World Cup Trumpet

Tonight, Johannesburg readies itself for the end of South Africa's World Cup 2010. Sepp Blatter waits in the wings, ready to close the curtain on a tournament that can be described in one word as "unique".

The wonderful event has been the first of it's kind on African soil and billions around the world have scarcely been able to look away as it has reached it's climax, with Holland or Spain set to make history - this will be a first win for either team, and the only time a European nation has won it outwith their continent. 

While the eyes of the world may be on Jo'burg, mine are not quite there yet; Jennifer and I arrived in London today to collect our World Cup Final tickets and to fly out to Africa for the second most memorable weekend of our lives, exactly one year after getting married.

I'd argue that I'm more excited than the Dutch and Spanish squads put together!

Any intention to blog on the World Cup has fallen by the wayside in recent weeks as I had a week off work whilst my best mate Thomas was visiting (we spent it watching 13 simultaneous games). 

Every waking moment I have had since then has been spent either working, or fretting over arrangements for our trip (flight confirmation only came through on Wednesday!)... I have also just barely found time to watch the footie!

The build up has been a lot tamer than I expected, as I have been so nervous about getting everything in place for our trip that I have not had a great chance to fully digest our prize.

Newsround, of all things, changed that last night. As I flicked channels, I caught their World Cup broadcast live from outside Soccer City Stadium, where the reporter noted that in three days time the place would be buzzing with 95,000 fans eager for the kickoff of the World Cup Final between Holland and Spain.

It was all I could do not to start shouting at the TV in glee!

My phone battery is fading as fast as the hype around Wayne Rooney and our train is nearly at Heathrow Airport, so I had better wrap things up; suffice to say I will have a LOT to talk about on here after Sunday, so check back next week.

To finish, I will go on record as backing Spain to win, as I have done at every tournament since my own nation of no-hopers last took part in 1998. I had a fiver on them at 4/1 before a ball was kicked, so hopefully I can collect that to round off what will be an absolutely perfect weekend.

I'm buoyed by the fact that Paul the octopus agrees with my pick...