Stellenbosch has a river in Checkers 🛒💦

Most supermarkets have a bread aisle. Our revamped Checkers on Mill Street has a historic waterway running through it. Very Stellenbosch. Even our grocery shops come with heritage features.

The store has incorporated the Meulsloot, or Mill Stream, into its design, giving shoppers a glimpse of a water system dating back more than 300 years. Diverted from the Eerste River, it supplied water and powered the town’s mills. Checkers stands on the site of Stellenbosch’s third mill, demolished in 1963. The stream itself received provincial heritage protection in 1973.

It’s a lovely bit of local history to preserve. Centuries ago, this water helped turn wheat into flour. Today, you can admire it while wondering how you came in for bread and somehow spent R847.

The revamp also brings a Starbucks, a Lindt shop-in-shop and upgraded food departments. Better still, 142 new jobs have been created, bringing the store’s total staff to 272.

So your next grocery run can include coffee, chocolate and a small heritage excursion.

You’ll still get home and realise you forgot the bread.

When you’re alone in the kitchen, do you put music on? Or do you just prepare dinner in silence, listening to a carrot being cut into smaller carrots?

And when you drive somewhere alone, is it a chance to enjoy your favourite music? Or do you happily sit there listening to your tyres?

I’m a music person. I don’t sing along. There’s no performance happening. I just think most ordinary activities are considerably better with a decent soundtrack.

Unpacking the dishwasher in silence feels like housework. Unpacking it with Blink-182 on feels like housework being done by someone who still has a bit of youth left in him, despite now having strong opinions about how the dishwasher should be packed.

My music taste also covers a fairly wide range. Blink-182 one minute. Andrea Bocelli the next.

One moment I’m mentally back in my teenage years. Five minutes later, I’m a sophisticated Italian gentleman looking out over his vineyard.

In reality, I’m on the R44 behind a truck.

That’s the beauty of music. Same car. Same traffic. Completely different experience. With the right song, even a trip to buy bin bags can feel like something worth leaving the house for.

And sometimes you arrive home just as a really good song comes on. Now you have a decision to make. Go inside and be a responsible adult, or sit in the driveway for another three minutes enjoying yourself.

Obviously, you stay. You’ve paid for the petrol to get there. You might as well finish the experience.

I’m curious about the silence people, though. Do you get into the car, see that the music is playing, and deliberately switch it off?

Like, “Enough of that. Let’s hear what the engine has prepared for us today.”

Each to their own. But in my kitchen, the onions are getting chopped to a soundtrack.

Whether it’s punk rock or an Italian tenor depends entirely on how the day has gone.

We sometimes talk about Stellenbosch reds as though they all have the same personality: big, bold and best left in the cupboard until your children finish university.

But a recent tasting by wine writer Janine van Zyl MW, comparing three Bordeaux-style blends, makes a good case for looking beyond that stereotype.

Taaibosch Crescendo 2021 is the quietly confident guest. Cabernet Franc leads this Helderberg blend, with savoury, floral and peppery notes. It doesn’t need to speak over everyone to hold your attention.

De Toren Fusion V 2021, from the Polkadraai Hills, arrives impeccably dressed. Darker fruit, more richness and a polished finish. The sort of guest who brings an excellent bottle and discreetly notices you’ve served it in the wrong glass.

Then there’s Meerlust Rubicon 2023, bringing the broadest shoulders of the three, with generous structure and plenty of finesse. It’s also two years younger than the others, so judging its youthful tannins too harshly would be like complaining that a student hasn’t settled down yet.

The interesting part is how much variety exists within our own backyard. Altitude, soils, grape varieties and proximity to the ocean all help shape what ends up in the glass. “Stellenbosch red” covers considerably more ground than one flavour profile.

No winner required. Just three different reasons to appreciate where we live.

And possibly a more convincing answer to: “Why do we need another bottle?”

We’re currently in the stage of parenting where our four-year-old no longer sleeps in nappies, but still needs a middle-of-the-night trip to the loo.

We’d had a lovely run. Dry bed after dry bed. Quiet confidence was building.

Then one of us said it.

“Wow, we haven’t had a wet bed in so long.”

If you’re a parent, you already know the rest. You must never say these things out loud. Same rule as “the kids haven’t been sick lately” and “she’s finally sleeping through”.

At approximately 2am, I went in for the usual toilet transfer.

Bed: wet. Pants: wet. T-shirt: wet.

