Ho ho ho people of Ladysmith
How is everybody doing? Are you guys getting ready for the festive period? Are the decorations up and the excitement building?
I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it. I’m watching any Christmas movie I can lay my hands on, my favourite one is obviously Die Hard! When I’m not listening to country music I play some Christmas tunes. My favourites songs are all the Christmas songs sung by Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole. My favourite Christmas book is Surviving Christmas.
After a scorching hot period, I am very glad we have received some good rain. Most farmers will be able to plant their crops now. What a great Christmas gift for them. I also heard data prices are going to be cut in half. It is great. If only load-shedding hadn’t popped out of the shadows again!
This weekend the second leg of the World Rugby’s Sevens Circuit will take place in Cape Town. Not many people know this, but I was there the first time they hosted this event in the Mother City.
It was the year 2015! The year I turned 21!
I flew down to Cape Town with Mango Airlines. A taxi picked me up and took me to my hotel. It had a beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently Nelson Mandela stayed there once.
The Cape Town Stadium where the event took place was constructed for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. It’s lay-out is well designed and is wheelchair-accessible all the way. I understand why the Stormers and the Western Province rugby teams are moving their home base from Newlands where they always played to this stadium in Greenpoint.
The seats they allocated to disabled people were the best in the house. I had a clear view of the field. Olympic swimmer Ryk Neethling sat a few rows ahead of me as well as current Springbok hooker Scarra Ntubeni. I saw some beautiful rugby for two whole days.
Cheslin Kolbe, Kwagga Smit and Rosco Specman were all unknown players back then and look at them today. Let me tell you something else, Saebelo Senatla runs very, very fast. I would let him run the 100m at the Olympics in Tokyo next year.
The vibe was very festive. They don’t call this event “Rugby’s Biggest Party” for nothing. There was always something going on. Like for example, when the Blitzboks weren’t playing the crowd built a ‘snake’ with empty plastic beer glasses. My favourite moments was when we all sang “Sweet Caroline” and “Country Roads” together.
When the Blitzboks sang the national anthem before the final commenced I got goosebumps. I was so proud of my team. It was great when we made Argentina cry and thrashed them 29-14.
When I wasn’t watching rugby I hung out at the V&A Waterfront. It is a great place. I get it why all the tourists hang out there. I want to go back there one day and take my new wheelchair for a spin. It was an honour visiting the Springbok museum (it’s a pity they closed it down), it was fascinating.
That will be all for now. We will talk again next week.
Ho ho ho
Tief 'Speech' 