Ever since the dawn of time, man or back then neanderthals were split into "hunters" & "gatherers". Hunters should kill animals to consume whilst the gatherers got wood in shit for fires and berry's & other edible things that grew on tress to accompany the meat, but some where down the line the gatherers decided they didnt need the meat & just ate the stuff they picked, hence we have vegetarians. (totally my assumption)
So my little sister turned 21, nothing makes you feel more old than that... or the day she gets married... well lets hope that doesnt happen soon. Anyway for some reason in my culture we fast for a month at some point in the year (the period changes every year) so we have to abstain from meat & alcohol. When I think of veggies the only thing I can think off is cheese toast, pizzas & pasta's. Veg curry's arent my thing, but on Saturday when we celebrated my sisters birthday we hired out a restaurant that catered only for vegetarians, & to my surprise I enjoyed everything from the starters to mains & the eggless cake for dessert.
Veg start platter
The starter platter has a mixture of straight cut veggies such as carrots, peppers, cauliflower & potato dipped in a batter and fried, along with spring rolls, Paneer Tikka & what I enjoyed the most from it was this crispy bread type of thing which was mashed potato & bread mixed with spices, topped with sesame seeds & fried. Here I thought the only decent veg starters were crumbed mushrooms & garlic bread!
Hakka Noodles
The mains were interesting as well, apart from the normal veg biryani we opted for something different to add to the choice, which was Hakka noodles. Chinese dish which was odd to see at an indian restaurant but it breaks the monotony of the standard tikka, vindaloo curries, etc.. The strong smells of the ginger & soy sauce infused stir fry was just as good as it smelt.
half eaten slice of cake
Then we get to the cake, now I have eaten eggless cakes before, most of the time they were not great, but I see as time go's by & the hole in the ozone layer grows bigger, people have bettered the standards of eggless cakes, infact they have successfully come up with a decent recipe for an eggless sponge cake! I kid you not, I couldnt tell the difference on Saturday night & no it wasnt the alcohol free champagne that affected my taste buds.
Over all I was impressed by the veg out, will I ever become a full on vegetarian? Lets just say theres a better chance of Jacob Zuma giving up shagging...
THE UP's: Its the weekend, Springboks vs All Black, Sharks vs Western Province & Liverpool vs Man City.
Big game at Soccer City/ National Stadium/ FNB stadium/ Calabash/ beer bowl/ round orange thing tomorrow & quite historic for a number of facts.
First match between Springboks & All Blacks being played in Soweto
Crowd attendance could break the record for most at a game being played by the 2
Our most capped Captain runs out for the 100th time wearing the Green & Gold
Also a record for "most waving flags" is trying to be set at Soccer City tomorrow
Im sure there will be many other records being broken tomorrow since it will have the largest crowd present eg: most people drinking beer & chomping biltong, most number of fans simultaneously saying "Bliksem" & other random crap like that. Its a must win game for the Bok's, not so they stand a chance to win the competition, its more of a "save face" & to get rid of that 0 on the table next to our name. Plus being so historic I doubt we'd want to lose. As the great PDivvy said
"There's little difference between winning and losing, except you feel better after winning."
Another rugby game tomorrow is the Sharks vs Western Province, a top 2 table clash which will sure have most rugby fanatics drooling. WP are on a roll, but so are the Sharks. We're packing the feisty little Pat Lambie, the kid can do nothing wrong even if he tried! Its sure to be an exciting encounter down at the tank!
Okay so the Man City vs Liverpool game isnt exactly on the weekend but its a good start to the week? Our not so easy start to the season continues & with us missing Cole wont make things any easier. Last night we struggled to beat off that Turkish team that hardly anyone could pronounce, but a win is a win I suppose.
The Down's: No one can turn a blind eye to the civil servants strike thats going on, Im not saying that they have no right to strike. It just needs to be done in a peaceful manner.
The morons that go around intimidating those who chose not to strike are just that, morons. Bringing violence into this situation helps no one. I for one feel that guys that commit these barbaric acts have no reasoning as to why they are striking in the first place! Story's of teachers being shambocked because they wanted to teach & nurses being hauled out of hospitals for simply doing their duties is disgusting to say the least, one would think that these guys arent civilised, which is ironic since it is a "civil servants strike". Its not a nice way to end off the blog post but it has to be said, if we as South Africans want to move forward, we need to stop acting like barbaric fools & learn to behave in a controlled manner. Dont mess up 2010 for us, please.
ever eaten your favourite packet of chips after a while? enjoying every crispy, flavoured sliver of starchy goodness when you stick your hand into the packet for the next ... & thats when you realise. Its all gone! It would be nice if these bags were endless, it wouldnt be so good for your health but who cares about that? You are going to die at some stage right? might as well enjoy the good things in life.
Flanagans (green onion) for me is the ultimate, you Pringle lovers can take your processed perfect everytime chip & pop it where the sun dont shine! nothing beats the oily, extra cripsy, extra spiced goodness that the Irish made & guys at Willards perfected! ... dammit now I need to go buy more...
