Yes folks, it’s that time of year again when the months training done by cyclists on the local roads – free-wheeling through red robots, riding thirteen abreast, not bothering to buy lights, cycling along the freeways etc etc – come to fruition as they get some roads closed for a little while and then get to complain about the heat and the wind for the next six months.
But this year is slightly different, as the self-proclaimed God of cycling and n times Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong is in town.
Cue desperate fawning from all and sundry in the cycling community (all of whom are on first name terms with Lance Armstrong) and the new regulation that we must all worship Lance Armstrong because he did all that without getting caught using drugs – not like today’s cheats.
Lance Armstrong arrived last night in Cape Town and wasted no time is slagging off the local immigration officials because he didn’t have two blank pages in his passport (a fairly regular entry requirement for many countries around the world) and thus Home Affairs refused him entry.
Fair play, I would have thought, but Lance Armstrong wasn’t happy.
“Don’t you know who I am?” he might well have said. I don’t know, because I wasn’t there. But if I had have been there, I would have guessed that he was someone that didn’t know even the basics of traveling abroad.
However, this tweet:
@LanceArmstrong Well, made it in to SA. Not the friendliest welcome I’ve ever received but we’ve all seen immigration officers like that. #posterboymaterial
has divided the nation.
Yep – Lance Armstrong had a go at passport control because they were following rather basic guidelines. And that brought out his sickeningly sycophantic fans in a tirade of anti-Home Affairs abuse. This in turn caused a backlash of people who think Lance Armstrong is actually rather ordinary who pointed out that only a egotistic twat would turn up at passport control with a full passport and then blame someone else. I think I was one of them.
Aki Anastasiou risks the wrath of the cycling mafia with his suggestion that Lance Armstrong owes South Africans an apology. But I’m in full agreement. Whether he meant it or not, he’s come over as arrogant and hugely self-important – and damn rude about a guy who was just doing his job.
There’s a more serious side to this though. Lance Armstrong has 2,500,000 followers on twitter and much like Stephen Fry, can’t pretend he doesn’t recognise the power and significance of what he shares. When he blames someone else (specifically SA Immigration, in this case) for an error that he made, it reflects badly on this country. And until he apologises (to the same audience), no amount of cheesily-posed photos on Chapman’s Peak Drive are going to swing the damage that he has done to SA’s reputation amongst his sadly brain-washed devotees.
Cyclist.
One word explains everything.
I like what you did with the white text. It’s just the kind of snarky move that impresses me. Do it again!
.-= Murray´s last blog ..Son of Dave: same old sound, maybe new sunglasses =-.
Cyclist = entitlement. I know, I’m one 😉
However, how does one know you need two (2) blank pages in your passport to enter South Africa. All in all, though, I agree with you. They should have send him back 🙂
The cycling mafia… *chuckle*
Actually, I know a few *real* cyclists that also despise the persona that is LA.
And you’re right.. a Chappies shot is not enough. We’ll need one of Table Mountain at least.
Tara > ’nuff said.
Murray > White text? Must have missed that. *innocent*
Emil > Well – it’s standard policy for most countries:
Wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/Passport
SA tourism: http://www.southafrica.info/travel/documents/visas.htm
Even the US Dept of State: http://travel.state.gov/passport/fri/faq/faq_1741.html#gen8
It’s not rocket science.
Anib > Ooh yes – with him smiling as he goes over the edge!
i’m actually surprised he was eventually let into the country, as far as i know if your passport is full you get sent back where you came from. i’m pretty sure that if somebody was trying to get into the united states without adhering to the rules they wouldn’t be given any sympathy (and probably an even unfriendlier welcome to boot.)
and for someone who travels so often, he should know this. or at least his cronies should.
.-= diana´s last blog ..crystal lake =-.
Based on the only two Tweets that I have actually seen reproduced, he appears not to be complaining at the enforcement of apparently standard procedure – but the manner in which it was done. People are reading a lot into two short Tweets. I am not defending him – he may well be rude and arrogant – maybe even as rude and arrogant as all the people on Twitter who are making all these assumptions about someone they don’t even know.
But I can easily imagine the caliber of officials he was dealing with, as I have had to endure them as well!
diana > See, that’s where he missed out. Having been given special dispensation to enter the country, he decided to describe the guy as “posterboymaterial”, rather than saying thank you. Nice guy.
David Fox > See my reply to diana above. It’s not reading a lot into anything to note that Lance Armstrong obviously has no manners. As for your “caliber of officials” quote, I think we’ve all seen good and bad. I haven’t had any issues with immigration – and I’m a complicated case.
Ok, I’m officially pwned 😉
Pretty much what I said except with less readers 😉
Basically the guy is a doos.
.-= Rob´s last blog ..Southwest Airlines are idiots =-.
Kate Hudson told me over a martini at The Plaza that dear old Lancie boy is rather lacking in the trouser department too… shame, he was rather attractive to me for a nano second