Building castles in the sky

Cape Town's semi-answer to the London Eye is the pretty Wheel of Excellence opposite Audi Cape Town and right by the Hyundai World Cup fan park. Not as big - thank god - as the London eye and a decent view of Cape Town, Table Mountain, Table Bay, Millllllerton, Peeeerrrel (really?) and the V&A Waterfront, it's pretty when lit up with it's LED lighting at night. 

Prices aren't half bad, starting at 80 bucks for an adult and 50 bucks for kids under 12, it's quite a bargain. My friends and I are pretty keen on going in the next 6 months - the length of it's stay - when the light stays around for a little longer on a beautiful summers day.

Snapped a picture of the pretty below. 

Boys not for sale

Shosholoza: Feel it. It is here.

A year ago today, I posted this on my old 24.com blog called Shosholoza. That night when I watched it, my eyes were red with tears and definitely marked the beginning of a journey back home.



Watching it again, after experiencing the World Cup atmosphere so far - with fan walks, chatting with tourists, going to the matches and singing that song in my home country - it still sends a shiver of excitement down my spine.

And then the silence surrounds you

That's where the lead singer of Stateless, whose song, Bloodstream made me absolutely love it: that line in the title... der by dat side.

Give the song a quick listen on a chilled Sunday afternoon.

Talk about town

♫Everybody wanna be the talk about town...♫I was there. In that stadium. In the pouring rain and chilly cold snap that took over Cape Town yesterday, I was sitting in beautiful category 1 seats, 5 rows from the middle of the pitch and at 1pm, I still never had tickets nor thought I would be going.


Thanks to work giving AMA-zing seats to 5 of us, which there was a little task to do aka biggest fan vibe... I scored - out of the luck of  a hat - a ticket to the Italy vs. Paraguay game. I'm easy with bullet points so I'll put everything down in a nice little list

• the atmosphere is AMA-zing
• the traffic not so much
• the fan walk is AMA-zing
• the rain not so much
• the seats and view of the game was AMA-zing
• the food and pricing not so much
• the fans were loud, blowing their vuvuzelas, speaking in different languages, accents and it was an AMA-zing cultural experience from a South African Italian telling a Paraguayan fan to eff off politely to Italian fans/tourists blowing their vuvuzelas in Long street
• the grid-locked traffic was a nightmare but not only because of the World Cup. 
• the police presense was pretty awesome and the volunteers were super helpful.
• the whole organisation was on par with other international sporting events I've attended.
• did I mention the atmosphere?
• did I mention I got to watch ITALY play and see Fabio 'I'm HAWT' Cannavaro 20m away from me
• did I mention I watched a World Cup football match in my backyard; Cape Town

Yes please!

Waka Waka eh eh.

Lyrics: Freshlyground - Big Man (Radio Africa album)

Nothing compares to this

Best decision - after my decision to go to London - was most definitely to move back home. I swear if I was still in London now, I would be in my home, curled into a ball, crying on the floor and most likely on the phone to all my family and friends wanting to know about the vibe and the excitement.

In fact, I couldn't think of a better place to be right now, if you take into account what is happening right on our front freaking step. The Football World Cup or soccer for Americans and ourselves. How AMA-zing is that? We get to blow vuvuzelas, decorate our cars in flags and funny colours, wear supporter gear and totally go nuts just because the whole country is. And when 2pm tomorrow comes around, we are going to be beaming proudly watching the opening ceremony and at 4pm, I'll be singing - and crying - the national anthem with more gusto then I've ever done being on the hockey field in my youth.

There will be traffic chaos, people chaos and other random chaos but it's going to be AMA-zing chaos filled with smiles, laughter, different languages, messed up diski dances, ridiculous clothing and tons of spirit and support. Think about those fan parks filled with the public and their loved ones all there for the same goal and sharing a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Everybody said we'd never pull it off. There has been negative comments about SA riddled with crime and how our services will never work and so on but you know what, deal with it. We won't mess this up. We're centre stage to the world right now, everyone wants this to work. Think of all the benefits when we pull this off in front of the entire globe. It's endless.

It's going to be AMA-zing even though I have no idea what to expect and I'm just running off hype, excitement and the gees, I'm fully behind Bafana Bafana because I'm proudly South African and because what we have in this country right now is hope and a little bit of belief starting to come through for our national team. How do I know this? Look around you. Look at yesterday's parade for Bafana in Johannesburg. Look at the 12pm vuvuzela blowing - and continuing sounds around you. Look at your offices, cars and look within yourself.

How freaking awesome is this? Nothing can compare to this right now!

Feel it baby

I don't know about you but was driving my car to Sea Point this morning to check her into the doctor and noticed literally every single car had some sort of patriotic symbol on it. Be it a flag, mirror socks, aerial flag or an opposing team's - I'm guilty of this - flag hanging in the window, it was freaking fantastic.

I felt a little emo twinge in my heart and put my smile on as I sang to the tunes on the radio.

So... decided to go purchase SA mirror flags, Italian flag and wearing them proudly on the Tranquil Terror.

Yes. I support Italy as well. Not only for their faces and bodies but they have some skill too...