[UA] Re: City Swop: Cape Town

[Dylan Craig]

I've finished my Cape Town city bio; the format I've chosen uses the following
headings:

Population
Quick History
Climate
Law Enforcement
Guns
Cost of Living
Drugs
Getting There
Geography
- The Townships
- The Southern Suburbs
- The Northern Suburbs
- The City Centre
- The Cape Flats
- The Atlantic Seaboard

Each geographical header is divided into the following subheadings

- Description
- Impressions
- Places
- Magick

I haven't included any GMCs or "stats"; a sample of one of the geographical
headers is included below. I look forward to your feedback.

- The Southern Suburbs: Stretching in a long curve from the city centre to the
Cape Peninsula, suburbs of particular interest are Salt River and Woodstock
(industrial areas and low-cost housing), Observatory (Camden-style hipeousie,
students, young professionals, Valkenberg Mental Hospital, and Groote Schuur
General Hospital), Rondebosch (University students), Claremont and Constantia
(middle and upper income families), Wynberg (which has an army base, Pollsmoor
prison, and "Two Mil" - the SANDF's psychiatric hospital), Kalk Bay and St James
(equal parts retirees and craft-market bohemians), Fish Hoek (conservative and
religious middle- to lower-income families), and Simonstown (which has a large
naval base). Southern suburbs residents typically speak English only.

Impressions: Skateboarding pre-teens listening to Lip Bizkit, au pairs watching
kids at play, "Armed Response" signs on property fences, Table Mountain wreathed
in thick, tumbling cloud, trees and vineyards, and, from Muizenberg onwards, the
bright blue ocean, seals, penguins, and seagulls.

Places: The Ruby In The Dust (tiny hip-hop and live music venue, Observatory:
crumbling wooden floors, pool tables, cubicle bar), Kuzma's (dingy 24-hour
coffee shop and falafel eaterie, Rondebosch: wrought-iron tables, papier-mâché
heads ringing the walls, full-ceiling painting of Neptune), Kirstenbosch
(botanical gardens: closed at night, and completely dark, but still frequented
by lovers, small groups of revellers and mystics, and security guards).

Magick: Oneiromancy (guests-only raves in Noordhoek, sleep-deprived artists and
computer scientists in Rondebosch), Avatars of the Mother, and Urbanomancy in
Fish Hoek (streets all laid out in a series of adjacent concentric hexagons).

--
"I only smile in the dark / My only comfort is the night gone black"
Dylan Craig : Writer and Observer : Cape Town, South Africa
Contact Details: http://www.eyeballkid.co.za/contact.html

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