Day 73 - The Metropolitan Under 19's Tournament

Today Densel offered to take us to the annual Metropolitan Under 19's football tournament in Belhar. It's the biggest under 19's tournament in South Africa, and teams come from all over the place just to play there. Even Swansea City's under 19's flew over just to play in that tournament. So we were pretty keen on seeing what it was like.

Had to be up early though, as Densel wanted us round his place for 8:30. Thanks to Martin waking me up, I managed to get up in time to go. When we arrived at Densels, his wife made us a really nice breakfast, and had some more of that herbal tea that we tried yesterday. Still tasty though. We got everything packed in to our car, and went to drive off.

Car wouldn't start.

Uh oh. There'd been a couple of times before where the cars taken a couple of attempts to get going. Today it wasn't starting at all. Not wanting to miss the matches, we unpacked our car, packed up Densels car and set off.

We made a stop at a local Spar supermarket to pick up some refreshments for the day, and some hot cross buns for tomorrow. They were nice and soft. Happy days.

We then headed to Belhar, which was about a 10 minute drive from Densels. It was packed already, it was only 9:30. We managed to find a parking spot, and we headed in.

Now, I would just like to publicly thank Martin for being a lot more alert than me this morning. Many a time in South Africa, we've woken up to overcast skies, and ended up having really hot weather. I assumed this after waking up. but after Martin said he was taking a jacket, I decided to do the same, and pack a jacket and jumper.
I don't know what I would've done if he hadn't have reminded me. It was so cold and rainy. I wore shorts which was a big mistake, and was freezing the whole time. So thank you Martin for saving me from freezing up. See, he takes care of me out here, mum. Someone has to.

Swansea was the first game we saw. They played well, but didn't manage to beat a fairly solid South African team, drawing the game 1-1. Conditions were terrible, which was probably what the Swansea players were used to as well.

Second game was Ajax Cape Town against their local rivals Vasco. Ajax Cape Town are pretty much the kings of Cape Town when it comes to football. They're the only professional team out here. So they were expected to win. However, after the Ajax keeper went walkabouts, Vasco managed to grab a quality, yet surprising winning goal. The game ended 1-0. Good stuff.

We watched one more game, with a couple of unknown teams, which was a really good game, then Densel asked us if we wanted to watch the Arsenal-Liverpool game round his mates house. Ofcourse we agreed. So we headed off, grabbed a huge chicken tikka gatsby, and went to his friend's (Gary's) house.

Martin and I were the only 2 Arsenal fans in a house filled with Liverpool supporters. So naturally, when we started playing exceptionally, we rubbed it in completely. Every goal was pure class, though, which made it even easier to rub in. 4-1 victory, 9 points ahead of 5th, 7 behind 1st, and sitting in second place (for now!). Happy days all round.

After the game, we headed for a cheeky curry. However, after eating part of a huge gatsby, I wasnt too hungry, so didn't finish it. We then headed to Densels to pick up our car and head home.

Car still wouldn't start.

Uh oh.

We tried for so long, but the car just wouldn't start. We tried connecting the battery up to Densel's car and jump starting it. No luck. In the end, we had to get Joe to tow the car to his, and Densel was nice enough to let us use his car to drive home in. So big up to coach Densel for letting us do that. Hopefully we can fix the car for this week, as we don't fancy going by train to places, after news stories of robbings and muggings happening at rush hour on the trains has been circling. Public transport in general seems to be a no-go around here. So we're pretty bummed that the car has failed us. Hopefully tomorrow it'll work though.

Up early again tomorrow, to go to Joes church for their Easter service. Vinolia is performing in the drama play, so it'll be good to see her act out the Easter story. Plus we get to have some Koeksisters, so its all happy days.

We're now into single figures for days left. Crazy.

Harry