birds were waking me up at 4am with their loud enthusiasm for summertime. All that energy got me taking snaps of shapes and colours all over the place.

It got very hot in the FoodWineDesign tents up there on the roof, but the daily threat of thunderstorms promised a bit of coolth, and the pool at my guesthouse also did the trick. Whew!

And on the subject of my guest house: it was in Sandhurst, which is a pretty fancy neighbourhood that I enjoyed exploring on my morning runs. Super-high walls, fancy curly gates, fountains and statuary abounding… but the best part was the unbelievable topiary trees. Like Disneyland!

I spent my last morning in Joburg enjoying the 60s apartment blocks in Illovo, where I went for a much-needed Thai massage* at EnMasse.

And that’s it! More shapes and colours and crazy trees from me, next time I visit Joburg.

*Hot tip: Bongi was the name of my masseuse, and wow, she’s good. Ask for her next time you go for a massage.