And there it went

Gone. At least very very soon. Gone forever. History. The past. 2009, That is.

It came as expected and it left as planned. At least there are still some guarantees in life.

We had the Confederations Cup and are now in the fast-lane counting down for the real thing. Bafana Bafana is soon of to Brazil for a training camp and the routemap to the goal. The English are over-confident it seems. North Korea is playing secret about their base location. The French have booked Knysna. The Japs will take George as their home. The Germans somewhere in Gauteng. Sometimes it seems that the world will stop after July 11, 2010. For SA it will be back to reality and normality. But first,.... it's show time.

Cheers. Viva 2010. Viva.

Victor came

December 29th. Around 630pm. Doorbell rings. There's Victor Brown. Not a name from a Tarantino movie, but a real person. A TV-man.

We called him earlier as we had some TV-DSTV-DVD set up troubles. You know,... when one machine doesn't seem to like the other one , and then another one seems confused about it all and then too many cables that look alike and all that.

Victor came and conquered. All sorted in a smooth operation,... and the introduction of some kind of switch box in between all these appliances. But the heart of the message is that Victor came on short notice, was friendly, fast, and on top of it all.

So in other words,.... Victor comes recommended: 082 4432807

That kid

It was some years ago. April or may. Somewhere deep in a forest in Liberia. A place of illegal mining for diamonds (no, I wasn't there to find some diamonds myself).

And there the kid stood and looked at us and smiled and just kept looking. With its intriguing eyes.

Words (take 2)

Champagne and candles. Ostrich meat. And some beef. And fruit-based desert. Snaps. Pope-assault. Terror-flight. Vuvuzela sounds through the night. Turkey. Ham. Champagne. Cake. Lost in translation. More snaps. Emails. Garmin. Drakensberg. Left-overs. Champagne in black glasses. Swimming pool. A Frenchman in grey shorts. A Brit with his sauce. A Sudanese and a South African getting married in 2010. Rosebank. A Zimbabwean lady. Primi Piatti with its Malawian waiter. Herb planting. Sunday Times with its mampara of the year (Julius obviously).

Before the storm

...And before the storm hit Fiji (back then in 2000 or 2001), some lovely flowers.

Words

Sun here, snow up North. Swissair. Pilanesberg. Garmin. Kanonkop Pinotage. And Amani. Saw on TV an advertisement for a combination of turkey, ham, duck. All in one roast. Walking the dogs. Weaver birds in construction fever. Tomatoes harvest. Jozi streets are calm-ish. Cape Town must be overcrowded. Countdown to June 11. Bafana Bafana soon to Brazil for training. Learning to score or the samba? Internet campaign across the UK keeps a reality tv song contest winner from the number 1 chart spot. Somebody in the US launched 'Tiger Woods condoms'. And then there is this photo from 2000 (or was it 2001?) of a storm brewing over Fiji.

Tomorrow and after that

Building a future that's better than today and yesterday is a common goal for every community on this earth.

So here in Sudan's southern 'capital' Juba, in a dirty, dusty road amidst garbage and rusty, abandonned trucks is a man starting to built the future next to a drawing of how that future should look.

Just a simple scene but the contrast between the hopefull-future drawing and the sandy road full of potholes was just two different worlds.

Up north

As yesterday was a very hot day in Johannesburg, up north in Europe (as well as in parts of the US) they got the other end of the stick. Snow storms.

Big and small

Got family hitting town tomorrow morning. And soon they're off to see some real African animals. The big 5 and the small 5 and plenty in between.

And one big one they will very likely encounter is the almighty one (talking about animals not religion!!).

Stuck in the mud

SA183 will bring a friend to OR Tambo today. A friend with whom in 2007 I got stuck in the mud in Liberia on our way to an illegal diamond mine spread out in a forest. Things you do sometimes....



It didn't take us too long to get out of our mud-pool and back on the road we were.

85th

So FIFA has just released its new world ranking of national teams. Spain remains on top and is obviously a serious contender to grab the world cup next July 11.

Brazil and the Netherlands follow in second and third place. First African nation is Cameroon on the 11th spot. The highest climber is Algeria, now 26th. Ivory Coast is on 16 and host Bafana Bafana can be traced way back down on the 85th spot. One up from the previous FIFA ranking. One spot after southern African brothers Zambia.

Last; that’s on place 203; is Papa New Guinea.

Tollgate with a smile

When you are driving to your holiday destination - be it on the N1 to Cape Town or Limpopo, or on the N3 to Durban - spare a thought and a smile for the workers in the tollgates. You could get a nice smile back!!

Copenhagen vs Joburg

So the world is gathered in lovely Copenhagen to talk about global warming, and CO2, and rising sea levels, and the spreading of draught, and financial compensation, and economic growth, and recycling, and North vs South, and all that important stuff.

But then living in Joburg over the last days feels like global cooling, with grey and rainy weather,and hail storms on top of it all. It's big time EISH!!

Unconquered

Yesterday. 14.40. That's when I started watching Invictus.

And I liked it. Damon, Freeman and Eastwood will be high up on the Oscar expectations list. It is a Hollywood movie looking at an historic event with 2 Hollywood stars. That's the way to look at Invictus; not as an historic documentary. But as a movie it is certainly entertaining and moving. I think Eastwood succeeded in mixing history, deeper meaning and enterainment very well.

And I also see that John Carlin's book on which the movie is based has been re-issued under the title Invictus .

In big, bright letters

There he walked in. This man with this black t-shirt with big, bright words on it.



Was kind of funny as the politico-social event he was attending started with a Christian and a Muslim prayer.

