Well the weather lived up to the forecast expectations, not a cloud in the sky and the wind had lost some of its ferocity, reducing it to a refreshing breeze. I woke up in time to catch the start of the second Test between Pakistan and South Africa, and by the time I departed for breakfast South Africa had lost three wickets.
Breakfast is served in the Jiran Cafe located on the ground floor of the hotel (intruigingly the name of the hotel's General Manager is Stephen Jiran!).
South Africans like their breakfast meetings, and being a Saturday it would appear that families enjoy coming out for a breakfast by the seaside. Thus it was that when I arrived the cafe was fairly full, but I managed to find an empty table. I had to wait about twenty minutes before any waitress deigned to ask me if I was being served. I had gone for an omlette yesterday that was of such huge proportions that I struggled to finish it, so today I opted for the fruit salad, yohgurt, nuts and honey accompanied by coffee. The coffee came fairly quickly, but what delayed the fruit salad by a further twenty minutes I am at a loss to explain. My usual request to sign for the breakfast (it comes in the room price), caused considerable consternation. I shouldn't have had breakfast in the cafe, but in the room for guests at the other end of the ground floor. I countered that I had been told when checking in that breakfast would be served in the Jiran Cafe, and indeed it had been all week! The waitress disappeared for some time, and then returned to say that I could sign for the breakfast as usual. However I was not prepared to let the matter lie, and sought out one of the supervisors and asked why my having breakfast as normal had caused an issue. Ah, that was because of the volume of customers at the weekend, meant that they set up a separate room for hotel guests. As nobody had informed me of this fact, nor could I see any signs or notices to that effect, I did ask how I was supposed to know of this change in policy. The supervisor admitted that I had a point. I asked if the same would apply on Sunday and what about Monday onwards? Well yes, Sunday would be the same, but we'll ring you and let you know about next week. So far my phone has remained mute!
After breakfast I set off for a walk down the beach heading southwards. I walked along the edge of the sea, going down along North Beach, even deigning to dip my toes in the water. It wasn't that cold, but it certainly didn't tempt me to go fully in to the sea. Looking back it was amazing how close the Stadium was to the hotel.
I carried on along Dairy Beach, then onto Wedge Beach and finally on to New Beach. Ahead of me was South Beach, which for reasons that eluded me was absolutely chocka full of bodies, both on the beach and the pool adjoing the beach, whereas all the other beaches were relatively deserted. I walked back from South Beach along the Beach Road taking in some of the items enroute, such as the sunken gardens.
I returned back to the hotel a slightly darker shade of brown than when I set out. I timed it neatly to have a quick shower before watching the Arsenal v Spurs game. I nearly gave up at half time, with Spurs 2-0 down, but fortunately I persevered. I nealy missed the first Spurs goal, because the maid came knocking on my door saying she had lost her keys somewhere, and could she come in and have a look. I bade her to carry on and just got back in front of the telly when Bale scored. Of course Kaboul scoring the winning goal made the day for me. I then watched England win the rugby against Samoa, Chelsea lose to Brmingham, Liverpool beat West Ham, as well as New Zealand starting their test match against India, and am currently watching the highlights of the Premiership matches. No lack of sports coverage here in South Africa!
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