Audi 2008 Annual Report Download - page 142

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Henrietta Rose-Innes, 37, studied archaeology prior to earning her master’s degree in creative
writing under the guidance of J. M. Coetzee, literature professor and Nobel laureate.
She has been awarded several honors in her homeland for her literary works. She teaches
creative writing at the University of Cape Town, the city in which she was born and raised.
at the airport. But put them all in a bag, shake them up with some drops of sea-
water and some mountain flowers, and take a sniff: that’s what Cape Town smells
of, my version of it anyway.
Then open the bag and let the south-easter steal your souvenirs; let them
blow away. They won’t be lost or go to waste. They’ll end up lining a penguin nest,
or part of a house, or in the foundations for a new road, or in the belly of a seal;
some place you’d never expect. For a moment, you’ve held a city in your hand.
Next second, it’s scattered, never to occur in quite that combination again.
And now I’ll release you from the tour and let you go. Shops close late at
the Waterfront – you can still make it if you rush. Buy that postcard of a change-
less beach, a motionless sea, and send it home. Then find me again tomorrow and
we’ll do it all again – don’t forget your sunscreen and a packed lunch. It will be a
different city tomorrow, I guarantee.
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Cape Town
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