Monday 28th June

The main aim of the morning was to get Leechie and Ben to the airport, or at least to something that could get them to the airport, in this case, the mysterious new Gautrain station in Sandton, in Johannesburg. They were both due to fly down to Cape Town; Ben to shoot the quarter final…

Sunday 27th June

A cooked breakfast was laid on for us on the morning of what was arguably my biggest game so far…ever. Germany vs. England in the World Cup…it doesn’t get much bigger, as far as the UK market is concerned anyway. We’d been informed that the Media Centre would open early, and that photographers would be…

Saturday 26th June

My first day off since the start of the group stages started with a lie-in, and this was followed up by a trip to Brightwater for lunch with Leechie, Steve, Marc, Pottsy and Adam, where I dined out on a greek salad followed by a Hawaiian pizza (with avocado)…the salad made me feel healthy again,…

Friday 25th June

I woke up not with a sore head, but certainly for a yearning for an hour or two longer in bed, but alas, I knew that I needed to catch up on some editing (as well as some diary-writing!), and then head off to the airport to pick up Senor Leech who was due in…

Thursday 24th June

We left for Ellis Park at midday to shoot Slovakia vs. Italy, a game that didn’t exactly get pulses racing when it  appeared on the World Cup schedule. Arriving once again in the quaint neighbourhood of Hillbrow (!), I was already looking forward to some food, having eaten close to nothing so far that day….

Wednesday 23rd June

The day started out with yet another trip to O.R Tambo International airport, where I’d decided enough was enough as far as our VW Touran was concerned and it needed to go back to be replaced. What I’d hoped would be a simple 10 minute exchange turned into a 45 minute wait, as the woman…

Tuesday 22nd June

My day started with a trip back to the laundrette, to pick up the washing I’d dropped off on Saturday. A little chat and R50 later, and I was back home with some fresh boxers, socks and t-shirts for the coming fortnight. We left the Lodge at 11am (picking Adam and George up along the…

Monday 21st June

BANG! 5.35am my alarm went off, and 10 minutes later I was in the car with Itu and one of his photographers, Kaz, on the way to the airport, a journey that I should know by now like the back of my hand. We cruised there with no hold-ups whatsoever, and a good thing too,…

Sunday 20th June

With tensions at an all-time high thanks to people sacking off matches that they were down to do and leaving people in the lurch as far as driving is concerned, it sounded like a good idea to get out of the Lodge and enjoy a second Mugg & Bean Tropical Breakfast in consecutive days. Apple,…

Saturday 19th June

A relaxing start to the day was became a bit of a panic while I going through my pictures from Slovenia vs. USA – the mouse trackpad on my laptop seemed to have stopped working – just given up, and refused to do what it was told. The old ‘turn it off and turn it…

Friday 18th June

The day of England’s 2nd game of the tournament started with a mild panic at Park Lodge, when Steve was unable to find his passport for his flight to Cape Town for their match against Algeria in the evening. One car had already made an early-morning journey to the airport, and Steve was due to…

Thursday 17th June

This was a long, tiring day. It started with a 7am departure for the airport, where Leechie was due to catch a flight to Cape Town, where he was to spend the next 10 days or so. As we’d learnt in the first week we were here, an early departure was crucial if we were…