A solitary puff of fluffy white cloud hangs innocently in the baby-blue sky. So begins an inexorable journey through brooding adolescence to violent old age, the massive thunder-head that it will become, hard to imagine in the mid-morning stillness. We’re on the hard shoulder of the R64, shooting drive-by shots past the border sign that splits the vast rolling veld into Northern Cape and Free State. Another day on the great Braai4Heritage tour begins.
The ride into Bloemfontein was uneventful until we reached the outskirts. As the flat, yellow fields of sunflowers gave way to auto-dealers and I reached for my laptop to find the address of our guesthouse, the activity in the front of the bakkie began to move up a gear. Phone calls were being made, a change in plan was afoot.
Jan had been making some enquiries and had learnt that Juan Smith, Springbok rugby player and captain of the local Cheetahs was in town recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. Juan, together with his brother, owns a butchery just off Jim Fouche Avenue and Jan was honing in, keen to meet the great player and get some of his thoughts on braaing quality meat.
It was a fun interview. Juan comes across as a very decent guy despite managing to look dangerously menacing even when he’s laughing. At least I think he was laughing. He donned a tour t-shirt for the cameras and loaded us up with about three kilograms of biltong and droëwors and we were on our way. Oh, and he also assured us that his injury was healing well and he had no doubt he’d be fit in time for the World Cup in September.
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The braai today was at Grey College, alma mata to many a past and present Springbok, and Protea for that matter – the plaques up in the home changing room show the names of Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje, Nicky Boje, Boeta Dippenaar and Morne van Wyk among others. On the Rugby side there was Ruan Pienaar, Bismarck, Jannie and Morne du Plessis, Francois Steyn and CJ van der Linde.
The idea of the braai was for Jan to have a bit of a training session with the current first team rugby players and then put on a quick boerie-braai for them after practice.
I don’t know what Jan was thinking when he dreamed that one up. It’s been a long (gloriously long) time since I had to sprint up and down a sports field to the tune of a coach’s whistle and after five minutes of it, it was clear than it had been a long time for Jan too. There’s a big difference between sustained jogging and draconian sprinting, and this was an exercise designed to tire out the fittest of 18 year olds. Jan gave it a good go, but by half way he was trailing badly, sweat pouring, and a look of anguish on his face.
After just the one sprint exercise, a shower and a brief lie down on the concrete stands, Jan was again fit to braai. This, let it be noted, was the first braai I have missed on this tour. I just couldn’t find the appetite for another piece of boerewors. I’m not proud, but even hours later I’m still not hungry and it feels like the right call. Some of the other guys are out looking for sushi (something, anything but red meat), but not sure how much luck they’re having. Me, I’m just happy with a cup of tea in my very nice room at Waverley Manor, and will go to bed tonight hoping that the fruit selection for breakfast in the morning is anything like as good as the excellent fresh buffet at The Protea in Kimberley this morning.
