Monthly Archive for August, 2007

Being a Man U fan this season has certainly not been for the faint hearted. With no wins in their opening games and only one goal to their credit, it has been tough going for the Red Army. Worst of all they found themselves 19th in the table before today’s game with only Derby below them in the table. So today’s game against Spurs was a monumental one for Sir Alex Ferguson who would have had to realise that United could not afford to lose further ground against their rivals. Spurs were likewise in a must win situation after a week of turmoil with Martin Jol’s future in doubt and the fans unhappy over a lacklustre start to the season. So neither team would be looking to go easy on the other.

Straight from the get go Spurs looked menacing with an early Robbie Keane shot curling over Edwin van der Sar’s goal and striking the crossbar. United on the other hand looked decidedly shaky with unsure passing and lapses of concentration. After the first 20 minutes United finally started looking more comfortable on the ball and managed to string some nice passing moves together. The only factor missing was the final shot on goal. The absence of Rooney and Ronaldo has certainly hit United bad since Tevez cannot function up front as a lone striker and United lacked any penetration into the Spurs box. The first half ended uneventfully with the sides deadlocked at nil – nil.

Coming out for the second half United should clearly have been aware that they needed to press home any advantage they could and try their best to grind out a result. The second half soon degraded into a midfield battle much like the first half had been. It was only after 60 minutes that the game sprang into life with two narrow escapes for United from Spurs chances that nearly broke the deadlock. Then in the 75th minute Nani, a winger in the same mould as Ronaldo, grabbed the ball outside the Spurs area and blasted a shot from long range that took the slightest of deflections off Tevez to sail into the net past a despairing Paul Robinson. This was the break that United so desperately were looking for and they immediately began to shut up shop and try to make sure of the victory. There were a further few opportunities for Spurs to draw level but United had finally managed to get their first elusive victory of the new season. Here’s hoping they can further build on this and get s good run of results together to move up the table.

One event from my trip to Natal that I felt warranted a separate entry was my evening of extreme table tennis against the mighty and magnificent Kitti. We were invited to a braai for a friend’s birthday and had a nice big plate of meat and veggies before chatting the night away. Basilisk then decided that our inactivity was going on too long, so she took me on in a game of pool that I of course won. Even though I have a sneaky suspicion that she was hustling me and softening me up for Kitti’s evil plans. So after my game of pool, I decided to challenge Kitti to a game of table tennis. Now you have to realise that Kitti was not very enthusiastic about partaking in said game, but she certainly broke out into a wide grin when she started playing against me. The reason she was smiling so was that she discovered that I was foolish enough to believe that we were going to play a sedate game of table tennis. This meant that she would wind up with a gleeful smile on her face and unleash piledrivers in my direction. This usually ended up with me running several kilometres to retrieve the ball. that was in the case where she did not smack me straight in the face with the ball Needless to say, after a mere 5 minutes my running around combined with a stomach full of food combined to make my retrieval of the ball a much more problematic obstacle than it first appeared. What certainly didn’t help was Kitti’s gales of laughter as she made me run to and fro while hardly moving from her spot behind the table. She had once again proved her absolute evil genius by choosing the side of the table that was directly against the wall, meaning that if I was ever lucky enough to get the ball past her she would only have to walk a few steps to pick it up while if I missed the ball I had to run for miles. But it really was a great end to a fun evening and at least my tired ambling to and fro managed to perk up Kitti a bit. In my books that’s always a good thing!

My apologies for the late blog update, but as you can well imagine I’ve had the hardest of times trying to get back into the swing of things at work after coming back from my vacation. So I’ve now finally gotten around to putting my thoughts down in writing. Here goes.

First off, the flight was no where near as traumatic as I imagined it would be. I was seriously stressed out that I’d freak out on the plain and suffer terminal air sickness. Needless to say this wouldn’t be the best way to meet Kitti for the first time. The Kulula flight was fast and comfortable and to top things off, my luggage even arrived at Durban airport. Upon exiting the luggage check I worriedly looked around for Kitti and Basilisk and eventually spotted them. We shared a quick smile and hello and started the walk back to Basilisk’s car. I think one of my biggest fears for the trip was how I’d get along with Kitti. Its one thing to chat to someone over the internet or phone, but its a whole different story when you eventually meet them in person and show your flaws and annoying characteristics. thankfully the 1.5 hour drive back to Wartburg let us get acquainted a bit better and we even managed to share a few jokes along the way. At one point Kitti even joked with her mother over the phone that I would be shocked to see their mud hut and eat cane rat for dinner. As we were driving at night I couldn’t see too much of the scenery so it mostly passed by in a blur.

