Tuesday 29 June 2010

From elephants to sharks (via some crap football!)

Well I'm now in Simon's Town (2 separate words I think), about 50k (I think!) south of Cape Town (definitely 2 separate words) preparing for my shark trip - eeeek! By asking some random people in the street, I managed to find an internet cafe, which for once really is a cafe with internet access. Actually it's an Italian restaurant and they've stuck me in the corner next to a high chair and the fire hose and I'm on someone's laptop with the Paraguay v Japan game on in the background. It's not exactly 10/10 in the ergonomic stakes and Health & Safety would have a fit, but needs must. Incidentally when I Googled 'Sally does South Africa' to find my blog, 'Sally does Dallas' came up automatically in the history. Hmmmmmmm...

I arrived last night in the dark, so have been waiting to venture out of the gorgeous apartment I've been booked into by the shark people - 4 ensuite bedrooms, very plush, overlooking the bay (which I couldn't see this morning), a billion TV channels including the Hairy Bikers (hahahaaaa!) and only me staying in it, yay! - to explore Simon's Town and get my bearings. I was meant to be on a shark dive this morning, but it was cancelled due to gale force winds and I ended up imprisoned in the apartment by another tropical storm. Made it out the front door and about 50 yards up the road in horizontal rain before I realised it was pointless going any further. So I turned around, changed out of my 'waterproof' coat - which clearly wasn't - and ordered a taxi. Georgie, the driver, said to me "give me 5 minutes. I've just got to get the penguin out from under the car and I'll be right with you". And she wasn't joking, hahahahaaaaaa! If Brighton Streamline ever try using that one on me... So I've just popped into the Apex shop, the shark company I'm diving with, to let them know I'm here and ready & raring to go. Managed to spend 150 quid in one fell swoop on great white shark stuff. While I was there tomorrow's trip was confirmed so I get picked up at 6.45am and dropped at the harbour - aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggghhhhhhh!!!! And now I'm officially sh*tting myself (sorry mum). I remember feeling like this the last time, but I know I'll love every minute of it - think I'm more scared of the cold water than the 4m great whites out there... Anyway, I'll fill you in on the last 7 days - if I can actually remember what I've been up to.

Tuesday 22nd June: left Falcon's View in Knysna and decided to stop off at the Elephant Park which was en route to Port Elizabeth (PE). But not before an unscheduled drive through a small township on the outskirts of Knysna!! I think the plan had been to visit a waterfall near the coast and Ali had programmed something into the sat nav to take us there. Unfortunately the sat nav had other ideas and took us through a township and a maze of dirt-tracks, complete with lots of black people looking at the silly white people who had so obviously taken a wrong turn!! We managed to find our way out of it (with Liz, Mark and Michael following us in the other car) and just smiled at everyone at the side of the road as we went past - they were all waving at us and I couldn't stop laughing and waving back. I don't think they'd seen many white people in their neck of the woods and we must've provided some entertainment as we drove past the same groups of people about 5 times, hahahaaaaaa! Anyway, once we got to the elephant park we took a short trailor ride out to the middle of the park and fed the elephants loads of carrots - a bizarre experience, but a good one. They're so HUGE though and I was a little bit wary of them. Think I was more scared of the elephants than the township experience. One of the bigger ones took a liking to my chest (I think it must've been the way I was holding my carrots!) and frightened the life out of me with its trunk. After tearing Liz away from the elephants we carried on along the coast, driving into Eastern Cape province and stopping at Tsitsikamma National Park. Decided to take the cliff walk to the suspension bridge, which was about 1km of steps up and down and played havoc with my knees. Well worth it though as when we got to the end we spotted a pod of southern right whales out to sea - you could just see them in the distance when they surfaced. We could make out at least 4 from the water coming from their blowholes and we saw them breach a couple of times - hard to tear ourselves away. The landscape there reminded me of great white shark country too. Can't wait... Finally arrived in Port Elizabeth in the dark and in the pouring rain so we had a bit of trouble finding our B&B. Dumped our bags and went straight out for dinner at Mike's Kitchen. We all ate so much food it was embarrassing!!! I did manage to eat something green though, as well as sinking a large bottle of JC Le Roux (the local cava) by myself. Had a call from Spurs Mark while we were there - he'd just flown in from Cape Town - and he ended up joining us for a drink. Called a cab to take us home, but the driver never turned up so John, the owner of Mike's (work that one out) offered to drive us back, about 20km out of his way! People are so friendly over here. I can't imagine that happening at home. So a funny, but bloody cold, night all round.

