Last night tbV [the beautiful Val] and i went for a walk in Rondvlei in Grassy Park.
It is a beautiful space of nature – where apparently hippos roam altho i am yet to see that to believe it – hidden in the middle of the suburbs where you can go and walk for free and enjoy a beautiful sunset.
Val is on a 2km per day vibe [as a minimum, which is great and sometimes involves walking in malls – rain – or around tables if we made it home before the 2km was reached] and so she regularly gets me out of the house for walks, which i typically enjoy and typically don’t want to go on the moment she asks me.
How do you fill your down time?
How often does it involve a screen of some sort?
To be honest, when we have another night at home with nothing on, the easiest is to whip out the laptop and thrown on a few episodes of Brooklyn 99 or continue with Homeland or Riverdale or whatever series we are busy with. On slightly less frequent occasions we will split up and watch our own series in different rooms…
It’s not the best go-to though. Especially if it happens all the time. And especially if your job or work-time-activity largely involves sitting behind a screen already.
Break up with your screen
So we try to be intentional about not just going to the go-to of Netflix or You Tube Fail videos [don’t try open that bottle with a knife!]
On Sunday we had an open house and invited friends to read and listen to records with us.
We love to play board games and so tonight we have friends coming round to play with us.
We both love to read and so we often announce a reading night, sometimes accompanied by a bottle of wine or some popcorn.
Walking has become a healthy and fun alternative and so we have quite a number of places from Muizenberg to Rondvlei to Tokai and beyond that we will drive to and walk, or else sometimes we will just head out around Diep River where we live.
Don’t be afraid to switch off the screen and…
Sometimes, especially after a hard or intense day, flopping down in front of a screen feels like the easiest thing to do. And that’s fine.
But if there are other things you enjoy, i would encourage you to try and be more proactive about giving them space.
Or else try something new – a new hobby, something creative with your hands, cooking or baking something you haven’t made before, reading someone different to who you normally might choose to read, inviting someone over for a chilled evening vibe…
What is your go to at the end of a long day? Does it involve a screen?
And if so, what are some of the alternative things you like to do or are going to try this coming week?
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Lekker post. Bro I live next door to there and never once seen a hippo. Its like a unicorn. Whats needed is a mountain walking club where every sunday we do a hike to the dams on the mountain in a group.But i havent been up for years as walking two or three is a risk for muggers. I sleep with my cell in the next room as the signals cause me headaches as im emf sensitive. What is your take on the masts, do you think its a danger? who phones one another anyways, its usually text and people are turning over to fibre. ya lekker spot is also old arbotoreum in tokai but i think its open after 3 years of being closed. I was there but so empty now. We really need more areas to walk.
hey Ishmail, thanks for commenting bro. Guard or ranger guy at the place said the day before the hippos got out and were in the parking lot so that must have been fun to watch but ja feels a little unicorny at the moment to be honest.
Sho, the phone tower stuff is real, yo. Don’t know that i’d choose to live near one cos we really don’t know. Although same with microwave ovens and phone use in general – what will we discover in 20 years time about the damage it does to us?
We went to Rondebosch Common for the first time the other day – as a walking spot – quite central and pretty safe compared to a number of them – so sad that you have to do things in groups – Val and i were on a walk last year near Kalk Bay where a week later there was a massive attack on a hiking party and saw this week someone threw a rock at a lady who was doing the Muizenberg to St James walk we often do. Scary times to be out walking – so sad…
Thanks for stopping by
Brett Fish