No Sign of Frustration

When I was in secondary school, someone came up with the well-founded and certainly thoroughly researched claim that “Purple is the colour of sexually frustrated people”. This claim kept all the way through school and even at university I sometimes remember me saying it…

A few years later and things have changed a bit.

Not only are yellow and purple the two hot colours of the season and everyone suddenly owns yellow earrings, purple bracelets and yellow-purple striped dresses; but I also live in Pretoria, the Jacaranda city. Pretoria is famous for being the most Afrikaans city in South Africa (true), for being provincial and boring when compared to Johannesburg and Cape Town and for being too boring (both wrong).

But among all these rather unpleasant stereotypes, Pretoria is also famous for its wide streets lined by Jacaranda trees. In October these impressive trees do something rather spectacular: They turn Pretoria into an ocean of purple flowers as all the Jacaranda trees start to bloom. Wherever you step, violet petals will rain on your head; all streets were lined with massive trees with beautiful lilac flowers and when I look at the city from my office window, all I see is purple, purple, purple! This is the view at my house and street at the moment...


A while ago I told you about my most recent happiness boosting discovery: The Ultimate Walt Disney Music Collection. And just when I thought that nothing could cheer me up more, I drove down a hill in Pretoria and dived into a beautiful violet ocean of flowers! Wow – and everyone who knows me, should know that I don’t normally get excited about flowers (or fish or birds), but no matter how bad my mood is, how long my day was or how tired I am, seeing the Jacarandas immediately puts me in a state of total and complete happiness … just another reason to love life Pretoria!