Durban

Throughout my stay in South Africa, it's been either cold (Johannesburg/Pretoria) or rainy (Cape Town). Imagine my surprise, then, when I disembarked from the airport shuttle in Durban to find weather that was, comparatively, downright balmy. Thus my long underwear and long-sleeve shirt (plus Lee Chung-Yong jersey) were entirely inappropriate. The good news is that, on a whim, I decided to take my swimsuit with me. The bad news was that my hotel wouldn't let me check in until 2 PM, which was immensely frustrating. They did let me change in the bathroom and drop my luggage off though.

Now dressed appropriately, I looked for something to do. In my traveler's guide I saw an add for surfing lessons, and thought - surfing in the Indian Ocean? How cool is that? I booked an appointment but unfortunately heard back later that there wasn't enough wind for surfing. Oh well.

Instead, I played a few rounds of beach soccer. I'll just come out and say it: I suck at it. Not that I'm the best of footballers anyway, but playing beach soccer renders everything you know about the game meaningless. Without your boots, the ball rebounds off the different parts of your foot in strange ways. Your usual dribbles and tricks don't work properly in the sand. Even running doesn't feel quite right. I did score a back-heeled goal but other than that I was poor.

I was finally able to get into my hotel and I like it. It's not as luxurious as my Cape Town abode but the guest information book describes it as "French Art-Deco inspired" and I quite like art-deco. It makes me feel like I'm staying in a hotel Don Draper would have stayed in 45 years ago.

I ordered room service, which in this country is really no more expensive than a regular meal, and settled down to watch South Africa's slim hopes of progressing to the next round. It looked good when they scored two goals and Yoann Gourcouff - who was already unpopular with the French team - was sent off for an elbow. However, the French didn't do the decent (and French) thing and roll over and let Bafana Bafana score the four goals they needed to progress. No, Malouda had to score. It was rather disappointing, especially since Uruguay did their job by beating Mexico. It is a small consolation that I'll never have to hear Domenech's bizarre musings again. Presumably, after he started Djibril Cisse in a critical World Cup game, no team would be insane enough to appoint him.

To the credit of the South African fans (I guess), they did keep blowing the vuvuzelas until the end. They obviously expected this, as seconds after the game the channel was airing consolation ads for the team and advising South Africans to continue to impress their guests.

After that it was time for the South Korea game - more on that to come!