Wednesday 23rd June: had breakfast at the boys' B&B and got a taxi to the Boardwalk in PE with Keith the driver, who gave us a guided tour on the way - in competition with the taxi office at full blast on the radio, a Beegees cd and a very broad accent. Sat in the sun outside the casino and had a couple of glasses of wine to calm my pre-match nerves. Bumped into Kev and Tone, West Ham fans who I'd met in Japan in 2002 - they looked exactly the same - and reminisced about the karaoke bar where we'd all met. Spurs Mark joined us for a beer and we all set off for the match. Stood about 4 rows from the front near the corner flag so had a cracking view of the game, which we went on to win - thank god. Heard that USA scored a late winner in their game though, so that threw all our travel plans into disarray as we now finish second on goals scored and face Germany. Typical americans! Went for a curry on the way back to the Boardwalk and they were playing the Saturday Night Fever cd - more Beegees, hahahaaaaa! Had a farewell drink with Spurs Mark who is flying home tomorrow.

Thursday 24th June: had breakfast at Apron Strings B&B again and discussed our Plan Bs which we'd all had to put in place after finishing second in the group. I had a flight booked from Joburg to Cape Town for my shark trip, which I would have to delay by a day, but would need to stop off in Bloemfontein for the next round game v Germany. The boys and Liz were driving that way anyway so I decided to stay with them and go by car. A few phonecalls to Bill our hero travel agent in England and he was on the case with accommodation. Set off quite early for Smithfield, an arty town about 100km south of Bloemfontein, where Bill booked us all in for 3 nights. Think I must've fallen asleep again in the back of the car (Clarence Seedorf??!! - it's a long story) as I can't remember much of the journey. I do remember putting on my red jumper which I'd last worn in Knysna, only to find elephant snot down my left boob. Nice. And a first (it's ok, I managed to scrape it off and it's now in the washing machine in Simon's Town!). We arrived in Smithfield just as the sun was setting so the owners, Linda and Peter (an artist), made us a pot of tea which we drank outside on the veranda in short sleeves. Until the sun went down and the temperature dropped to something like -2 and I almost froze on the spot. At this point Linda told us that we all had electric blankets on our beds, hurrahh!! Peter put the fire on in the living room and we watched the Italians get knocked out by Slovakia (my sweep team, hurrah!) over a glass or two of white wine (or "waaaaahhhht waaaaaaahhhhhne" as me & Kev have taken to calling it, hahahaahaaaa!). Had dinner at Pigout, a local restaurant about 5 minutes (freezing cold) walk away - a lovely place, run by Henk (a great host and a UFO enthusiast!) and Lynette (a great cook). Ate lots, drank lots, sat by the fire, played with the dogs & mad cat and watched the football. A good evening all round. Had a cryptic message from Spurs Mark to say he'd see me in Bloem - confused as he was meant to be going home...

