Wednesday, August 25, 2010

World Cup Diary - Part 1

23 June, 2010

The last trip to South Africa was more about the place. This trip has been more about the football.

It's always hard to predict World Cups so I decided to place a few bets on some long shots at the tournament. I bet on S. Kalou, S. Eto'o and Obafemi Martins to be the top scorer. All have been knocked out of the tournament, grand total of 1 goal scored between them. My tip of a Brazil - Nigeria is over as well, I think I will get it half right.

The surprise of the tournament so far was a sparkling performance by Slovenia against USMNT. They were ahead 2-0 at half-time. The first goal, a cracking left foot shot from about 20 metres out that flew past the keeper's outstretched left hand.

I was at the blackjack tables making up my losses from the previous day during half-time, and was on a pretty good run so I missed most of the second half.
The Sun City complex was pretty good to watch the game on the big screen. We bumped into Australian royalty. Robbie Slater. It also turned out we were sitting next to Eugene Galekovich's sister. Lovely person, really down to earh, bit surprising that the FFA don't pay for her accommodation.

It's always a weird feeling when you are on holiday because you think that you didn't come thousands of kilometres just to hang out with Australians. Maybe it is the natural tendency just to stick to what you are familiar with.

We stayed at Kedar Hotel. Unfortunately, Ray discovered there was no hot water only after getting in the shower. I usually test the water before going in. The bathroom even had a bath tub, there is not much better.

Rustenburg means place of rest. The daily routine was pretty perfect. I think it's much better than my normal routine. A day went something like -
  • Wake up sometime between 7 and 9
  • Put the television on and catch up on the news and action you missed
  • Have a nice hot shower
  • Stroll down to breakfast
  • Sit at any table you like (the table at the juice bar is the best) Juice comes in tiny glasses, not sure why
It was on this trip that I realised that breakfast should be a 3 course meal
  1. First course is bacon, with a fried egg, beans. Have a slice of toast if you feel the need to impress people
  2. Second course is pancakes or pikelets. The serving I was previously familiar with was three pancakes. Why stop there. I really think six is a lot better. I still need to figure out how to get even syrup distribution across the stack.
  3. Third course is a bowl of plain yoghurt with a sprinkling of sugar. This cleanses the palate.
  4. The fourth course is then a serving of fruit salad.
  5. The fifth course is then a mini muffin or a croissant.
The beauty of a buffet breakfast is that you do not feel like a pig because there's so much that you didn't eat. I realise that you can sometimes feel full, but it's more like you are just over it. Like you wouldn't really want more bacon and eggs, but definitely a bit of fruit salad.
  • Have a nap
  • Wake up
  • Head out to lunch, and eat while watching the first game
  • Then watch the second game
  • Come back to hotel
  • Have buffet dinner
  • Go to room and try and watch third game
Contentment.

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