After a quick stroll through the beautiful Company Gardens, a park in the heart of Cape town, we went to the V&A Waterfront.

It’s a newly re-developed area around the two basis of Cape Town’s harbor, named after Queen Victoria and her second son, Alfred.

Today it houses a number of restaurant, bars, markets and, above all, a huge shopping mall, that is nicely integrated into the old existing buildings.

Sven wanted some t-shirts, and I tagged along.

I haven’t been shopping in ages, except for that little leather briefcase I bought last week.

But clothes? Nothing, in months. I am still wearing my same old stuff, till it falls apart basically.

I have become somewhat averse to the shopping and constant consumerism around.

On top of it, it’s Christmas, so everybody is shopping like mad, and my Facebook is full of pictures of trees with presents underneath. I do not miss it one bit.

 

Well, first of all I don’t have money left to spend on anything that’s not really vital – or part of the fun. I will rather spend money on going out on a weekend than buy a new shirt…

But I am a bit torn. Walking through the mall with all the nice stuff I realized how sick I am to see me in the same old clothes all the time.

In the end, I cracked, and I bought new shorts, in a nice mustard-y color.

It was cheap, 600 Rand, some 40 Euro. Not really an excess.

Still, I felt a bit bad afterwards… or not bad, but I thought that in the future, if I want something new, I could browse a thrift store and get some second hand stuff for cheap, and give it a new use.

Like I did in Seattle when I bought a few shirts for Burning Man, basically thinking they would not survive the desert. Today they’re my favorites. 3 shirts for 11 Dollars.

I wonder how much of that attitude I will manage to keep once I am back in the ‘real’ world with a regular income.

I still have so much stuff in those 48 boxes in Sven’s garage. I am looking forward to opening them again and see what’s inside, but also to go for a second round of letting go.

I have lived out of a suitcase for 15 months now. I will need a lot less in the future, I hope.