Friday 25th June: awoke around 1.00am to the smell of burning flesh where I'd left my electric blanket on full power, hahahaaaaaa! Leapt out of bed to cool off and eventually had a really good sleep. Had a cracking full breakfast, packed our bags and moved about 100 yards down the road to Smithfield House where we were due to spend the next 2 nights (unfortunately Linda and Peter were filling up with church folk...). Met our hosts, Ann and Geoff, both in their 80s and both artists. I can't describe them, but they were fantastic - on a par with Terence & John at Quiet Mountain, but obviously straight. Geoff had so many stories to tell and was so plummie. He's from Rhodesia, not Zimbabwe ("they keep changing the bloody names, I don't know where these places are any more! There's a place called Polokwane and I've never bloody heard of it!"). We decided to drive off to Geriep (pronounced Harreep with a rolling R - we had problems with it) to see the dam and the nature reserve, which was a surprise when we got there. We paid about a pound each to drive through a huge expanse of nothing, then turned a corner and saw ostrich, wildebeast, zebra, some kind of antelope, kudu and mongoose. Talk about value for money - I got my safari after all! Drove back to Smithfield and Ann made us tea on the veranda. Got changed for dinner (adding about 20 layers of clothing in preparation for the walk) and Geoff poured us all a glass of wine which we drank by the fire in the drawing room whilst listening to his stories - we could've stayed there for hours, but we were booked in for dinner at Luigi's on the "High Street" of the sprawling metropolis that is Smithfield! Had a few drinks in the bar beforehand and got chatting to a couple of Carlisle fans who were also making their way to Bloem for the match. Had one of the best steaks I've ever had, followed by pudding and more wine... All sorts of people started drifting into the bar and I got chatting to a local sheep farmer who said he'd been kite surfing in Brighton (do they do kite surfing in Brighton?!). He offered to buy us all drinks, but we had to get back so turned down the offer - I don't think I've ever done that, but I did. Honest! Also had a phone call from Spurs Mark to say he was in Joburg and hadn't gone home, hahahaaaaa! He's got World Cup Fever and is doing what I did when I was in Japan - I think I extended my flight about 3 times when I was there.

Saturday 26th June: had another cracking breakfast, cooked by Geoff, who continued telling us stories while we were eating it. Had a chill-out day in Smithfield. Went the local museum and were given a great guided tour by Richard. We walked up the "High Street" and popped in to a couple of craft shops and galleries, all selling paintings by Peter, Ann and Geoff!! Wandered up to the old cemetery as there were war graves there from the Boer War, which we'd read lots about in the museum. There was a grave which had "SALLY" on it "born May 1871, died 1908" which freaked me out a bit as it was exactly 100 years before I was born. We think it may have been a horse. Walking back down the High Street we popped into the Factory Store, which we'd heard so much about. It really is a shop that sells everything - we went in there for Panini football stickers which were cheaper than at home, about 35p each! We spotted a load of people from the local township who were drinking outside the Smithfield Saloon, so we decided to go in for a drink (or were practically dragged in by one of the girls standing outside). The locals made us feel welcome and later told us that we were the first white people ever to go in there!!! Richard from the museum also popped in and wondered what we were doing in there! I was even asked for my name and phone number, hahahaaaaa! Lots of photos and a bottle of beer (70p each!) later we managed to get out and headed home. We decided not to tell Geoff that we'd been in the local shebeen... It was so hot when we got back that we all crashed out by the swimming pool in shorts & t-shirts (mad weather) and I dried my socks on the window sill (I'm all class). Geoff invited us into the drawing room again for more wine with him and the two jack russells before we ventured off to Pigout for dinner. Had ostrich tonight - lovely - then watched the football by the fire again. Ghana beat the USA (hurrah!) and I never had a chance to sell my match ticket...

Sunday 27th June (D-Day): got up early for breakfast with Geoff. He mentioned to the boys that Ann had taken a call from Richard (Museum and shebeen Richard) last night, inviting us to a party in the township, hahahahaaaaaa - Geoff must've had a fit! Talk about give the game away... Once we'd said goodbye to Ann & Geoff we drove straight to Bloemfontein and arrived by 11am. Checked into Spurs Mark's hotel as he's driving me to Joburg airport in the morning as Kev & Ali are going to drive straight to Cape Town, if we win. Made our way to the Waterfront and arranged to meet Mark as he didn't have a match ticket. Had a few drinks with the germans before the game and Mark got a ticket. Also bought t-shirts off a dodgy Italian bloke with the Three Lions badge and South Africa 2010 on it (I actually bought the shirt off his back as it was the smallest one he had! But it smelt a bit sweaty so I stuffed it in my handbag - maybe England lost because I wasn't wearing it...). Bumped into Jay and Phil from Crowborough. Walked to the ground and felt so confident before the game, wasn't nervous at all and thought that was a good sign. What a let-down. We all went mad when England scored their second goal (that wasn't) and I got covered in beer all down one side. All for nothing. England seemed to give up as soon as the Germans scored their third and the rest is history. I'm just glad it didn't go to penalties and glad they didn't put 5 past us. I clapped the team at the end, but the players weren't very quick in clapping the fans, so I'm a tad miffed. The walk back from the ground is all a bit of a blur. Went back to the Lodge with the boys and Liz to pick up my bag, then went for a bite to eat with Mark and headed home about 11pm I think... Die Keller, where we had dinner, was full of England and Germany fans, all getting drunk and singing together so there was no hassle and a pretty good atmosphere considering all the English were so p'd off!

