It is a NEW town!

I worked in Newtown for many years in the late Eighties and early Nineties, long periods of both day and night shifts. I knew the area well in the very specific way of one who drives there daily, always minded to be very aware … looking around carefully, senses heightened, scanning the scene for signs of danger.

It sounds dramatic, but honestly in those days we hardly walked around the area during broad daylight, never mind stopping for a coffee and watching the mad town’s mad people and feeling it's rhythm. Now I can’t wait to go back to do just that.

Since leaving Johannesburg

in 1997 I have been back to Newtown just once, to eat at the incomparable Kapitans. That time, I didn’t really dally at all, just headed for the restaurant, feasted there and rushed back to the safety of the suburbs. I remember being told that Kapitans was

Nelson Mandela’s favourite restaurant

and thinking that made sense, that it was not surprising.

Anyway back to today … I am dragged to Moyo, feeling quite nervous of what I will find. Well knock me down with a feather … Newtown is taking its rightful place as the heart of Josie!

Everyone must go!

Late into the night, the area is alive with people, lots of them looking fabulous and relaxed (an unusual combination in the Jo’burg I once knew, where fabulousness/money made you very vulnerable). As in years gone by, there were large fires in metal drums on the streets, but they were no longer surrounded by the desperately poor and cold. There were craft stalls and people just hanging around, looking every bit the part of the hip and proud residents of Africa hippest city.