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  "description": "Visiting Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on a cloudy day.",
  "path": "/the-kiepersols-will-see-you-now/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-21T19:15:58.000Z",
  "site": "https://aswimmingpoollibrary.net",
  "tags": [
    "The President"
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  "textContent": "This midweek visit to Cape Town's botanical gardens is more pedestrian, less grandiose than a pilgrimage. A spiritual obligation of sorts though, yes – almost akin to churchgoing or plunging into a tidal pool.\n\nI came to Kirstenbosch as a child, sucked on sherbet liquorice at the tearoom. I came here at 24, for the lunch where my mom would meet my ex-boyfriend properly for the first time (we weren't exes then; I had moved on from sherbet to shakshuka). I came here for sunset concerts, picnics, walks. And there is a brief (but I think rather wrenching?) scene in my novel, The President, set here.\n\nNone of that was on my mind as we walked there this time – no memories scudding over, no fictional flashbacks. Just – mountain-cradled breathing room, a steadfast holding above the city.\n\nColonel Bird's Bath. As a kid, I used to dream of swimming here. I haven't, but I did put it into my novel.In the centre, a fine cabbage tree (known in Afrikaans as a \"kiepersol\").",
  "title": "the kiepersols will see you now",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-21T19:15:58.451Z"
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