"Give it a few weeks and Africa will get you," was one of the first things colleague Rob Walker said to me after we met at Heathrow two weeks ago.
Last Saturday, his words struck a real chord as the visited the Zenzele orphanage in the township of Finetown, about 50km outside of Johannesburg. We were going to show a group of 60 kids their first football match on a TV rigged up to our bus.
I hold my hands up and admit that I went to South Africa with preconceived ideas about what I would see and the people I would meet.
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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ bus is making its way across South Africa and our journey is going very well. We've had a few issues but managed to get everywhere we need to be at the right time.
We started in Cape Town last week and so far have been to the southernmost point of Africa, seen the world's first post box in Mossel Bay, watched some big units in and felt the chill wind in .
The bus gets driven around by Roger while the rest of us travel in two little vans. I was in one of those when we got a call about a tyre blowout on our generator while we were on our way to . We all had to turn back, leaving security guard John and editor Rob to guard the generator for two hours in the rain while searched for new rubber.
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Well, we've been in South Africa for a few days now. Not long until we head out on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ bus, which I got a glimpse of for the first time earlier this week.
Many people have asked me if we are sleeping on it. The answer is 'no'. We are staying in B&Bs and little hotels along the way.
I reckon it is the greatest bus in history. That might be a bit strong but it must be in the top five, along with the one from , the one Clint Eastwood drove in , Cliff Richard's and the beauty from .
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: Cape Town
My World Cup warm-up has been an interesting one: last Wednesday I was sitting on a stool with Rio Ferdinand in London talking to him about captaining England.
The event at Niketown ended with the crowd giving a rapturous send off to Ferdinand, Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney - the other two popped in for the grand finale.
Rio spoke with real understanding about how and as he left (just after I had awkwardly spat some flapjack on his tracksuit) he said 'see you in six weeks'.
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Welcome comrades. This blog is all about giving you an insight into how Football Focus comes together each week. I do pop up across the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s sporting output so there may be the occasional reference to something other than the beautiful game too.
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