Dec 4 - We're mobile now

We decided to rent a car to go walkabout, and took the train into Cape Town to pick it up at Avis. From Simon's Town, the picturesque train ride is a little over one hour. Our first stop after signing the papers for the new Ford Fiesta was to find Peninsular Power Products (021 511 5061), the local Perkins dealer, located way past the Royal Cape Yacht Club in an industrial section of town called Paarden Eiland. I had ordered a box of oil filters and wanted to save the $25.00 courier charge to Simon's Town by picking them up myself, seeing that we were in CT anyway. Unfortunately, our maps didn't show the area very well, but after a few false turns, we eventually found the building. Step one, done. The next stop was in Beaconvale, again not shown on our maps. After going down the N1 highway, we finally called and were told our exit wasn't available going in the direction we were heading, but had to be reached by turning around and going back towards Cape Town where, sure enough, the highway exit was plainly marked. Perhaps that in-the-car GPS would have been a good rental....At any rate, we eventually located the Foam Factory (021 931 5305), where we ordered new foam for our master stateroom mattress. Step two, done. Next stop, lunch. We stopped in Kalk Bay and had the excellent fish and chips at Kalky's (021 788 1726), found on the pier at Kalk Bay harbour. After a brief stop in Fish Hoek to the Pick N Pay, we returned to the Yacht Club, where we greeted David and Peggy (sv Rhythm) who had just arrived a few hours earlier. A quick shower and it was time for happy hour at The Crow's Nest Bar upstairs. David, Peggy, their daughter Philippa and her husband Joey, Cor & Olga, and Dave and ourselves relaxed for a bit. In fact, Matt won a nice polo shirt in a promotional hosted by Gordon's (order a Gordon's drink and get a scratch-off card. If you're lucky, you win a hat, T, or polo shirt). Btw, the wind's still blowing strong here in ST; in CT, Table Mountain had a thick necklace of clouds obscuring its view; the Cape Doctor in full form. This is the famous "tablecloth," formed when strong SE winds hit the eastern side of Table Mountain, forcing the air to rise and condense, thus forming cloud, which then spills over the top of the flat summit of the mountain and form the cloud layer known as the "tablecloth."
Pic: Colorful cabins at Fish Hoek.