Monday 28th June: got up early to pack, but both of us faffed about so didn't end up leaving Bloemfontein 'til 11am - about an hour later than planned! Drove straight to Joburg airport without stopping and just managed to get there, drop off the hire car and check-in with about 30 mins to spare before my 4pm flight to Cape Town. Said goodbye to Spurs Mark for the third time in a fortnight, but half expecting him to turn up again in Cape Town! Got picked up at the airport and had a guided tour of the bay en route to Simon's Town. Checked in to the apartment and met Kaye who had been on the same shark trip (that I should've been on) this morning. Sounded fab - she said she had at least 3 sharks circling the cage at one point, one of them 14 ft long. Unfortunately my trip tomorrow has been cancelled due to bad weather, but I've got potentially 5 days of sharks so hopefully I'll get to see some this week...

So that brings you up to date. Now I need to get back to the apartment (if Georgie can get the penguins out from under her car again), eat something and prepare myself for sharks! HURRRAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! :o)

Monday 21 June 2010

On the road with the boys - Western Cape

Saturday June 19th (I think): I'd had the foresight to order breakfast before heading off to the Algeria game (always thinking of my stomach), so I was woken up by an early phonecall from room service asking if we wanted 2 of everything... confusing question at 7.45am so think we said yes, even though I can't actually remember eating any of it. Left Mark at the hotel and thanked him for his hospitality and the hotel staff all waved me off like I was a paying guest - felt a bit like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman (except I didn't earn any money out of it and Mark didn't come chasing after me in his limo...). Leonard my friendly taxi driver rang to say he was outside, but I couldn't see him anywhere (wasn't sure if it he genuinely wasn't there or whether it was me - anyone who has ever shared a room with me will know that I can only open one eye at that time of the morning, so I couldn't be sure if he was there or not). I then realised he was waiting outside the apartment that I never stayed in back in Greenpoint...! Anyway I eventually got to Tokai (about half an hour south of Cape Town) to meet the boys at their guesthouse. Dominique, the owner, made me a cup of tea which was just what the doctor ordered, I made a fuss of Jasper the dog for 5 minutes, then we set off in our 2 cars for Prince Albert.
I managed to fall asleep after about 30 minutes (FYI I don't drive so I was in the back) and woke up at a service station in the snow-capped mountains! Mark and Michael, who were sharing the driving, were planning on telling me they'd seen lions, elephants etc etc while I'd been asleep, but they weren't quick enough! I did see some baboons hanging around by the tunnel though. Just like Longleat. Got to Prince Albert late afternoon and checked in to our guesthouse - another lovely place. Charles the owner gave us all a drink on arrival and showed me to my suite, HURRAAAAAHHHHH! He then drove us out to the middle of nowhere (only about 5 mins away) so that we could watch the sun setting over the mountains. He also packed about 12 bottles of white wine in the back of the car - bliss! Took some fantastic photos of us all drinking wine in the sunset until it got dark. Then the stars came out and Charles pointed out a satellite flying overhead, unbelievable. Didn't want to leave, but my hands had gone numb so I had to. That night we ate out at a lovely restaurant in Prince Albert, set in an art gallery, and had another amazing 3-course meal, all washed down with a bottle of the local sparkling wine (shared with Michael, pacing myself tonight).

