Le Weekly #19 – Tan Lines ☀️
One quote, one word, one shoutout, one story, one neigh from Philosophical Horse and one question.
Greetings everyone. Happy Monday!
Take a moment to reflect on each snippet. Comment your thoughts below.
Le Quote 🗣
“Inhale as much as you can. Don’t worry about exhaling; it happens on its own.” – Sanele Sohuma (while making his 6h00 boxing class do burpees until they couldn’t burpee any more).
Le Word 💬
territory (noun). an area of knowledge, activity, or experience.
Le Shoutout 🧣
The other morning, I drove to Salt River for a morning Bootlegger coffee. I parked my car, turned off the engine and got out.
While rummaging through my bags, I noticed a small tuckshop called The Curry Dish across the road. I saw three people exiting with Score energy drinks, preparing for a long workday. I worry about the diets of many low-income South Africans, so I watched for a while longer. A few more people exited with energy drinks. Then, out of nowhere, a person walked out with a takeaway coffee.
Somewhere in the tiny roadside tuckshop, a coffee machine stood tall.
Bootleggers could wait; I needed to investigate. I popped into The Curry Dish, said greetings, ordered a coffee and waited for whatever hot bean water was coming my way.
“Milk?” the man behind the snack-laden counter asked.
“All good,” I said.
“How many sugars?”
“None, thanks,” I replied.
He looked shocked, handing me the sugarless coffee curiously.
I went outside and sat at the table.
After about 15 minutes, a lady entered the shop before reemerging moments later. I smiled at her. Unlike everyone else who had passed me that morning, she didn’t seem to question my existence (too much). We chatted lightheartedly as she waited for one of her colleagues. Then, she asked me what I did for a living. I told her I was re-studying down the road.
“Nice,” she said, “I believe everything will work out for you once you’ve completed the year.”
I agreed with her, thanking her for the encouragement and belief.
With a vetkoek in her hand, she walked up the road to start her day.
Shoutout Tarryn.
Le Story ✍️
Last week, while getting dressed in the gym locker room, I looked at the crisp shirt tan I had developed from riding the Cape Town Cycle Tour.
As I inspected the tan, one of the gym’s personal trainers walked in.
“What do you think?” I asked him, pointing at the sharp line on my arm.
He glanced at it rather nonchalantly before looking back at me.
“It comes with the territory,” he said.
With that, he continued walking towards the toilet cubical that had lured him into the locker room in the first place. I stood there, reflecting on what he had just said.
“It comes with the territory.”
It was a simple reminder that everything has a cause and effect. Everything in life is a “territory”, and every “territory” comes with something.
This week, I had a shirt tan. Why? Because it comes with the territory.
Le Neigh from Philosophical Horse 🐴
“Neigh.” – Philosophical Horse
Le Question 🤔
What territory are you currently in, and what are the “things that come with it” that you like or dislike about it?
Have a great Monday, everyone!
Previous Newsletters:
(Remember to send this to someone who you think would enjoy Le Weekly)
Steam Train 🚂 Parked Car 🚗 Russ Bus 🚌 Being New ✨ Coffee Coffee ☕️ Leopard Picture 🐆 Clare’s Exhalations 🌸 Boiled Potatoes 🥔 Back Shampoo 🧼 Muscular Swallows 🐦 Long Wood 🪵 Impactful Leaf 🍃 Vulnerable Ankles 🦵 Sea Sea TV 📸 Treadmill Queue 💦 Lemonade 🍋 Meat Factory 🥩 Woolworths Maternitywear 👚
Looks like you've earned your stripes ☀️ 🚲
I thought a long time about this question….too long, I realised. Because at my granny-age, I HAVE got time. And I realised that my Territory gives me precious time to think longer about stuff. But ….(here’s my query)…. I may have lost the spontaneity that I enjoy reading about each Monday morning from this post. Dankie ☘️