August 14th 2010 marks the start of the English Premier League 2010/2011 season. Time to dig out your football team kit's from the cupboard or open the new ones that you've just ordered. Its the time where South Africans build up fake ancestries to county's in England & friends that support rival teams become foes. The battle lines drawn & no matter how shit your team is you're convinced that this "is their season".
This is the passion shown by the true football supporters of the great game, to those that claim we're unloyal to our local PSL... Please shut the f*ck up. Its not the WORLDS greatest league for nothing. We, like many others world wide support our teams through thick & thin... & sometimes hide at home for a few weekends after an embarrassing defeat. Excuses will be made & the refs will be blamed, no doubt, this is what we live for! Build up to big clashes, emails, taunts, & bets, its all part & parcel of supporting a team. Normally we're deprived for football for 3 months but this year we were lucky enough to be spared a month by the World Cup, but for us South Africans it just left us craving for more, hence tomorrow couldnt come any quicker!
The summer's transfer window has been a relatively quiet one with regards to big name signings. With most big clubs suffering huge debt's it was obvious in some cases not to see money flying around, though that hasnt stopped the prices for players sky rocketing. Some of the prices for ordinary players have been insane! But the sneakiest deals for the this season have already been done I feel. Joe Coles free transfer to Liverpool being one of them. We lost Yossi just after that horrific season we had (never speak of it again), but in Cole we have the perfect replacement & the bonus, he is English! You see the Premier League is enforcing a new rules:
"As of next season clubs will be required to have a squad named of up to 25 players, of which no more than 17 can be over the age of 21 and not home grown.
The definition of home grown is trained for three years under the age of 21 by somebody in the English and Welsh professional system.
Clubs will have to declare their 25 at the end of August when the window shuts and then again at the end of January."
So this makes things tricky for clubs that dont have enough English OR home grown players, not only that but also clubs that have so much money that they buy players like buying toys. Man City for eg. have 33 players, which 8 off wont make the cut, hence leaving them in the cold. It will be an interesting few weeks in August before the window closes to see who comes in & who go's. Another sneaky buy was Manchester United's acquisition of Mexican youngster Javier Hernández, many would recognise him from the world cup, but if not he is a brilliant young striker making his way up & with mad skills like he displayed on Sunday at the community shield, you know he will be an instant hit with the Manc's.
Also to the new teams that came up from the Championship, its good to have the Toon army back & I must admit them bounce straight back up is welcomed. St James Park was missed last season as it was almost a guaranteed 3 points for us in the Red of Liverpool :)
The usual "Big four" were proved to be no more last season, with teams like Aston Villa, Tottenham & Manchester City breaking the mold. Liverpool being the only casualty managed to finish behind the mentioned 3. Thus resulting in an awkward preseason for the club which saw the manager Rafa Benitez part ways, but with the appointment of new Manager Roy Hodgson & new signings such as Cole, Jovanovic, Wilson & most recently Poulsen Liverpool supporters are optimistic about this season. We may not be in the Champions League but that often proves to be vital in teams that require a season for rebuilding.We're fortunate that most of our big stars have committed, namely Gerrard, Torres, Carra & Kuyt. Mascherano how ever is looking to leave & we can only wish him all the best. He has been a loyal servant & helped us in many games.
This season Liverpool have the good fortune of kicking off their season at home, something that didnt happen very often in the past seasons, but its not the best of fixtures we could hope for. Arsenal enjoyed many games at Anfield & one player that must be licking his lips (if he has a tongue) is the Russian international Andrei Arshavin scoring in all league games for Arsenal against Liverpool at Anfield the past 2 seasons, which include the 4 goals he scored against us in the 08/09 season. The man likes Anfield, maybe we should have bought him! BUT we still have hope! Its a new season, a new manager, new spirit in the camp & anything is possible. Personally I hope for a top 4 finish, winning any trophy would just be an added bonus. As I said, this season is about rebuilding, the manager & players learning to work with one another & experimenting.
Now for my pick's, Liverpool for the title... haha I wish... but more realistically Chelsea will retain the title with the Red Shite in 2nd. 3rd & 4th is where it gets tricky. Im certain (or would like to hope) Liverpool will finish in the top 4 but whether it be 3rd or 4th is the question. Villa will fall away this season after the departure of O Neill & James Milner wanting a move I dont see them making the same progress as they did last season. Spur's still look strong & one cannot look too much into Man City's preseason even though they lost all or most of their games. You may have noticed I left out Arsenal... the typical prediction for them is to hit the ground running, stay in the top 3 until Dec/ Jan then the gradual fall begins & the next thing you know its a fight for 3rd/4th place. The new rules with the player cap will prove pivotal this season so it will be interesting to see who gets the cut in the big teams.
Anyway, time to grab the remote, hog the TV, start the chants & make sure your fantasy dream teams are ready. Let the season begin!
Its been exactly a month to the day we witnessed the last game of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. We as a country proved the world's critic's wrong by hosting one of the most successful events seen, not only with world class stadiums but we, the public being so welcoming to the world. It was us everyday South African's that made it special.
