Today in Trust member Kate Thompson’s South Africa diary, Kate heads to Durban for the semi final
Day 28: Tuesday, 6 July 2010
My cough appeared to return in the night, and I felt very hot, but I was fine this morning, thank goodness. Poor Gail has had a relapse and did not appear for breakfast. I spent some time looking at various websites, seeing if we have a new manager yet, etc.
Just before lunch I went over to the shopping centre again, because I’d not heard from the travel agent, and a lady there said she had no reason to think that the tour company I had found on the internet was not OK. I went to the other travel agent, and she was able to book me into a Pretoria tour for Saturday, at half the cost of the one the hotel offers. I went to buy a sandwich from the bakery next door, while she sorted everything out, and managed to walk into the plate glass door which had been open when I went in!
They were all very concerned but I was fine; one of these days I will knock some sense into myself! As I passed a small gift shop I saw they had some reasonably priced prints and found one of the V & A waterfront in Cape Town for about £15. It will cost me more to have it framed! I listened to some more of my favourite programmes on Radio 4, then took the book I bought yesterday to the lounge, so as to be a bit more sociable.….
People seem to be more friendly now, perhaps because there are fewer of us and we spend more time talking with the same people. Tomorrow is our last early start, and even that is reasonable (8.00). The journey to Durban will take about seven hours; the outward trip won’t be so bad and it will be nice to see something of the countryside, but I’m not looking forward to the return leg. There were no cheap flights to be had, but some people have decided to stay in Durban for a day or two. As I’ve already had my side trip, I don’t really want to do another one.
A couple from Burnley have gone to the Victoria Falls today, for four nights; they got a really good deal, with four nights for the price of three at the 5* Royal Livingstone Hotel, the sister establishment to the Zambesi Sun. It really seems as if the anti-malaria tablets were not necessary, but I’ll stick with them now. The first semi-final is on tonight, in Cape Town, between Holland and Uruguay; because I felt Uruguay were very lucky to beat Ghana (and I felt so sorry for the man who missed the penalty) I really hope Holland win. Also my friend Amanda is rooting for them. It looks like a Holland v Germany final.
I ate in the hotel but ordered something called beef tartare, which turned out to be raw minced beef! I should have been told by the waiter but he assumed I knew. There was no way I could eat it so they made me some plain chicken (with the chips that came with the beef). Gail is still quite ill so I ate with Chris again; he is obviously very worried and had called the doctor again, who seemed equally concerned that she is not getting better. Holland managed to beat Uruguay, but they made heavy weather of it. I will be very surprised if Germany don’t beat Spain and, on current form, they should win the final. However, it would be nice to see the Dutch succeed as (unlike Germany) they have never won the competition.
Day 29: Wednesday, 7 July 2010
I slept very badly, just what I didn’t want the night before the marathon coach trip to Durban. After only about an hour’s sleep I boarded the coach for an 8.00 start. With one break, we arrived in Durban at 3.00 and were taken to something called the Shaka Marine, where there were shops and restaurants. I was rather disappointed in Durban, which I thought would be a stylish place; in fact much of it is very shabby and run-down, although the civic centre, with its colonial-era buildings, was attractive.
The local authority have obviously been concerned with improving the environment, starting with the beach area, but sadly I think they have a long way to go. After looking at all the restaurants and not really being inspired by any of them, I went to the Cape Town Fish Market (which has branches in Cape Town and Johannesburg) where I discovered most of the other England fans. We left for the stadium at 6.00 and the traffic was very heavy. There was a bit of a walk but the stadium is stunning, my favourite so far. It is designed to look like the South African flag and there are other bits of symbolism. Apparently there is a funicular which takes you up to the roof, but it doesn’t operate on match days.
Durban Stadium
Spain 1 Germany 0
Sadly the quality of the football did not match the surroundings and the first half in particular was dull and formulaic, neither side being prepared to take a gamble. It was a bit better in the second half and the winning goal from Spain was a very good header.
We were so bored that some England fans elsewhere in the stadium started an ‘Eng-er-land’ chant, which we took up! I really thought Germany would win easily but they did not play the way they did against us and Argentina. Yet again, I was struck by the number of mis-hit passes (from both sides) and the lack of urgency, things I criticise with England; there is obviously something in the argument that we expect too much.
On my way back to the coach, I met a couple of City fans who had flown up from Cape Town. We’d heard that there were problems with capacity at Durban airport, despite it being new and three times bigger than the old one; the Leicester fans’ flight was at 2.30 but didn’t take off until three hours later, but fortunately they didn’t miss the kick-off. We all got back on the coach pretty promptly and left just after 11.00. The driver did well to get onto the N3 motorway with very few hold-ups and with one stop again, we arrived back at the hotel on the dot of 6.30 am. I had slept most of the way, hardly surprising considering the night before.
Part seventeen of Kate’s diary will appear tomorrow