Sunday June 20th: Had another cracking breakfast before setting off for Knysna via the scenic route. Discovered I'd been bitten all down one side by something unidentifiable, so am now paranoid that a spider has laid eggs which will hatch in a few weeks. It happens. Watch this space...
Drove through the mountains with M & M again, saw - and touched! - snow, almost got blown off 'Die Top' (you'll see the photos!) and decided to have a break by visiting the Cango Caves which were en route. I was in the loo when the boys bought their tickets and they told me we were all doing the "Adventure Tour", which involved 90 minutes of climbing through tunnels. Hmmmmm. I wasn't expecting much more than a quiet wander through the caves, but ended up on what felt like a full-blown pot-holing trip (if we'd been in England we'd have had hard-hats, harnesses, knee pads etc!!). There were about 15 of us on the tour with a guide (Nita, who was great), who led us through 12-inch wide tunnels, including the 'Coffin', 'Tunnel of Love', 'Devil's Chimney' (which I couldn't climb up for laughing!) and finishing with the 'letter box' which we all had to slide out of head-first! Not attractive as my top clung to the bottom of the cave, my jeans got stuck to the top and I almost slid out of both - I'm sure the germans in front of us got an eye-full! And hopefully no photos. Funny though. We were all filthy when we got out of there, I don't think any of us were expecting it to be quite so physical (and humid), but we had lots of giggles and bruises to share with each other when we got to the other end!

We arrived in Knysna, back on the coast, in the early evening - reminded us of Torquay! Yet another lovely lodge - Bill, you did us proud yet again. Had dinner at the Lodge (again another fantastic 3-course meal, I'm sooooo going to have to lose about 3 stone when I get back!), watched the end of the Brazil v Ivory Coast game and went to bed. Managed to spend about 3 hours on the internet first though...

Monday June 21st: Headed off to George Airport in the morning to pick up Liz - another girlie to join the group, hurrahhhh!! Liz wanted to head straight for the beach (another hurrahhhh!) so we drove off to Mossel Beach, about an hour away I think but I can't actually remember because I fell asleep again! It was quite warm down there so I took my jelly shoes :o) rolled up my jeans and we all paddled in the water like a load of english people on holiday (which is what we are!). Liz even went for a full blown swim - I was very tempted, but decided it wasn't pretty and my 2nd pair of lucky pants (union jacks) weren't respectable enough. It was lovely though, we all stood paddling in the sea, catching up with Liz and telling her our stories from the last fortnight. Wandered into Knysna in the evening and had a few drinks and dinner at a restaurant near the waterfront - we never actually found the water come to think of it (and a bit odd considering it's a huge bay), but it was nice anyway! And now I'm back at the Lodge updating this blog. Heading off to Port Elizabeth tomorrow morning so will fill you in once I've done something worth reporting on... night night.




Sunday 20 June 2010

From match day to the mountains

Well I'm sitting in yet another lovely hotel, but stiff as a board at the mo due to crawling for 2 hours through a number of REALLY small caves this afternoon! More about this later, but I'll try and remember what I've been up to since the last time I blogged...

Match Day (18th June?): After checking out of the apartment that I never actually stayed in (!) I grabbed a cab back to the Waterfront, dropped my bags off at Mark's plush hotel and went for a few drinks before the game. Met up with Phil & Jay (Brighton fans - hurrah!) and then Mark and the rest of the boys. Three blokes sitting at the table next to us spotted Mark's Albion t-shirt and told us they were from Burgess Hill! Blimey it's a small world. The Waterfront was absolutely packed, completely taken over by England fans, but too manic for me to handle. So I met the boys in a restaurant with a big screen and ate a huge lunch! Started getting nervous around 7pm so made our way to the ground (no Park & Ride this time thank god, just our feet to get us there!). Didn't spot our nutty Algerian friends from the bus yesterday, but met a few characters along the way. The outside of Greenpoint Stadium was pretty impressive (I'd been walking past it every day since arriving), but the inside was amazing. Such a good atmosphere there, not too many vuvuzelas in the England section, but I realised the minute the match kicked off that I had the misfortune of being stuck 2 rows in front of the band - again. I was just taking a quick, comforting sip of beer from my bottle of Bud (yes I know, I don't do beer, but needs must) when the drummer started - and I almost bit the top off the bottle!! The last time I was stuck in front of the England band was in Stockholm in 1998(?) - it wasn't a good omen then and it wasn't on this occasion either. Next time it happens I'm moving seats, lucky pants or not (which haven't been very lucky at all - sorry Sally Rolly). Decided I'm not going to wear them on Wednesday - I will wear pants though mum, just not those ones! I almost went involuntarily commando in the caves today, but that's another story...

