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LATEST:Travel picture of the week - Hout Bay in Cape Town |
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LATEST:Travel picture of the week - Hout Bay in Cape Town |
Updates and info from on the ground during our 11 week and 5 week Experiences in South Africa
After pimping out the Pepper Tour Bus, Fabio’s Barmy Army marched into Cape Town to see the sights, drink the local beer and watch England cruise to an easy victory against Algeria...
Within a few hours we had all achieved one of our objectives after entering into a drinking contest during Brazil vs. North Korea in which I apparently agreed to get the ‘North Korean Wayne Rooney’ tattooed on my hand if England win the World Cup – so I should be safe there then!
After waking up on time and raring to go (a theme of the trip), Doug took us up Lion’s Head to start seeing the sights of this beautiful city. Advertised by our tour guide as a leisurely stroll, one hour later we found ourselves scaling a mountain 2,000 feet in the air with only my minimal strength and some well placed chains keeping me from taking a premature skydive. All jokes aside, this was a great shout; the views of Cape Town and Table Mountain from the top of Lion’s Head were breathtaking and as per another tradition of Fabio’s Barmy Army, we briefly disrupted the tourists’ enjoyment of the tranquil setting by bellowing out an England song or two.
We had changed colours by the evening as we got behind Bafana Bafana down at the city’s Fan Park. It was a disappointing result in the end after diving Uruguayan Luis Suarez got ‘keeper Khune sent off and Bafana lost three nil. We still had a great night out with the local fans and we were all very pleased to briefly silence the vuvuzelas and get the locals joining in with our very own Steve Pienaar song every time he touched the ball! Lyrics are as follows:
Steve Pienaar Pienaar
He Drinks While He Drives His Car
He Plays For Bafana
Steve Pienaar Pienaar
The build-up for the England game began on Thursday with a GMTV appearance on top of Table Mountain where there was more singing (obviously) and Chris proudly invented, and then set the record for, the most ‘kick-ups’ on top of Table Mountain. After some stunning views (and queues) we left the mountain and had a game of football on the beach at Camps Bay as the sun went down over the ocean; this has to be the most picturesque place I have ever played football! We had a great night out at the Waterfront watching the French lose to the Mexicans, celebrating this into the night with Nick sharing his vocal talents with the whole bar, on top of a well-placed beer barrel.
Game day arrived and was enjoyed by all up until 8:30pm (kick-off time!) starting with Mark getting pictures of Fabio to create the ultimate Fabio’s Barmy Army tour t-shirt. Pippa became an honorary England fan for the day, leading our chants in the true style of an England football hooligan/supporter. A lot of beer and singing later, we made our way to the game... despite seeing the sights and soaking up the atmos, the easy win against Algeria was out of Pepper’s hands. An awful performance brought a nil nil scoreline that left us all gutted and makes the Slovenia game in Port Elizabeth absolutely huge!
Tears and depression were still evident the next morning, except for Chris as he was uncontrollably excited about seeing the penguin colony at Boulders Beach. The penguins did lift the mood of the group slightly and this soon escalated to giggling school child excitement as we first met Glen Johnson and then while taking in the views of Cape Point we met Sky Sports legend Chris Kamara. Getting him to say ‘Unbelievable Jeff!’ into the Pepper Cam is certainly a highlight for all of us and it has set us back on the path of naive optimism for our World Cup hopes. Bring on PE, bring on Slovenia, COME ON ENGLAND!
Ben
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