Greetings from Port Elizabeth

Thursday April 15^th The main event World Cup tickets went on general sale today, we queued at the official ticket office in the local shopping precinct before 7am. A queue – or rather- a group outside the entrance had formed, once out of our mini bus, the 11 strong mix of English Spanish Swiss and American , the crowd formed a defensive wall to stop our gang dominating the crush for tickets. As in everything, the best laid plans didn’t work, we were told the ticket shop opened at 7, alas, we had to wait until 9.00am.  Let the stampede commence…we wanted our 140 rand tickets, but not being South African residents we quickly learnt we had pay top dollar, $80, $100 etc.  Our wait was almost over…the tension…the hype..the camera’s..the flash guns popping…only to stand for another 3 hours before getting served the the booth. One PC not working, chronically slow system, hand written numbers on tatty pieces of paper to signify our places in the queue. Shambolic. Reminding me of the rush for FA Cup tickets in 1997 for Chesterfield, can Fifa and visa do no better then this in 2010? 3 hours inside the ticket office to purchase match tickets for Port Elizabeth. Job done, forget the volunteering to coach kids on our first day here in PE. So the net result, we all managed to get the tickets we wanted, England vs Slovenia, the top group match of Portugal (Viva Ronaldo!) versus Ivory Coast, Germany v Serbia (Nemanja)and a potential quarter final match ticket for me with the potential visitors to town being Brazil. To top it off I had my photo taken with the official mascot for the World cup website here in PE, anyone seen it yet? Oh and in the afternoon I did some basketball coaching with Toby my German room mate, forget football, too many coaches and too few kids.  It’s a start anyway. Monday 18^th April What to do on a weekend in Port Elizabeth?  Our first weekend in the city with Umzingisi, namely our hosts Hannah and Kurt?  Many of the young rat pack were taken up river to have a paintballing, quad biking and drinking weekend, leaving myself, Eduardo, Toby, Nick and Fran at the house.  Saturday should have been a golfing weekend, however, we had to make do with a driving range, using Kurt’s clubs -  must say I played par golf mainly. Thrilled with some of my iron shots! The afternoon saw us watch United vs City at the Hockey club where we went to watch Hannah play.  Big screen – duly noted for forthcoming world cup – and a great last minute goal, where I had to give a chorus to the gathered ensemble of – UNI – TED, United are the team for me etc… The demented englishman must have looked as though he had arrived from a different planet. Sunday was to be Kurt’s hockey match, I declined and went to the beach with Nick and Fran, for all the locals would have gathered they (Nick and Fran)could have passed for being my children. Still the boardwalk market was popular and prices for prints and carvings could be negotiated. Next Sunday is the Ironman challenge in PEMonday quickly arrived and we drove some 60km to two schools for coaching, at last we found some grass.  The kids enjoyed their sessions as I did too.  Mainly because I could run the session myself with the aid of Nick, and control the activities for an hour and a half. More of the same in the afternoon. Poker in the evening – which I was awarded poor hands. For example losing a full house to another full house!’ Weds 22^nd April Coaching has been a mixed bag, some playing fields would be shut automatically in the UK on grounds of ‘health and safety’.  Already one of our football coaches-nick- has been taken to hospital for stitches to ahead wound. The pitches vary from all loose stones and soil, to grass and stones, to clumps of weeds, it is incredible that these children play all the sports here with determination and without fear despite the conditions of these pitches. Among the children I have witnessed playing football, there are some very talented individuals. Skills are part of the game, and they have mastered many of the complex techniques from an early age.  However, there are those who are not so skilful.  There is no fear to head or tackle, this remember is done in sock and bare feet but not often in shoes unless the conditions dictate. The kids need formulate team play, and are willing participants, I will soon run out of drills to do.  Some of the younger coaches here are very limited in scope which they can offer children, luckily I have been fortunate to team up with Toby and Nick, and we have more variety than the ‘penalty shoot out’. It is exhausting, and often end they day having travleed between three schools aand offered an hour and a half’s coaching.  Today we sit and wait, the weather is windy aand rain is expected, which because of bare feet and socks -coaching is cancelled. Do the kids play in sports gear? No Do we see football boots? One pair seen so far Do we see happy smiling faces? Yes Do we see pride in their uniforms? Yes Do we see innocence of youth? Yes Do we see poverty? Yes Oh and by the way the bathroom has no hot water or ceiling, we had a flood and water throughout, it all happens here.

Thursday 22^nd April

 Thursday(23rd) arrived with imminent rain, so no coaching, it was a hastily arranged set of visits to 2 museums – Red Location Museum and South End Museum. Red Location depicts the story of the Apartheid years around Jo’burg such as Sharpeville massacre and the impact of apartheid around Port Elizabeth.  Surprisingly PE has been at the centre of the political movement against apartheid, namely some of the leading activists have lived in PE, such as Nelson himself and of course the late bantu Steven Biko.  The museum features his life and his development into a key activist, immortalised in Peter Gabriel’s song ‘Biko’, “September 77 in Police room 619…Biko..oh Biko..”  His life was, like so many,was curtailed far too soon by the politcal events of the 1970s. South End museum was altogether more focussed on the area in which the museum was located, including some sports memorabilia. Did it rain? Only after 6pm. So no schooling completed.  I started reading Larssons third book of the Millenium trilogy, ‘The Girl who kicked the hornets nest@ Friday 23rd Nil coaching, rain, well it rained overnight, hence damp grass and pitches, although the Umsingisi School of excellence was on.  We turned up to coach/mentor young teenagers, however, we played football amongst ourselves whilst the HIV project continued unabated in the playground.  Well at least our team won the footy.  Evening spent 10 pin bowling, one of the crew returned home with his bowling shoes on, oh well….more reading Saturday 24^h Shopping, internet, and golf, the rest were bunjee jumping.  Nearly finished the book. Sunday 25^th Ironman was in town, the event consisits of 3.8km swim, 180km cycle ride, and 42.5km marathon.  The winner completed this in 8hours 28mins 23 secs in searing heat.  I saw the event down on the boardwalk, music, tv, etc..and quietly read my book in the sunshine. A very hot day indeed. Monday 26^th Bank holiday on Tuesday, so no schools are open on the Monday, this is normal practice in SA.  So I looked for cards and presents for forthcoming birthdays, cards no problem, presents all in vain. It was decided to play a round of golf, we had decided to look for second hand clubs, since Eduardo and I concluded there is going to be a lot of down time, so golf would be a suitable alternative to while away the hours. We played, I faltered on the only birdie opportunity in our four ball, with Kurt, Oscar and us two.  I hadn’t played in over 5 years – but hey, I had some good shots with borrowed clubs, can only get better. Finished 746 pages just after breakfast – a record for me or does this tell me that there is far too little activity to occupy us here? Tuesday 27^th Football tournament in motherwell district, exciting, only we were giving coaching to the kids who came along for the HIV testing and tournament to watch.Stood around for another 3 hours watching the kids play football on wasteground, whilst the tournament went ahead in the background.  Shamefully we left early and was unable to see a single game played. Everyone wanted to return home. I got another new t shirt for my troubles today.   Arrived back and slept. Knackered for doing nothing. Tonight to the casino to watch the match on a big screen. Yawn…coaching in earnest tomorrow?

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