So the less said about the 'football' the better. I did meet up with a couple of Brentford supporters who I'd met with Sal in Nice at the World Cup in 1998 - John and Paul (I think, or was it the other twin?) - so that was funny seeing them again. They were sitting 2 rows in front of me. Other than that the game was dull and we all piled out of there feeling pretty gutted. So moving on... all the Brighton gang and Spurs Mark had tickets for Fatboy Slim at the Convention Centre so we headed up there after the game, had a few drinks and danced all night! Fab! Last seen being twirled around the floor ('waltzing' apparently) to The Beautiful Blue Danube until the vodka Redbull kicked in and it was Taxi for Sally time. Left the venue at 3.15am, knowing I had to get up about 7am... not good. Felt like a zombie the next morning despite all the Redbull, but as David Ginola would say, he (FBS) was worth it.

Friday 18 June 2010

Cape Town - from Monday to match day

It was still chucking it down on Monday morning like a tropical storm, but I ventured out to get a pint of milk (in my waterproof coat which I wasn't going to pack). Walked along the beach - love looking at the sea and knowing there are great whites out there waiting for me :o) The weather seemed to be clearing up so I decided to wander towards Green Point stadium to see if I could get a match ticket for the Italy v Paraguay game that night. I ended up bumping into a Spurs fan called Mark who was doing the same thing. One of the stadium staff pointed us in the direction of the ticket office "up the motorway, not far", but after 10 mins walking up the hard shoulder in the mud we realised he must've assumed we were driving and not on foot. Only when we saw a suspicious looking character in the distance (according to Mark he was apparently wielding a machete, but I've since discovered that Mark is paranoid so I think the poor bloke was doing his garden or something) did we decide to turn back and negotiate the pavement like any sensible person would've done. It gave us time to bond anyway and we ended up having a drink at the Waterfront and discussing our ticket options. I'm not completely sure where the rest of the day went, but we didn't end up getting match tickets (in hindsight we didn't miss much anyway).
We met a couple of nice England fans - Dave and Toby - in a german bar (and we've since met them at the same table a couple of days running), had a bite to eat and went on a bit of a bar crawl. Last spotted dancing on a table singing to Spice Girls... I didn't make it back to the apartment that night or any night after that funnily enough, and I never did buy that pint of milk. Girl power...

No idea what I did on Tuesday or Wednesday, but hung around the Waterfront area with Mark again I think. Weather was a bit unpredictable until yesterday so we decided to jump on a bus to Table Mountain. Chose a fantastic day to make the trip and had an interesting bus journey with the top deck full of Algerians who sang all the way to the mountain and blew vuvuzelas in our ears. Very funny though. Pardon?! Sat at the top of the mountain and drank a bottle of cava :o) bliss. Had a wander along the top - not a hike as I was wearing non-sensible shoes thank you very much and I've already climbed one mountain this week. [Oooooh I've just had deja-vu moment typing that, but when would I have ever typed that before?!] Anyway we had a wander along the top of the mountain and decided to come down with the whole world and his wife so ended up queueing for an hour to get the cable car back down again. Saw a cracking sunset though. Lost Mark for about 20 mins but he reappeared with a bottle of cava :o) I've only known him a couple of days, but he's got me sussed already! (and for those of you at home reading this - I think he fancies me, hahahaaaaaaaa!!).

