Clickety... clique, click??

Is Cape Town clicky?
You know, like the whole "group", "social status", "old school"... "new school"... blah shma?

I'm trying to work it out actually... because there are people who have lived here there whole lives, and still don't feel like they actually belong here. And then there are people who move here on a whim or a bursary or a lifestyle betterment mission, or whatever you want to call it, and they have never felt more at home!

So couldn't it then be a confidence in yourself thing too, I ask myself?
Or is it just this preconceived notion one has of the icy austere clique that frequent the streets, bars and homes of cape town.
I think its bollocks quite personally, and then sometimes I look around and can see who the people are who never quite relax or warm to the crowd, and I feel horrible for them... but surely that can't only be about whom they are surrounded by, it has to come partly from their own attitudes and actions too... Don't you get back what you put out, isn't that the whole idea?

Take myself for instance, I know when its not a good time for me to even attempt to socialise- when I could quite literally throw daggers into the crowd with my unwelcoming stare. And then there are those days when I'm feeling on top of the world and anything is possible. You know those days I'm talking about! She woman days!

Non the less, I was talking to a few of my friends today, non of which are from Cape Town, and they confirmed this arms length notion of Capetonians for me... Well apparently it seems to some: that unless you have grown up with; gone to school/ varsity with; or your parents/ grandparents grew up together etc... there ain't a hope in hell you're getting invited round to the homestead for a warm family meal- much less meeting the family at all.

I went home and thought about this carefully, what a terrible reality, if it is in fact so. But on a closer inspection it actually rings quite true. "Capetonians"- as a massive stereotype- do seem to be all to set in their steadfast ways, to let any new comer ever feel like part of the furniture.

Is this true though, i mean really? I don't feel like that... in fact the thought has never really crossed my mind... I mean obviously it is easier to built a sustainable base with someone who has had a similar background and upbringing to you. You'd have more in common, more to go on, but that's only initially. Sooner or later that person, whether they have an identical history to you or not, is going to have to prove themselves to you as an individual. Without all that other history mambo jumbo!

I mean I'm a Capetonian and I love meeting people from other places, its so interesting!
And even more so when you realise that even though you're from opposite sides of the globe or country, you share common interests, similarities and kindred spirits in sense. I find it far more gratifying than already knowing everything about the person you're meeting. That's way to easy. Its like being handed your "lifetime friendship" on a silver platter- how boring!

Post script: Ducks are friends, not food!