Beaus Residing in Accommodating Nirvana - VI

Meeting for Cape Town

The anticipation and excitement made the countdown easier to manage, March was soon over and April was eating up days like Pac-Man, then I was on a flight to Johannesburg with the destination to Cape Town after a stop-over. His flight from Bulawayo arrived in Johannesburg earlier than mine, which was overnight from Paris, I was quickly through immigration control well before him and waited to collect him for our separate check-in to Cape Town.

We had our shoes polished and cooled off in the lounge for a few hours before our flight. I guess he noticed the reaction of fellow passengers when we arrived in Cape Town and as you collected our luggage, we stole a kiss. By the time we arrived at our hotel, I had been travelling for almost 28 hours and it was well worth it.

Falling deeper in love

Until this holiday, I had visited Cape Town three times before, but never spent more than 3 nights maximum. This time, we had 12 days to play with before returning to Johannesburg for 5 days. It was important that this holiday was one I did not take over and control even if it was his first visit to Cape Town which in a way was a cultural shock for him, with people thinking he was from the Cape, a native Afrikaans speaker, my passing Dutch gave me an ear for Afrikaans.

The usual touristy things we did; Robben Island, Table Mountain, Cape Point, and the Cape Winelands, but on Easter Sunday, he had agreed to attend church with me, both of us wearing the same jacket design. It was the first time I had attended church with a partner, it was a welcoming and meaningful setting for both of us.

I believe that it was in this time that we knew we had something going strong, I could see this man in my life and every consideration that if the question came, I would say, Yes!

We’ll make a home here

Making the best of the time we spent together in Cape Town and then in Johannesburg, we planned on having summer in the UK, which unfortunately did not happen out of the hostile immigration policies we were up against. During that time, we sadly did not get to spend his birthday together. We returned to Cape Town for a month in September and then another month in December which included my birthday, Christmas, the anniversary of our meeting and the New Year.

We love Cape Town, it harbours many memories of our budding love, we also changed our domestic arrangements from hotel rooms to fully furnished self-service apartments, giving us the opportunity to live together like a couple. At least, within the constraints we had, we could do more of what partners do, cooking and basic chores. We know we are going to get married, there was a time I even thought it might have happened over the Easter just past, but for the pandemic.

I don’t know if it is easy to write a love story, but I know what is in my head, in my mind, and in my heart, I am in love with the most beautiful person in the world and I am the luckiest guy to have found this amazing person.