Freedom of thought and expression is a beautiful thing.

Main street

Main street Freetown....

Freetown beach

Just another day on Freetown's beach, Sierra Leone....

The boss on the barricades

It's always good when cultural icons (although I don't really like that word) stand on the barricades for a worthy human rights cause.

South Africa has a reasonable liberal, open-minded constitution, but that's not the case in many parts of the world.

Bruce Springsteen, aka The Boss, has issued a statement in support of the so called marriage-equality law that is being debated in his home state of New Jersey, USA. Bruce rightly states that equal rights for same sex couples is a civil rights issue. He wants the voices who believe in equal rights for every citizen to be heard and to be heard loud and clearly.

Right on Bruce, right on.

Container dreams

Spotted this article on page 3 of today's The Star. A 2010 container-hotel will be built on the Houghton Golf Club to accomodate World Cup fans.

It's based on examples in Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam, and London. I also saw once a container-lodge in Juba, Sudan.

It sounds rough but the box-hotel comes with all requirements and finishes: DSTV, internet, real furniture,.... Great idea. Creativity for simple, practical usage.

And after the worldcup it will just be packed and taken away to a new location,.... so that the golfers can return to their greens and hit some balls.

Soccer City

Check this out. The chief-engineer for the construction of the brand new Soccer City stadium is a Belgian! Marc Meire. He moved to SA in the 80s and started working for a local construction company. He climbed the ladder and the company became bigger and bigger too. It got the deal to built Soccer City and that's that. As a kid Marc admired New York's Twin Towers (RIP) and wanted to built something big and amazing. With Soccer City his dream came true.

Next Sunday Belgian tv VRT will show a feature about Marc and his Soccer City challenge. You can watch the channel on the Specialist Bouquet on DSTV. The channel is called BVN, which combines Dutch and Belgian broadcasters. The piece about Marc will be in Sportweekend - a weekly sports magazine - aired straight after the evening news, which starts at 8PM (SA time).

p.s. The story was filmed by a SA cameraman.

Brazil vs Spain

So the game is on! The world cup draw is history and it’s now full countdown mode.

When I was a kid I used to check out the group draw and then guess who will win and lose. Who would reach the next phase and then onwards etc etc... to the final.

So let’s try again. Sticking out my neck and predict. There are always some surprises (positive ones and negative ones) and teams in great shape now might disappoint next June, while other teams playing badly now might surprise the whole planet next year.

Anyway. Here we go.

Group A has Bafana Bafana, France, Uruguay and Mexico. Despite my hope for SA, my gut feeling is that France and Mexico will go through.

In group B I think Argentina will take the lead spot, followed by Nigeria. In group C my bets go to England and Algeria. Next is group D where I think Germany and Ghana will go through. In group E I see the Netherlands and Cameroon succeed. Group F will have Italy and Slovakia pushing through. In group G I think Brazil and Ivory Coast are the winners. And in group H I see Spain and Switzerland proceeding to the next phase.

In what is called the Round of 16 you will then have France vs Nigeria, with France pushing through. England against Ghana should be a great game but England will take it. Germany vs Algeria could be full of surprises but the German machinery is a hard one to beat. Argentina vs Mexico is a regional affair with Argentina probably pushing through. Holland against Slovakia will see the Dutchmen winning. Brazil vs Switzerland will be the end for the Alp-boys. Italy vs Cameroon might be the end of the cup holders Italy if the West Africans believe in their strength. Let’s go for Cameroon. And Spain vs Ivory Coast will be a tough one, but Torres will take Spain through.

That takes us to the Quarter Finals. The heat is on now! The 4 games I predict are:
Holland – Brazil, with Brazil winning it just. Tough game. France – England. With the Irish supporting the English. England should win this one. Argentina – Germany is a classic from note. Germany will probably deliver.Spain - Cameroon would be a fast game, but my gut feeling is that Spain will be on a high.

Football madness growing now as the Semi Finals are on. Brazil vs England and Germany vs Spain. Which then I guess and hope will lead to a Brazil against Spain final. And then all bets are off.

Freeman and Damon

December 11 will see the launch of Invictus, Clint Eastwood's movie about the historic rugby final in Joburg back in 1995.

It's the true story of how Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) strategically uses the world cup rugby final clash between the Springbokke and the All Blacks to unify the nation.

And on top of it all the Bokke won!!

There was this amazing, historic, unique, emotional moment where Mandela wearing captain Pienaar's number 6 jersey hands over the cup to Pienaar himself. And then the stadium rocks the nation.

Matt Damon plays Pienaar in the movie.

So from December 11 Invictus can be enjoyed in theaters across SA.

Simply Samoosas

She had been making them for many years. For the family, friends, neighbours, colleagues. Just like that. For the love of it.

And they were always excellent. The samoosas I mean. You would take one. Fall in love and take another one quickly. And then a 3rd one before the plate goes empty.

We had been saying it for some time that she needed to share this quality samoosas with more and more people. Let the world enjoy them. And so finally she did. She started making more and more of them and thus now you just can call her and place an order. Call “Simply Samoosas” on 083 2369112

Highly recommended,... if you didn’t get that by now.

Rituals

Nice. Rituals Coffee House at the Port Of Spain airport has free wireless. Besides very good coffee and tasty croissants. That's really great service. And also great sofas to relax while sipping coffee, enjoy a snack and cruise the web.

Somebody at OR Tambo should do the same. It really attracts customers.



Oh,.... and (once again) BA crew really needs an urgent lesson in smiling. It's nice for passengers! Maybe the BA staffers should take an SAA flight once and a while to remind them the difference between a smile and an ice-cold face.