Upon arriving in Wartburg we made our way to Kitti’s house where I finally came face to face with her folks and her brother Mikey. They really are great people. Her mother made such a fuss over me like I was a celebrity that I was really touched. Upon hearing that I was a Coke drinker she especially went to buy a bottle just for me and she kept asking me if I was hungry or thirsty. Kitti’s pa was just as witty and funny as Kitti had led me to believe. While I was there he was constantly smiling even though he was on standby for his job. He even went so far as to apologise for being unable to show me around. Mikey is just as weird and wonderful as I imagined him to be if not more so. The two of us constantly managed to annoy the heck out of Kitti with our spectacularly funny jokes and Sasuke = pansy jokes. The mere fact that he knew that Sasuke was a pansy meant that we became friends immediately. I was also fortunate enough to meet some of Kitti’s other friends the next evening. Lady and Byron both stopped around the Thursday evening to play some games and we had a riotous night of laughter with me bursting into tears of laughter from Byron’s jokes. Kitti was convinced that I was giggling! Of course I know better, it is her that is the giggly one.

The next day we all went through to one of the local waterfalls in the area. I snapped the above picture while standing at the top of the hill before we went down to the waterfall. It truly was a spectacular sight to behold. Apparently in summer the waterfall is even more wonderful to behold. The water was freezing cold and only Mikey managed to brave it while being dragged all over by the two cocker spaniels, Jodie and George. I’ll post the pics I managed to snap in a later post. To be honest, most of Wartburg is beautiful. The entire surrounding area consists of sugar cane plantations with stunning scenery around every corner. Its not as small as I imagined, but neither is it large in any sense of the word. Its almost the perfect town. Something like the town of Twin Peaks from the David Lynch series, except with all the intrigue and general weirdness (excluding Kitti and her brother of course!). While someone who lives there like Kitti might get real bored. it served as the perfect break for me.

In general our evenings would end up in marathon Silent Hill sessions. Kitti was lucky enough to grab Tinki’s PS2 and had convinced me to bring along my Silent Hill Collection, so her and Mikey would usually grab a mattress and play till 3 or 4 in the morning while I sleepily tried to give them advice. Unfortunately like most sane people my mind is not at its most sharp in the early morning hours, so my advice usually consisted of muted grumblings. I did amaze Kitti with my ability to stay up so late, she was of the impression that I was a sleepy head city pansy that can’t stay up past 10 in the evening. Luckily I managed to show her how wrong she was.

Probably one of my fondest memories of the trip will be of her pets. One thing about Kitti is that she loves her pets. Her dogs and cats are some of the most colourful characters you’ll ever meet and I loved just sitting in their lounge while one of the cats would use me as a human cushion. It was one of the most relaxing feelings imaginable and gives you an innate sense of calm. Another thing that always made me smile was Kitti’s ability to nap anytime and anywhere. Frequently you’d find her curled up on the couch or floor snoozing comfortably. It always brought a smile to my face to see how calmly she slept. It really is a sight to behold.

On my last day there I got up early especially to see Kitti and Mikey off to work and school respectively. Just before 8 I grabbed a lift with Kitti’s ma and dropped off Kitti at work. Then I ended up having a hour long chat with Ma Kitti about everything and anything. Afterwards I managed to walk around town a bit before heading home. Seeing as I was the only one there that day I was a bit bored so at around 10:30 I decided to give Kitti a visit at her work. Needless to say she was far from pleased to see me, but thankfully her boss was more than generous enough to give her the rest of the day off so that she could spend the remainder of my stay with me. We spent the remainder of the Monday chatting and playing games. I’m never the most calm of travellers so it was with bated nerves that I paced up and down their hall waiting for Basilisk’s arrival at 4 in the afternoon. From there Kitti, Basilisk and I made our way to Durban airport where we bade our fond farewells and I was even lucky enough to snag a photo of myself and Kitti. Thanks Basilisk!

Overall it was a great trip and one that I will always have fond memories of. It was great to finally meet Kitti and get to chat to her in person. It was also wonderful to meet her parents and Mikey as well as spend time with her menagerie of animals. Then there was the ever wonderful Basilisk who presented me with a Wartburg pen and shirt as a going away present and went out of her way to provide me with transport to and from the airport. I certainly will miss Natal, Wartburg, Kitti, her animals and her family. Her folks were kind enough to invite me back and hopefully I’ll get there sooner rather than later because visiting Natal with Kitti truly was amazing. Thanks for all the good times and memories Kitti!