The Springboks bring Webb Ellis home

Tens of thousands of people thronged the streets of Cape Town today to welcome the Springboks home after winning international rugby's great prize, the William Webb Ellis cup. Kerry-Anne and I took a few hours off work to experience the festive atmosphere and catch a few snaps of these South African heroes.

Well done and welcome home boys!

Thanks to Cafe Zorina on 172 Loop Street; they kindly allowed us onto their balcony to take these photos and plied us with drinks and some of the best authentic samoosas I've had.

Click here to see more of today's photos.

The celebration does go on

Celebrations will go on for weeks to come. Today motorists were still blowing their hooters in the streets of Cape Town and fans once again donned their green and gold rugby jerseys. There wasn't too much fanfair among my many colleagues, just an air of knowing (in a "we knew all along" kind of way) that our boys are the 2007 Rugby World Champions.

Two things struck me during this World Cup. Since their victory we've seen many interviews of John Smit, Bryan Habana, Percy Montgomery, etc. and what's interesting is how they - and the rest of the team - all seem like such genuinely nice guys.

The other thing that struck me was how 22 guys and two coaches have managed to unite a very diverse nation in a common goal, a common victory. It was thought-provoking to see black and white fans, who would ordinarily have been divided to a great degree, now hugging each other in the streets.

As I write this the Springbok team is flying (not only figuratively) thousands of feet above the earth, returning to South Africa and preparing to be met by thousands of screaming supporters at OR Tambo Airport tomorrow morning. Welcome back boys!

Tonight... we conquer!

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won.

For anyone who may have missed the news, the Springboks became the 2007 Rugby World Cup champions last night, joining Australia as one of the only two teams to have won the trophy twice. The streets of Cape Town were filled with people celebrating into the early hours of the morning - motorists hooted, flags were flown, vuvuzelas were blasted, and pedestrians ran up and down high-fiving people as they drove past. It was an awesome ending to a month and a half of excitement, a week of nervous build-up, and two days of unbelievable Springbok fever. We're a happy nation today, despite the collective hangover. :)

Thanks to everyone who posted good luck messages here over the past week or two! For those of you outside of South Africa, today's post title is a reference to this advert.

Green Day

I remember that when I was at high school we used to hold "Brag Day" the day before any really big interschool sporting event. We would all dress up and get together in the school hall to sing rousing songs and build spirit ahead of the upcoming sports day. Well, today has been Brag Day for the whole of South Africa, as we prepare to take on England in tomorrow's Rugby World Cup Final.

Everywhere I went today I saw people dressed in green, as well as plenty of Springbok and South African flags flying outside houses and businesses. There's an enormous air of expectation, and quite honestly I don't think a whole lot of work got done around Cape Town today.

Many companies allowed their staff to come to work in casual clothes, and encouraged them to dress in green and gold. These photos were taken by Hannes Thiart, outside the head-office of Paul's employer Santam, which is a large insurance company located in Bellville.

Roll on tomorrow, we're ready!

Roosters back on the bench

The French rugby team (Les Bleus) lost to the English team last night in the first semi-final of the Rugby World Cup at Stade de France. Kerry-Anne and I watched in dismay as Jonny Wilkinson managed to kick the ball over the posts twice in the last 5 minutes of the game, putting England ahead.

The rooster is one of France's national symbols. We found these roosters, fittingly, sitting on the bench and looking highly annoyed.

Commiserations to our French blogger friends Eric, Alice, Nathalie and Gaëlle - we do feel for you!

Visit Grenoble Daily Photo to see Gaëlle's rooster - looking slightly happier than perhaps it should. ;)

We're off to watch the Springboks play Argentina in the second semi-final in a few hours' time - any good vibes and positive thoughts you want to send their way would be most welcome.

Tense moments

Last night's quarter-final rugby game was filled with moments of extreme, nerve-wracking tension for Springbok fans, and this was one of them (evidenced by the four people with hands clutched dramatically to their temples).

We watched the game at the Springbok Pub in Newlands, which is hosting Cape Town's official Absa Boktown. The atmosphere was brilliant, with all kinds of prizes (for singing the national anthem with gusto, for dancing on the tables, even for the group buying the most beer); and appropriately celebratory music was played at the end of the game. We'll be there for the semi-final and the final too, so if you're in Cape Town and are looking for a good place to watch the games, join us. (Be sure to call the pub and book a table though - the venue can hold a fair number of people, but I have a feeling it's going to fill up fast.)

Cold 'n rainy

I spent part of the morning scouting the area for a few photographs. Today has been on the cool side with patches of rain catching me mid-photo every now and again. Looking carefully, you'll spot at least three raindrops waving at you from the front of my lens.

Kerry-Anne mentioned Kenilworth Racecourse in yesterday's post, so I thought I might as well stick with the theme. This road leads to Durbanville Racecourse, which is about 40 minutes from Kenilworth. Whenever I drive this route I imagine that this is how the English countryside must look, all green with beautiful trees - and today, grey skies with rain ;).

