Day 6 – Museum of Apartheid, Italy v Slovakia and dinner with friends

For various reasons it took a while to leave the guest house this morning, producing this blog being one of them, so we were a bit later that we wanted to be when we arrived at the Museum of Apartheid. It did leave us short of time and we only spent about two hours there whereas we really needed 3-4 hours. In addition, in my view it was overcrowded and that detracted from my experience. It is a ‘must do’ in Johannesburg though and presents a difficult and emotive subject in an easy to understand way. It traces the history of the different nationalities and races in South Africa right through to the reasons for Apartheid and its rise, effects and ultimate downfall. The experience starts at the gates – your ticket states whether you are White or non-White and that determines which gate you enter by and the initial exhibits that you see. It is a powerful reminder that in the days of Apartheid, the colour of your skin determined the experience that you would have on the journey through your life – there was no escape through hard work, good fortune or any other way out. After a while the routes join together and the powerful exhibits begin. There is too much to explain now but I’m sure there is a website for the museum and obviously plenty of information on the subject on the internet. There was also a special exhibit about Nelson Mandela which was very interesting too, but the whole place is a reminder of some of the worst aspects of the things that humans can do to one another. Having stood for a minute in a solitary confinement cell I can assure you that any longer would have been intolerable.

When we were at Sun City I described a bizarre incident on the way from the car park when I had to remove my keys from the ignition etc. Well it happened again today and I just didn’t get it. Now I have sought and received an explanation from Harrianne and Jonathan, it’s to check that you haven’t hotwired the car and stolen it from the car park. So, do I look like a car thief now?

And so to today’s live match, Italy v Slovakia. It was the least colourful crowd scene and the greatest match. The Italians were there and in their sombre blue and the Slovakians didn’t seem to be there at all, but they soon became apparent. Today we were Slovakians and our support was well rewarded by a great result and a tremendous match. Did I mention that we loved this game! If you didn’t see it, be in no doubt the best team won! The Slovakian fans (including us) and players went crazy at the end as the World Champions were eliminated. Slovakian fans seemed to come from everywhere and the celebrations were tremendous. I was photographing them and managed to lose John but me managed to meet up by text message. It also made us late back to the car park which was a bigger issue.

By the way, football earplugs seem to have acquired a brand name, on the way to the match tonight one of the ‘salesmen’ on the way to the ground tried to sell me ‘Shushuzelas’. I looked at what he was selling and they were earplugs – buy the trade name now, they might be the next big thing (if you have big ears!).

We were due out for dinner tonight and the state of the car park when we got back was unbelievable. One exit gate wide enough for a single car, about 14 lanes of traffic coming from every direction and a couple of thousand cars starting their engine and pulling into lines. We sat for a while looking, thinking and being conscious that time was getting on and in an hour we had to be at dinner. Instead, gridlock, dust and mayhem! We dodged around, followed any car that moved in the right direction, pushed our way in (John said I was driving assertively – that’s one word for it!) and after an amazingly short time ended up in a position to get out. We could then see that the police were letting the cars go in rotation, 10 from each line (14 lines, merging into 7) so after about another 15 minutes we escaped. The roads were remarkably clear, everyone was probably stuck in the car park(!), and we drove quickly to the Melrose Arch area for our dinner.

At this point let me just dwell on the state of the tournament a bit. The previous finalists from two mighty European countries, France and Italy, have exited, both finishing bottom of their groups. They have been the biggest underperformers. So just who are the qualifiers from the six groups determined from this far and where do they come from. From South/Latin America we have Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, from North America, the USA, from Africa, Ghana, from Asia, South Korea and Japan (we are pleased for our friends from the Japanese FA!), and from Europe, Germany, England, Holland and Slovakia. It is perhaps an unlikely list and may typify the way that the balance of power in world football is changing. In addition New Zealand, South Africa and Slovenia have done well and were unlucky not to progress, especially the former who were eliminated despite being undefeated with three draws. One of the possible consequences might be a reduction of the number of European qualifiers in the future, apart from the financial importance of the continent to Fifa. The other regions will have a powerful claim to press now, and with the next tournament in Brazil, they won’t be helped by location. Still to be added to the list are almost certainly Brazil and Portugal, preserving the continental balance. But our focus tomorrow will be on Group H which will see two from Chile, Spain and Switzerland being added to the list. So at least one European qualifier. I believe that Spain may well be eliminated, another big shock for the pre-tournament favourites – a draw puts Chile through and as long as Switzerland beat Honduras they would also go through. We will be there for the Spain v Chile match in Pretoria, a new city for us, but for the first time John and I will be on different sides. I am going for Chile and John is a Spaniard for the day – we will see!

We easily found a car park, exited and saw the very modern and impressive Melrose Arch development with shops, restaurants, bars and public squares dominated by big screens. Amazingly we were slightly early for dinner and the first to the restaurant which was good because we were the common link between the guests. So who did we dine with? Firstly there was Harrianne and Jonathan and their daughter Nikki – see Day 2 blog for more about them. Secondly there was Olly Worsley and his friend and work colleague James. For those in the hotel industry, Olly is Jonathan Worsley’s (organiser of Berlin Hotel Conference and a former work colleague of mine) son. They are both at University in the UK and are working out here for a travel company. One of their jobs revolves around the Miss World contestants who are out here at present – we’re waiting for the photos guys! Anyway we had a great dinner in a restaurant overlooking one of the public squares in Melrose Arch, the conversation flowed as did the food and drink, as everyone shared their experiences of a variety of things, including life in the UK, South Africa and our views on the country since we had been here, and Olly and James’ work experiences. It was a great evening and everyone went home happy.

We went home ecstatic actually, we had an interesting morning, a fantastic match in the afternoon and a memorable dinner with new friends. What more could we ask for!