Today in Trust member Kate Thompson’s South Africa diary, the trip to Bloemfontein
Day 18: Saturday, 26 June 2010
Yet another early start: we had to check out of the hotel at 5.30 and leave at 6.00. We picked up from the Lagoon Beach hotel and got to the airport with bags of time to spare. The flight was on time and there was a bit of a delay while we waited for the coach to take us to the hotel. There was so much luggage that we needed a truck to take the overflow! We arrived at the hotel, which turned out to be in Morningside (links with Edinburgh I wonder) rather than Sandton, although very close. All the properties round here have gates and armed security and we are strongly advised against going out at night.
I’m not sure I want to spend the best part of two weeks in a hotel, however nice, and am a bit surprised that Thomson Sport have not offered any trips. It is a very nice hotel, with wifi access – hooray, at last I can listen to all the Radio 4 programmes I’m missing, as well as being in almost constant touch with family and friends. Because we had been fed on the plane, I just had a cereal bar and a piece of fruit for a late lunch and ate in the hotel restaurant in the evening. It was nice and not too pricey but I might get fed up with the menu by the end of my time here. The hotel is described as a boutique hotel and is on just two levels, with quite a few stairs and no lift. It is apparently influenced by Lutyens! I have a lovely room: a huge bed, a bath as well as a shower, a fridge, etc. I can think of worst places to spend two weeks provided I don’t die from boredom!…
My bag was incredibly full and I was not sure if the stitches would hold, but they did; however, I am going to have to buy a cheap suitcase to get everything home! Apart from wine, nothing I’ve bought is particularly heavy but cumulatively it is bulky. After my walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 1999, I thought I’d learnt to travel light and certainly my bag on the way out was well below the luggage allowance, but it is just too tempting! Another early start tomorrow, so an early night as soon as the football had finished; it went to extra time and I was struggling to stay awake.
Day 19: Sunday, 27 June 2010
The day of England’s group of 16 match in Bloemfontein. This time it was by coach and (despite being told 9.00) we left at 6.00, the hotel having left out some breakfast for us. We had a good journey down, taking about five hours including a stop. I was impressed by the quality of the roads as my only other experience of African roads was in Nigeria, where they are awful.
Not far from the end of the trip the coach stopped unexpectedly; along with most others I had been reading the South African Sunday Times and had not been looking around me. Earlier on I had studied the passing countryside but it was so flat and monotonous that I had rather given up. The cause of the stop was a light plane which had landed on the central reservation! I can just imagine that on the M25!
Plane on Central Reservation
Apparently it had broken down and I gather it made the front page of the local paper on Monday. We were taken to a shopping mall at about 11.15 and I went a bit mad! I bought a cheap small suitcase but my real expense was a leather jacket. I had been half-heartedly looking for a new one for some time and the price tag of about £90 was irresistible! I also found time for some lunch and got a sandwich and a piece of fruit for the return journey, which turned out to be a very good move.
We left at 2.00 for the ground and I spent quite a long time walking almost all round it to get to another shopping mall where the Nationwide FSF vehicle was parked. I got into the ground just before 3.00 and briefly met up with Lisa and Mark, before climbing so far up I wondered if they supplied oxygen. My breathing is not good, which I put down to the tail-end of my cold but I suppose it could be the altitude; I’m not convinced about this because I have been higher and not had problems. Several people have had coughs and colds and some of them are coughing even worse than me!
Bloemfontein Stadium
Germany 4 England 1
What can I say about the match! Awful, embarrassing, disgraceful – add your own adjectives. I’ve probably said it before, but I can accept defeat – from Leicester City or England – if the players have given their all (viz City v Cardiff in the second leg of the play-offs). But the England team showed no urgency, passion or even will to win.
For me it was summed up by their attitude at the end of the match; other teams who have gone out have looked devastated whereas England didn’t seem to care. You can imagine the fans’ reaction, we felt totally let down and humiliated.
So it was a very sober journey back, not helped by the time it took. There were several hold-ups and we didn’t get back until after 1.00 on Monday morning; we had a brief loo and supplies stop but the queues for the latter were horrendous and then apparently the till broke down! So I was very glad I had the foresight (or meanness) to buy something earlier. I managed a couple of hours’ sleep on the coach but found it hard to get off when I finally got to bed.
Part eleven of Kate’s diary will appear later this week