Where are all the pretty horses?

I'm not too sure, but since this shot was taken at 7am on a Friday morning, I guess it's not surprising that they weren't on the racetrack.

This is Kenilworth Racecourse, the oldest racecourse in the country and home to the annual J&B Met - a high-fashion affair, with plenty of large hats, designer suits, and very, very short skirts. Oh, apparently there's a little bit of horse-racing too, but you'd never guess so based on the TV coverage of the event.

The J&B Met has been on my to-do list for a really long time, and maybe with a bit of planning we'll actually make it there in 2008 (I don't mind wearing a hat, but my skirt will be of a modest length).

What's on tap?

I've mentioned previously that, for the most part, South African men (and some ladies) expect to drink at least one beer at a sporting event. I ran out of time to find a new picture for the day so I've posted this shot taken at one of the recent T20 Cricket matches.

As you can see, besides for the safety aspect, it's become quite tradition to have drinks from plastic glasses - it would just not be the same to drink from a bottle at these events. I'm not sure if this is the case world-wide, so leave a comment below and let us know what people drink from at sporting events in your country.

Must be the clouds in my eyes...

Alright then, this will probably be our last cricket-related shot for a while. Today was semi-final day in the T20 World Cup, and it was New Zealand in action against Pakistan at Newlands. (South Africa sadly didn't make it to the semi-finals, after being beaten by India on Thursday evening. I'm still a little sore about that, so the less said the better...)

Paul managed to capture this unusual painting-like cloud formation while the rest of us had our eyes on the game this afternoon. (For those of you not familiar with cricket, the subject line of this post is a reference to Elton John's song "Daniel" - the New Zealand captain's name is Daniel Vettori, and he happens to be my favourite overseas cricketer to watch.)

Pakistan won today's game, and will be meeting India in the final on Monday - it promises to be an absolutely fantastic game, full of big hits and sneaky wickets.

Party people at Newlands

Another shot from the T20 World Cup... Two matches were played at Newlands Cricket Ground today - Australia beat Sri Lanka in the first, and Pakistan beat Bangladesh in the second.

This shot was taken during the second game. There was a great atmosphere in the stadium by that time, with supporters of both countries taking turns to run in front of the crowd urging us to shout for their respective teams. These students seemed to be having a really good time in the sun and were only too happy to pose for photos. Looks like fun, doesn't it?

Summer is on its way... :)

The real thing

If you like Coca-Cola and plan on visiting Cape Town, then allow me to set your mind at ease - yes, we absolutely do drink Coca-Cola in South Africa ;). In fact, for many it's the default soft drink - they've managed to make Coke curiously addictive haven't they?

The favourite drink of many South Africans (particularly while braaiing [barbecueing] and watching rugby) is fondly known as "Klippies 'n Coke". It's a mixture of Coca-Cola and Klipdrift brandy - and usually as the evening wears on you'll find that the mixture leans more and more heavily towards the Klippies...

As with yesterday's post, this photo was taken in Cape Town's buzzing Long Street.

2007 T20 Cricket World Cup, South Africa

There's been great excitement over the start of the 20/20 Cricket World Cup. Twenty overs a side makes for a really quick-paced game - fun to watch for cricket-lovers and non-cricket-lovers all round.

We spent the day first watching Bangladesh and Australia slogging it out (with the men in yellow winning comfortably), and then seeing South Africa getting off to a slow start, but ultimately beating England.

It hasn't been a great weekend for English sport, but on the other hand it's been an absolutely wonderful weekend for us Springbok and Protea supporters.

Congratulations Albie on winning Man of the Match!

2010 Football #2

Remember this post? Construction work to Green Point's new football stadium is said to be well on track. We have no way of knowing for sure, but it sure looks like a lot is happening!

Take a look at this blog for more photos and information on the various stadiums being built around the country.

10km is further than you think...

So I discovered today, when we took part in the Blisters for Bread event in Green Point. 10km is in fact a really, really long way to walk!

I last took part in Blisters for Bread when I was 7 years old; back then I did the 5km route, and as I recall, it was easy-peasy. Paul pointed out sympathetically that many things were easy-peasy when I was 7, lugging around a total body-weight of about 20 kilograms. I won't tell you what I'm lugging around now, but let's just say that it's a tad more than that.

Blisters for Bread is held to raise funds for the Peninsula School Feeding Association, a non-profit organisation that has been providing meals to under-privileged children at their schools for almost 50 years. Sadly, there are many children in our city who don't get sufficient nutrition at home, because their parents are unemployed, sick, or simply don't earn enough to provide proper meals for their family. You can imagine that it's very hard for a hungry child to pay attention in class and succeed at their schoolwork. If you're interested in supporting this cause, you can read more about how to donate money to them here.