god where to begin...

Ok so i definitely thought id update you lot a little bit more but since my last note things have kicked off in a MASSIVE way......last time i was still up in jo'burg staying with chris and his fantastic parents - Ursula & Mike. We hit the B&I Lions vs the Golden Lions on Weds and as i'm sure you know we absolutely tore them to pieces (rubbish pun intended of course!). Roberts really stood out again, BOD got off to a flyer and Ferris made an impact from the Bench after Crofty had run rings around them.....

However the fun really started off the game when we hit the now standard post-game venue of the 'Castle Tent', home to some great banter and large lashing!! Met up again with the 3 kilted scots who have Blair, Hines & Murray on the back of their shirts - an ingenius idea as it gets them spotted the whole time - I'm going for SHAW and the number 4 when I get a chance! The locals were bloody friendly and actually had some great banter on them - top work. I also met some other classic lions fans - Conor & Simon from Ireland who keep getting on TV, Andy Powell's english brother (not literally!), and the list goes on. Highlights have to be singing 'Ireland's Call', Flower of Scotland & Swing Low before realising we had no welshies, can't sing land of our fathers in english let along welsh and one of the lads breaking into a fine welsh singing voice and starting up 'It's not unusual to be loved by anyone......' gotta love Tom Jones! Then a few saffas responsed with the SA national anthem who's name I cant remember but I always think sounds like 'Ukelele Africa' - which I have on video and is brilliant!!

We then pushed onto a cracking bar called Jolly Rodgers - full of Lions fans and some epic lashing.....ooh many a 'Brandy Special' - absolutely nothing special about it tho, it's merely a double brandy and coke! oh so special! - were consumed. Had a tall-off with a cpl of locals which i lost - damn it - if only I'd been wearing the cowboy boots!! That one's for you Danny boy. Ended up in a random pool hall at 5am - not so good!

Finally started the real busines off travelling on Friday when I jumped a bus to Bloemfontain in the Orange Free State. Although this being Africa it wasn't without it's problems - having booked a ticket the night before for an 11am bus, I duely arrived an hour and a bit before departure to pick up my ticket, only to be told that I should have turned up 2-3 hours before and thus they'd sold my ticket on!! God damn was I annoyed as the next bus wasn't until 4.30pm and I hadn't been told to be there 2-3 hours before.........luckily having got a 4.30pm ticket I managed to squeeze onto the earlier bus as it wasn't actually full - typical Africa, gotta love it!

Met a group of 4 other fans on the bus who were a top bunch and luckily enough for me had a spare bed in their guest house that night, saving me a lot of hassle - cheers Nick (von Shark) & Sarah - plus Luke and Strange Geoff.

Now Bloem is were the party really started........

To be continued!