Before a ball was kicked, many groups/ companies made their slogans for the World Cup known, none more catching than our national broadcaster the SABC. "Feel it, It is here" I admit to being one of those who mocked & said "I wonder how long they took to come up with that?" But as I look back on what was, I think its the best one that suited the tournament as a whole.
The Football Fridays was one of the best initiatives made, getting the country into the football spirit by allowing workers to wear their favourite team's shirt to work. It was a joy to see many wearing the yellow of Bafana, our national team. Albeit many companies made deals to get them at a discounted price for their workers, seeing a nation slowly unite for their national team was a feeling that gave many goose bumps. We all knew that they were the underdogs that no one had the slightest hope for progressing from the group stages, but you try to tell any local that. We were determined to support our team! Come 9th of June, the greatest show of unity the countries ever shown & of course "Vuvuzela Moment". At 12pm the millions of South Africans, stopped what they were doing & went outside and to blow their Vuvuzela's in support of Bafana Bafana who at the time were battling to make their way through the packed streets of Sandton on a open top bus. The numbers were overwhelming, it was like we had already won but the tournament hadn't even begun!
The tournament on the whole was an amazing experience, for me to have witnessed it in my own country was a once in a life time opportunity so I tried to go for as many games that were financially possible. At the time 7 didnt seem enough but now that I look back at it, it was sufficient. Traveling the country was one of my goals. To witness what each major city had to offer. Each unique but equally special. Being held in winter, it wasnt the most pleasant weather to go around watching games in open arena's but many braved minus temperatures to watch the world's stars ply their trade. The games I went for were'nt always the most entertaining, but as always with me at live sporting events, its the vibe of the crowd that gets me excited & thankfully most games had awesome crowds. None more than the English in Cape Town, never have I ever felt the stands tremble with the sounds of the singing by the fans. It was certainly an experience that will stay with me forever.
Visiting many of the countries stadia & fan parks was great. Mixing with the tourists, making new friends & on the whole having a good time is what made the World Cup so special. Daily chats begun with "so did you watch the game last night" & many couldnt wait till the day ended so they could get their fix for the day by watching the next live game. Days where there werent any games were filled of confusion as to what to do with the spare time? Many caught up with duties that were neglected due to the football but could you blame them?
As the team's got knocked out & the competition drew ever to a close, no one could think of what was beyond the 11th of July. It was all about the final. My last game seen live was the semi final at Durbans Moses Mabhida stadium (still the best stadium Ive visited). It was between favourites Germany & Spain who didnt really play their best during the tournament, footballing knowledge told me Germany would win but my gut feel was that Spain would cause an upset & so I supported Spain. After a cautious first half which saw Spain nullify the Germans, the killer blow was struck in the second half by Spanish defender Carlos Puyol, which saw them progress to the final for the first time in their history. After the game I didnt want to leave the stadium, making my way around the place, seeing the jubilant Spanish supporters singing & dancing whilst most of the Germans were in disbelief from what had just happened. As I walked out of the stadium I too was in disbelief, seeing that most of the past 3 years Ive spent looking forward to the world cup & now it was all over. At that time if someone offered me a ticket to the final I would have bought it no matter what the price, I needed more, I wanted to continue with the journey but I couldnt.
I said before the tounrament that I'd watch the finals at home with my family & thats exactly what I did. Spain were victorious against the dutch at Soccer City, my second pick came through for me (first being South Africa of course). If I were a betting man I could have made some money! The celebrations were great & the ceremony before left me speechless, as SA has a knack of producing closing ceremonies that made you cringe. World Class was not a word that could justify what was done at Soccer City. Pictures of Fernando Torres wearing the Liverpool scarf & celebrating with the trophy broke through the internet, which sent me to bed with a bigger smile.
Monday the 12th of July, both teams decided to leave the country early that morning & with them, they took the "gees". Soon as I stepped into my office I could feel it was back to normal again. That feeling was gone, the hype was over, so much so it felt like the World Cup didnt happen. I had to look through my pictures to convince myself it did!I can talk about it but I will never get that World Cup feeling back.
Tonight (11/08/10) Bafana Bafana play a friendly against Africa's Black Star's (Ghana) at Soccer City. Many have been waiting for this moment, the first International football game after the world cup, hoping they can summon the feeling back. I hope for them they can, as they dawn the yellow for South Africa once again & take out the Vuvuzela's that have been gathering dust, lets unite again like we did for that special month & keep it going this time. Like many great initiatives that have been started such as Keep Flying the flag & most recently LeadSA its up to us, the very people that made the World Cup a memorable event to the world, to keep it going & with that I end off, my some what summarised version of what the World Cup meant to me.
So I finally succumbed & created a blog. I didnt see the purpose of having one until I felt the need to share the random crap I think off on a daily basis. Yes there is twitter for that, but sometimes the mind generates thoughts that cannot be summed up in 140 characters or less.
"the bucket" may seem arb, but as I sat this morning in my office chair thinking of the various names I could give my blog this one just popped out of no where & I kinda liked it. It has many significances, for one its the symbol of my favourite fast food joint. Yes I like the fried chicken. Secondly the mind is like a bucket, filling up with thoughts, idea's all the time. So this will be an insight into my bucket.
