it's what I do

I spent the better part of the morning in the city centre looking for a suitcase. I had bought a good one a few years ago, in one of those shops on the fringes of the main road (high street) which sold a little bit of everything, their merchandise comprised of some good quality, some not so good but always stuff that moved. It was my first port of call in my search but the shop had closed as the area was being renovated.

Large parts of the city is currently being renewed and quietly gentrified, the idea is to bring people back into the city after the 9-to-5 suburban crowds have left for home. Before the forced removals of families, people lived and earned their living in the inner city, a phenomenon which you can still see on the outskirts of the CDB where small family businesses can be found on the ground floors of still to be renovated buildings.

These families own those 'yellow pages' type of: printing, automotive and tailoring businesses and they live in the apartments above these premises. They create the city's charm but sadly many of them have disappeared as a result of bad politics, bad urban planning and the creation of privileged suburban nodes. Now the city, is trying to recapture that charm but by way of a loft apartment, trendy café society lifestyle model, where small businesses will once again be part of the culture.

It won't be the same, but that's a given, as it's impossible to replace a generation of bakers, of tailors, of flower sellers, carpenters, and mechanics but it will hopefully evolve as their importance to urban living is finally being recognised and acknowledged.

I like the city, I like it because of the dichotomy, on a day like today, the last day of the month, the high street is a mob with people spending their hard earned wages, the city feels real, bustling and African but just a few roads away from this frenzy there exists a very cosmopolitan 'safe,' street, café culture - the posh 'third world.'

I did eventually find a suitcase for my travels, in a similar shop, in a highly trafficked but 'tired' looking mall concourse. I told the assistant about how difficult it was to find the right size suitcase and she immediately knew what I was talking about and promptly proceeded to show me their small but affordable range. The charm and the personalised service was enough for this fool and his money to be parted.

As I was cashing up I asked the owner whether they would survive all of the renewal and he said that he had moved premises three times in the last few years but that his shop was still trading, "it's what I do," he concluded.