Today we were up early to go and meet Joe in Ruyterwacht as he was going to take us to see his son Yonicks football team play in a big play off game. We had also told the Bothasig guys we would try and stop off and see their tournament as well. Busy day ahead. I know back home you have snow and ice, well today we had rain!!!! Only lasted a couple of minutes but still, it's South Africa in the summer.
After a quick stop off at Joes house we were on our way, we drove further out than me and Harry had been before, into an area called Mitchell's Plain. This area has a lot of history and Joe explained to us about the area as we went through it. We arrived at the match someway through the second half, it wasn't long and a mistake from the defence led to a goal. This play off was going to be be played over 2 legs on the same day, the game ended 1-0 and which meant Joes sons team had to win the next game in the afternoon.
Between the games we drove to see the Bothasig boys play in their tournament, they had 2 teams in the junior tournament and 1 in the senior tournament. Everyone seemed pleased to see us the boys, coach Craig and his wife, other teams and even the local policeman. We stopped for loads of pictures and to speak with lots of different people, we were given food and looked after really well. For the juniors it was just a fun day tournament but when we had left they were undefeated and going for the win. The senior team also won their game while we were there so well done.
We left there and went back to the other game, another mistake led to another goal and it was now 2-0 on aggregate, this team were holding their own against a team ranked much higher than themselves. With a few questionable refereeing decisions and some missed opportunities the game was gone and they were knocked out. It was a shame but on another it could have been different.
We then drove back with Joe and dropped him off at a friends house before heading home. Joe thought he was meeting his friend for a quiet birthday celebration, in fact he was just stopping there while his family prepared a surprise party for him. Whilst driving home we had a phone call from his daughter, Jodi, inviting us to join them at the party. We really wanted to as Joe has really helped make us feel welcome and he really is 1 of the nicest guys I've ever met, only problem was getting there and back. We have a car but we wasn't sure if we could use it as it is a strictly work only car, so we declined the invite. But after sitting in our apartment we decided that we had to go and celebrate Joes birthday with him, we asked reception for a taxi number for our journey home and we was off to the station. It wasn't until we were on the train we realised that neither of us really knew where we were going as we'd only been there once, but either out of braveness or stupidity we thought we would have a walk and see if we could find his house. Surprisingly we found it straight away and without any trouble. Before we left we both agreed that you can't go to a party empty handed, so we decided to get a bottle of wine and a few beers. We knew Joe wasn't really a drinker but we thought it was a nice gesture anyway, what we didn't know was that it was an alcohol free occasion, should have checked beforehand. We had a really good evening and we appreciate the invite and were pleased we decided to go. We spent most of the evening talking to Joes kids, discussing how expensive London is and places they want to take us. So we look forward to that. At the end of the evening we went to call a taxi but Joe insisted on giving us a lift back. I felt bad making him and his wife drive out to drop us off but really appreciate the lift and that we made it home safely.
Thank you for today and the last 10days hope you had a good birthday Joe.
Day off tomorrow and no plans!!!!
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