An impressive distribution. Whatever had happened, it had achieved full coverage.

I picked him up and stood there holding a child dripping in wee, trying to work out which part of my body I was still willing to sacrifice.

Next, remove the wet clothes and get him onto the toilet to empty whatever reserves remained. All in the dark, of course, because switching on the light might wake him up.

Then I felt warmth on my feet.

We had not, in fact, got him onto the toilet successfully.

There’s a particular kind of defeat that comes with being urinated on at 2am while whispering, “It’s okay, my boy,” when absolutely nothing about your current circumstances feels okay.

Now we’re running a full operation. One parent showering the child. The other stripping the bed and hunting for clean linen.

Finding a fitted sheet that fits at 2am should be a Japanese game show.

You pull one out. Cot sheet. Another one. Duvet cover. Somehow there’s a pillowcase large enough to accommodate a small vehicle, but not one suitable sheet.

Eventually, the child is clean. The bed is dry. Everyone is tucked in.

“I want a story.”

Of course you do. Your evening at the spa would be incomplete without entertainment.

So we sit in the dark, inventing a story about a pirate, quietly hoping he reaches his destination much faster than originally planned.

Finally, sleep.

We creep back to our room, where the baby is still asleep. We lower ourselves into bed with the care of bomb disposal specialists.

My head touches the pillow.

From beside us:

“Mama?”

Apparently, the night shift has a second sitting.

Most of us walk past the Eerste River and admire the scenery. Stellenbosch University scientists have been looking a little closer. Microscopically closer.

Researchers have found living yeasts in the river, including species capable of causing infections, particularly in people with weakened immune systems. Dr Cleo Conacher and her colleagues are investigating whether changes in these organisms could help flag future infection risks.

The question is whether adapting to stresses in the river could also help some yeasts survive inside the human body or resist antifungal treatment. If researchers can identify measurable warning signs, these might eventually help communities act earlier. It’s a research goal, rather than a working prediction system just yet.

There’s a practical reason to pursue it: community surveys found that children were the group most frequently observed in contact with river water. The team is also working with engineers on a prototype that could automatically collect samples and analyse biological data.

While the rest of us are trying to predict whether it’s safe to hang out the washing, local scientists are investigating whether a river can help predict health risks.

A rather more ambitious use of a water sample.

When we’re young, we want to be older. When we’re older, we wish we were young.

As children, we fight going to bed. As parents, getting into bed is practically a holiday.

We spend a remarkable amount of life wanting to be somewhere further along in it.

“I can’t wait for Friday.”
“I can’t wait for summer.”
“I can’t wait for the holidays.”

There’s nothing wrong with looking forward to something. But be careful of treating the days in between as time you simply need to get through.

Those days count. You don’t get them back.

Your life includes the Tuesday morning school run. The dinner that needs making. The work that needs doing. The little person calling you back for one more story when you desperately want to go to sleep.

It’s easy to imagine that real living will begin when the responsibilities ease up and you’re finally sipping a piña colada on a beach.

Enjoy the beach when you get there. But recognise how much of your life is happening here.

Those responsibilities carry meaning. You’re feeding someone. Raising someone. Building something. Keeping a promise. Being the person somebody relies on.

Yes, it can be tiring. Some days are difficult, and you’re allowed to need a break. You can appreciate your life and still feel exhausted by it.

But before you wish another week away, pause long enough to notice what’s in it.

The small hand reaching for yours. The familiar voice in the kitchen. Someone asking how your day went.

One day, you may miss something you’re currently rushing through.

Look forward to tomorrow. Just don’t miss out on today.

Tuesday, 3 November to Sunday, 8 November

🌤️ Tuesday: Some sunshine before the clouds roll in. 15–25°C

☀️ Wednesday: A warm 30°C, with sunshine through high clouds. 16–30°C

🌦️ Thursday: Cooler and breezy, with a few afternoon showers. 15–21°C

🌦️ Friday: A few morning showers, followed by some sunshine before cloud builds again. 14–21°C

🌤️ Saturday: A possible morning shower, then clearing skies and sunshine. 12–20°C

☀️ Sunday: A pleasant finish to the week with some sunshine. 14–26°C

Wednesday brings the heat, Thursday brings the reminder that we live in the Cape, and Sunday looks promising for a braai.

As always, thanks for reading. If you spot something in town worth knowing, reply and tell us. Half the best Stellenbosch stories begin that way.

See you around town,
Stellenbosch Brief

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