Had a funny night last night - ate out at a Belgian restaurant at the Waterfront and saw the France v Mexico game, which was great for every Englishman (and Irishman) watching! Had a great steak and a lovely bottle of wine. Got chatting to a couple of girls and a bloke on the next table and they ended up buying us more wine and about 4 rounds of Springboks - a shot of Bailey's & creme de menthe I think (I can still taste it this morning, yum. Not). Mark thought the bloke was a famous footballer in the 80s/90s but I couldn't see it myself - I didn't have a Panini sticker book for the years he was talking about so I wasn't sure. He - I'll call him Philip as that's what he told us his name was - did tell us he was a good friend of Cyril Regis. I told him I knew his brother Bognor (the old ones are the best). But I've just googled "Philip" and I think he was who Mark said he was, hahahaaaaaaa! Couldn't possibly reveal his name though as Mark's paranoid and told me not to. I'll just tell everyone when I get home. He was really funny though, I'm not sure what we were talking about but he almost slid off his chair laughing at one point! Might've been the Springboks. Anyway, they've got our phone numbers so we said we'd meet up again tonight. Hmmmmmmm...

And now it's 11.15am on match day and I'm starting to get butterflies again. I'm hoping Fab plays Rob Green so that he can make amends for the USA game. I'm sitting on the lower level at the stadium so I'll be able to shout a few words of encouragement and make him feel better...

I'm now going to text Leonard, my taxi driver friend, who ferried me around the other night and gave me his phone number. I just have to text him where I am and he comes and gets me - I need a Leonard in Brighton.

Cape Town so far...










It's match day today, so not sure I can concentrate on much else but I'll try and fill in the gaps between Sunday when I arrived and today, which I think is Friday but again I'm not sure...

I arrived Sunday night (I think) and checked in to my lovely plush apartment which I'd found on the internet. (Incidentally I've just checked out of it and realised that I'd only spent a total of about 9 hours in there!) Got to about 9pm and realised I hadn't eaten anything so popped down to Main Rd (original name, but accurate description) to see what was on offer. Which is when it chucked it down and I ran in to the nearest bar - possibly the roughest one in Cape Town! It was one of those where I walked in the door, everyone's conversations stopped and a huge tumbleweed blew across the floor... but I took a seat at the bar anyway, as you do. Ended up drinking 2 large glasses of white wine and ate a bowl of chicken soup and some toast (it was soup weather), which came to the princely sum of R32 (about 3 quid - sorry mum for saying "quid", but I can't find the pound sign on the South African keyboards). Watched the rest of the Germany v Australia game, which was a bit scary considering England could face them in the next round - if we get that far. Also forgot that there's no smoking ban in SA so possibly knocked 5 years off my life during the 90 minutes that I was in the bar. And I was the only female in there (except for the 2 bar staff and a couple of potential "ladies of the night" who wandered in during injury time). Chatted to one of the locals who told me he was a "commercial artist", but he later changed his job title to "piss artist" (he even slurred when he said it), but he was covered in paint and I'm gullible so who knows. He looked a bit like Ice T though and I didn't get a photo - didn't dare get anything out of my bag to be honest... but I survived my first night in Cape Town anyway.

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Cape Town


Well I'm in Cape Town now, but far too busy 'networking' to update my blog at the mo. Quote of the week so far from my own fair lips "I only popped out for a pint of milk!" after disappearing for 48 hours... but I'm safe and well, just got kidnapped by a Spurs fan!

Quiet Mountain

I'm having probs remembering what I've been up to now as it's Tuesday or Wednesday as I'm writing this... losing track of the days over here.

