As many people who know me should know, penguins are one of my favourite birds. Along with herons… I think I’m intrinsically drawn to birds that walk stupidly! And hummingbirds, which come to think of it, do they walk at all?

Anyway, of all the fun and exciting things on a weekend trip to Cape Town, one of the most gratifying was surely seeing penguins in the flesh, going about their business. They walk so exquisitely stupidly, and they really look like they should be my pet…

Once upon a time, I did have a pet penguin. His name was Sufjan, and he was a gift from a friend when I moved to Scotland. What was even better was that she didn’t give him to me when I left, she sent him through the post, resulting in much joy one solitary Saturday morning in Glasgow. I went a bit nuts that particular time in Glasgow, working a rubbish job and having no money to do anything, but Sufjan kept me company. I talked to him, we took pictures together, sat on the couch and looked out the window together… it was that kind of penguin-human relationship.

Obviously, when I left Glasgow with my tail between my legs a few months later, Sufjan came with me, and he came with me again when I moved to Barcelona. Where, tragically, we were parted when I stupidly forgot him in my bed when I moved in a hurry, leaving him to the mercy of José. José was my insane landlord/flatmate, metalhead, obsessed environmentalist and clean freak who had never forgiven me for leaving dishes in the sink on (more than one) occasion. José claimed he never found Sufjan. I still shudder to think of what actually must have befallen him at José’s vengeful hands.

But here, in Cape Town, a new chapter begins, for finally I have found–not Sufjan’s replacement–but perhaps his descendant. Meet Sofie-Ann.