Spain v Portugal

I had the pleasure of enjoying my last World Cup game last night and have to say it was a joy to watch the game as a neutral. Whilst I started off hoping Portugal might win it after their demolition of N.Korea, it quickly became apparent that a different Portugal team had rocked up for this game. I reckon the best I can say about them is that Spain were brilliant! Apart from Torres who's been ineffectual through most of the tournament the rest of them were great and what a pleasure to watch the likes of David Villa in the flesh. He really has been impressive in this World Cup.

The Family Of Grace

As is becoming an increasingly regular occurrence, Grace Community Church could not get the Civic Hall to meet for church this morning. Not to be put off by this, we all agreed to meet in the home of one of our members and, as one of our friends commented, you might be able to close the venue down but you can't stop God's church!!

We had an absolutely fantastic time together.The atmosphere was so free and open and everyone felt able to be vulnerable and to share needs etc. The Holy Spirit was given huge freedom to move among us and we experienced an amazingly intimate touch as God ministered amongst us.

Portugal v N.Korea

No doubt the TV and newspaper pundits have said just about all there is to say on Portugal's fantastic win over N.Korea so I'll not add to them. All I will say is that N.Korea had a reasonable first half and were somewhat unlucky not to be level at half time but that is probably academic in the face of what happened in the 2nd half.

For fear of repeating the post below I'll not say too much here, rather I'll let the pics do the talking, click the link under the last pic for the full album. Suffice to say that we had a great day which was rounded off nicely by Ronaldo et al.

Goal Fest!

Having left the house just before 9.30 and getting home at about 6.30 has made for a long day but man it was so worth it! Despite the best efforts of the rain in the morning and the fact that we got soaked we had a lot of fun and were rewarded with a stunning goal fest by the Portuguese! What a pleasure to see Ronaldo and co at the top of the game and playing for the sheer fun of it. Definitely a memory to treasure.

England v Algeria - Oh The Shame!

I love it when England play because it allows the rest of the English footballing fraternity know what it's like being a Palace fan. You have a great team with brilliant potential, you should win every game and play your opponents off the field and yet somehow you manage to make it all look like really hard work and have very little to show for your endeavours. That's what it's like being a Palace fan, but as Palace fan I got used to that a long time ago. Sadly for the rest of the England fans the reality may just be dawning.

Despite Rooney et al's best efforts to ruin our amazing evening they thankfully failed in their quest. Yes the game was a turgid affair and we made the Algerians look good but it was still an amazing vibe and the Cape Town stadium still impresses and it was great to share the evening with our mates Jo and Mark!

Toad Slobber

We're enjoying one of South Africa's many public holidays. Today is Youth Day which is a really important date in SA's history. We first became aware of this holiday whilst in Tanzania where today is celebrated as the International Day of the African Child. The date was deliberately chosen to coincide with the massacre of children during the Soweto Uprising in 1976 when on June 16th about ten thousand school children marched in a column more than half a mile long, protesting about the poor quality of their education and demanding to be taught in their own language.

Italy vs Paraguay

Just had another fantastic evening in Cape Town enjoying the World Cup spectacle. This evening I went with my mate Gary to watch the Italy v Paraguay match and we had a lot of fun. Sadly the game wasn't the best, though it was a dramatic improvement on Friday's! The best bit about the game was that both goals went in right in front of us so we were well pleased with that. Despite the game, the vibe in Cape Town and the stadium was just brilliant once again! It's a real privilege to be able to see so many games live and to soak an amazing carnival atmosphere on the streets of Cape Town.

World Cup Vibe ========<() !!!!

I'm not really sure how to begin to describe the feelings from my first ever World Cup experience, it really was a stunning event and for me, only the first of six and maybe even seven of the Cape Town games.

From having stressed about the best way to get to the game and what time to set off Michael & I decided to go with Daniel and Zelda (Daniel leads Grace Community Church) to Grand West and get the park n ride shuttle from there and it all went perfectly though a bit of a hiccup on the way home as the promised bus never materialised and we had to take the train which was interesting!
30 Jun 202012 Jun 2010

World Cup Fever

We've got a serious bout of world Cup fever in our house and the boys are really into it.

So today they had their faces painted and my English son chose the South African flag whilst my South African son chose the English flag. So which one is the traitor?

I'm now really excited as Michael will be here for 4pm and then we're off into Cape Town for the Uruguay v France match. My first ever World Cup match. Can't wait!

World Cup Ready?

So is my bakkie ready for the World Cup or not?

You decide.

Joel's Musical Debut

We're really proud of Joel and how he's suddenly got to grips with his recorder. Thanks must go to Mrs Muscat who is a great teacher and a brilliant friend! Joel's enjoying the recorder and is focused as he knows that if he does well then he'll get an electric guitar. Watch this space!

Miles For Smiles - Update

Joel and Eli were proud and thrilled to come home from school today with Certificates for Outstanding Contribution for raising so much money for Miles For Smiles!  Thank you so much to all of you who contributed and made this possible. The school have raised over £2500, which is great news for the children needing the operations. Well done everyone for your combined efforts!!

Family Bits & Bobs

Family life continues apace with the boys thirst for knowledge and new experiences seemingly insatiable, but to be honest we'd have it no other way. At a very simple level life revolves around eating, sleeping, school and riding their bikes and whilst this is not an inaccurate summary of life it's also far from the whole picture.

Father's Day

Apparently it's Father's Day soon. I personally don't have a lot of time for this given that most Dad's do considerably less around the house and for their families than the Mums do. As such I really don't think we deserve a special day to commemorate our domination of the remote control. I also think it's just another cynical ploy by the greetings card industry to ramp up their sales.

World Cup Tickets

I picked up our World Cup tickets this morning and it feels really good to be going to so many games in such a short space of time.

Joel's particularly excited as we're taking him and Eli to the Portugal v N.Korea game as his teacher has Portuguese roots and he loves his teacher!

We're just thrilled to have this amazing once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of the world's greatest football players right here in our own back yard. What a privilege!

World Cup Kick Off 2010

On Saturday Grace Community Church joined with Ukuthasa Peer Education to support their World Cup Kick Off 2010. This was an event to raise money for fixing the many broken windows in the schools in Macassar.

As a church we decided to serve coffee & donuts from a tent on the edge of the playing fields and it has to be said that our tent was brilliant! We were by far the best stall there and as a church we were well represented throughout the event and with two teams in the competition we certainly achieved our aim of raising awareness of Grace Community Church.