Quiet Mountain was lovely anyway - I was quite sad to leave. Terence and John, the owners, were a great couple, a bit like Siegfried and Roy but without the white tigers! Terence googled Brighton when we said where we were from and was "most interested", hahahaaaaa! Spent most of the time there chilling and preparing for the mayhem ahead in Cape Town. Climbed up the mountain on the day before the game (last Friday?) which almost killed me.
Had thighs of iron for the next day or two afterwards. Worth it though - had a bit of bonding time with the boys and Mr Muscle the jack russell, who followed us (or led the way) for the whole journey.
Getting up the mountain was one thing, coming down was a whole different story. I almost had an accident from a fit of the giggles as we all skidded down the path at some point! It's making me laugh thinking about it. I came down covered in mud, spikes, cobwebs and all sorts - a funny day though, took about 4.5 hours there and back.
Spent the rest of our time watching the football and mingling with the other guests, eating fantastic food, looking out for baboons and laughing a lot with the boys and Terence & John!
Quote of the trip so far was from Terence "So you don't have any monkeys in England then? None at all?" - hahahaaaaa!

Sunday 13 June 2010

While I was in the Mountains...

So once I'd arrived at Joburg airport (feeling and possibly looking like Quasimodo - thanks again BA and Thomas Cook Sport) I met Mike the porter after 20 mins looking for him in a sea of porters and an earful of vuvuzelas, aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh! I ended up doing a full circle of the arrivals hall and spotted a man holding a "SEVEER YLLAS" sign, which I recognised from behind! Spent the rest of the day sleeping at a guesthouse in Kempton Park, a suburb near the airport - left the window open as there was some weird birdsong going on outside. It was 7 degrees when I arrived, but by 1pm I was sitting out on the balcony in shorts and t-shirt reading my FourFourTwo - it wasn't pretty but I was out of sight. Strange weather. Ended up going out for dinner with an american couple from Wyoming, Ben and Donelle, who are over here for a hunting trip rather than the football. Had a very nice evening, ate my bodyweight in prawns and got back to the guesthouse at 10ish as I was due up at 4.30am to go back to the airport to meet Mark, Kevin and Ali...

Staff at the guesthouse were so sweet - I got my early morning call at 4.30am then another phonecall about 15 mins later "Come down and eat!" and a full english breakfast on the table when I got there, bless. Which is the real reason I was late to meet the boys at the airport - sorry boys and sorry Derek the driver (so now you all know! I couldn't refuse it could I?!).

Then en route to Quiet Mountain, about 90 mins drive from Joburg airport...

I've arrived... feels like I've been here forever!!

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay... been in a remote part of SA in the mountains, no internet connection and no energy to actually write anything anyway. I can only hope I can remember what I've been doing with my time.

Flight was non-eventful anyway apart from horrendous backache the whole way - thanks BA for plonking me in a seat in the middle row. I'm cancelling my frequent flyer membership the minute I get home... incidentally my seat number was the same as my bra size, which I thought was a weird coincidence. For those of you who don't know my bra size, but do know the layout of a bog standard plane, then you'll realise the unfortunate position I was in for 11 hours. Coughing the whole way as well - apologies to the Press Association employees whose gang I'd seemed to infiltrate on the way out.

Something funny did happen though - I decided to buy some Touche Eclat in Duty Free at LHR (as you do - and for any men (straight ones) reading this it's a magic concealer for undereye dark circles and everyone swears by it apparently). Anyway I succumbed, hovvered by the YSL counter for approx 0.5 seconds and was pounced on by a member of heavily made-up staff. I asked for advice on which shade to get and ended up with a full makeover, hahahaaaaaaaaa! When I got to the gate (which I had to run to as I had an extra glass of cava at the bar - this NEVER happens), I got chatting to a couple of english blokes on a corporate trip who started chatting about old Brighton footballers they knew - or worked with I think! - from the early 80s, but in a tone which implied I was far too young to remember this era. So the Touche Eclat was worth every penny.

Saving this now in case I get chucked out the internet cafe as it's getting on for 11pm... the girl in the booth next to me just said "but we can't just put the wedding aside". Think I might log-off, pretend to type really quickly (like I apparently do at work, hahahaaaa!) and eavesdrop til 11pm.

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Coughing like a trooper this morning - everyone on my flight is going to hate me :o(

Tuesday 1 June 2010

It's all getting a bit exciting!


Just testing this out...
I'll be updating this as often as I can - but without boring everyone silly if I can help it!
Flying to Joburg on 8th June so things will start to get interesting in a week or so :o)