The tourist destinations also fill up, none more so than Trafalgar Square which could easily doubly as a training ground for European Union tour guides. It's elbow to elbow, it's hot (well, warm at least) and the mass of bodies moves at glacial pace with necks craned upwards to the virtually invisible figure of Admiral Lord Nelson.

What a pleasure to reach the far side of the square and be welcomed in to the SA High Commission! No more kids spilling ice cream and Slovakians attempting to decipher the Tube map, upside down.

The function to celebrate the series victory and pay tribute to Graeme Smith's team was a huge success. Castle Lager, excellent Sauvignon Blanc and traditional braaikos, right down to the pap and sous. Happy, happy days.

* Dale Steyn revealed that Graeme Smith wasn't his usual self both before and during his monumental, series-winning innings of 154 not out.

Lest we forget, things had not gone well for most of the second and third and fourth days while Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood had rebuilt the England second innings. At one stage the tourists were thinking of chasing 50 or 60 for victory. Instead, a target of 281 had clearly left many of Smith's men feeling daunted, and the captain could feel the tension during the final day lunch break when South Africa were 11-0.

"Graeme had a bite to eat and then gave his talk. There was no clenched fist or anything like that. He just said 'guys, the worst that can happen is that we lose the cricket match, but there's another one next week, we can win that one. But right now we need to relax and enjoy ourselves. We just need to relax and bat, that's our best chance.' "He was just so calm, it was incredible," Steyn said.

Even when the injured paceman started having a personal nightmare on 12th man duty during the run chase, nothing could disturb Smith's equilibrium.

"One thing you don't want to do with Graeme is forget the fresh chewing gum at the drinks break. Half way through the afternoon session I ran out with towels, drinks, anything I could think of. The first thing Graeme said to me was 'have you got chewing gum?' I had fogotten it. I couldn't believe it, I felt like dieing. But Graeme just smiled and said 'ok, no problem. I'll get some later.'

"Later he called for fresh batting gloves so I sprinted out to make up for my earlier mistake. Graeme just smile at me again and said 'Steyntjie, these are my net gloves!' The man batted through that whole innings with one pair of gloves. Normally he has to change them every ten overs! He was incredible, an absolute inspiration to all of us," Steyn said.

* The first day of The Oval Test may have been a pretty dismal affair for Smith and his squad but it did yield two more records for the team, albeit not amongst the most prestigious the game has to offer!

When AB de Villiers got off the mark with a sumptious cover drive for four, it was his 76th Test innings since debut without recording a single duck surpassing the previous record of 75 held by Aravinda de Silva.

The overall record for successive innings without a 'blob' is 119 held by David Gower, but from debut that minor distinction now belongs to AB.

* More significant, certainly from a team perspective, was the opening stand of 56 between Smith and Neil McKenzie. It was the ninth consecutive Test since their partnership was established in which they have produced at least one stand of 50 or more.

The previous record of 50+ opening partnerships in eight Tests was set by the West Indian pair of Gordon Greenidge and Roy Fredericks over 30 years ago between 1975 and 1977.

* If Alistair Cook had held a straightforward gulley catch to get rid of Smith with the first ball of the Test, it would have been, remarkably, no less than the fourth golden duck in the Proteas captain's career. He has also fallen twice to the second ball he has faced and twice to the fifth ball he has faced making seven ducks in all.

If Cook had stuck his hands up a bit quicker and made it eight, South Africa might not have reached 150!

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