A blog!

Well it would seem I can only write a blog when in Sierra Leone! Where did the last 6 months go?
Just thought I would paste a few photos of Freetown and the the trip we did yesterday to River Beach # 2 which was so beautiful.
No Helicopter transfer this time, instead we used Pelican Water Taxi. A small speed boat... which not so amusingly (especially as it was 9pm and pitch dark) crashed into a sandbank (how did they not know it was there???) half way between the airport and Aberdeen. The boat rocked around wildly and for a breif moment I was planning my escape route and strategy for keeping my phone dry... however after the driver abandoned ship to push us off the sandbank, and returned to drive the boat onwards in only his underpants all was well! On the whole probably a better experience than the chopper!

xxxx

Pink boat in front of locked up - out of use 1st aid point (no guns allowed) - Aberdeen(?) Beach

Family Kingdon Hotel has a new statue. A thing of great beauty.

The name of this Ice shop ammused me

River Beach # 2

River Beach # 2

Made it...

Well I survived the death box of a chopper and landed in the dark, in torrential rain, in Freetown. Hurrah! Shame the experience has to be repeated to leave.

Am staying by the beach which (when it isn't raining) is beautiful!

Accommodation is slightly surreal and involves aliens
and midget deer... according to the waiter there is an antelope somewhere as well... so bizarre!

I am most rubbish at blogging these days and have come to the opinion I should stop or make a more concerted effort... so I will try and do the later. In the mean time I am off to Sierra Leone on a work mini break.

The FCO travel advise provided much amusement... mostly because amusement is really the only response one can have to the trauma that getting to SL may be for someone like me who has a large and possibly irrational fear of flying... a fear that doesn't really go very well with my job... anyway below are some highlights from the British Government's travel advise to SL:

Lungi airport is situated on the far side of a wide estuary from Freetown. There are currently five travel options from Lungi airport: road, helicopter, ferry, hovercraft and private boat service. None is without risk.

• The Foreign and Commonwealth Office permits its own staff to travel between Lungi and Freetown only by road by day and at moderate speeds using competent, well-rested drivers driving in convoys of at least two vehicles suitable for travel on badly-rutted unmade roads. (all very nice for FCO types I am sure).
• Sea-going vessels in Sierra Leone are not required to meet the maintenance standards or pass the safety checks that would be required in the UK. The risks associated with sea travel are therefore greater than they would be on a similar vessel in British waters. There is no scheduled service with full maintenance records available for public inspection. There will be no public emergency service response to any problems at sea. (that makes things clear then.)
• The ferry was warned by the Port Authorities in January 2007 about overloading, and has been known to operate in poor visibility without lights. There is a lack of basic safety equipment on board, including navigational aids, lifeboats and accessible life jackets. Emergency procedures are unclear.
• The commercial hovercraft service between Freetown and Mahera Beach relaunched on 7 May 2008. On 2 July the hovercraft lost power and failed to fully get up the beach at Aberdeen. On 23 May the hovercraft crashed into the terminal at Mahera Beach damaging the wall of the building (!!!!). None of the passengers waiting in the terminal was hurt. In November 2007 it experienced mechanical problems while crossing the lagoon. There was no organised emergency response and the passengers were rescued by small craft. The hovercraft was subsequently towed back to Freetown.

As a result I will be riding the helichopper which takes less than 10 min and tends to crash about once a year (usually with many fatalities)... so the odds aren't too bad...

Malawi

Hello,

Just a short email from Malawi... as part of my new effort to update my blog! Internet is very slow and so I have just put on 2 photos... one is from Zomba mountain in the evening as the sun is setting... it was very beautiful... the other is of the lake (Sun and Sand Resort to be precise)... it was just like a beach - there were even waves.
It's been pretty cool here, especially in the evenings, but yesterday when I sat for a couple of hours on a swing chair on the beach it was so lovely and warm... mmm very nice!

Today I go off north... so that should be fun!

so long

i have not blogged in so long which is very bad. i mean to but then i forget.
i'm off to Malawi today for a couple of weeks work, but will try and be back with a vengence when I return!

big love x

hello again

I have returned... it has indeed been a while. But the reason I went away was because I was distracting myself with various diversions... including...

Avoiding facebook... I am still not on it...

Going on a short course at Loughbourgh uni and discovering all sorts of things were named after me (ok well possibly not me exactly... perhaps Thomas Telford)...

Going sledging in the Mk snow dome... which was fun... and involved avoiding killing 5 year olds, who it has to be said made up the majority of other people using the slope! You will be pleased to know that I seemed to do quite well on this front, and no 5 year olds were killed or maimed.
Moving house... yes I moved into a new abode, owned by Spearsy and Mist... here (for Spearsy in Senegal's benefit) is a photo of the glorious loo, with the glorious new barbed wire loo seat. Also note glorious new Ikea loo brush... this was procured despite some people thinking we didn't need to replace the loo brush that came with the house (it was manky).
For Arth and Spearsy's 70th Birthday party i grew an Afro, and fell in love with a worryingly side burned and tashed stranger... Who i later tried (unsuccessfully) to kill using a plastic gun...
Hils was quite the celebrity... and spearsy just looks scouse like...
I have also acquired glasses for looking at computer screens... very exciting I am sure, especially as they seem to make me look European... and worried...
Spring has also been fabulous - when the sun shines! It has been 3 years since I have been in the UK to experience a proper English spring, and the blossom and spring like smells are yummy! As are the long light evenings - not something that Cambodia and Nepal went in for particularly!
Queenie has some nice spring flowers to enjoy outside of her palace too!

This Easter bank holiday...

This Easter bank holiday Ant and I found ourselves locked in Tetbury Chruch in the Cotswold's. It could have been rather tragic... but fortunately we escaped without too much pain. Even so it amuses me...

Whilst in Tetbury we decided to look inside the lovely Georgian church. It really is pretty. At the back of the church there was a small stand selling postcards and books and such. It was unmanned - there was an honesty box. Whilst looking round the stall a slightly dodgy looking man came into the church and proceeded to ask us if we had managed to "nick anything". Wasn't quite sure how to respond to that one. Obviously steeling from churches is a major past time of mine.
Anyway we sort of wandered off, and the bloke left the building (offended by our lack of thieving perhaps?!). On his way out he bolted the door locked from the outside. The bolt was at the top of the door, so it couldn't be done accidentally.

Hmm so there we are locked in a strange church... fortunately when we went over to the windows we saw some people tending a grave, and so then managed to open the window and shout for help... all was well... even so I did wonder how long we could have been left in there if no one was about... but I suppose we could have summonsed help with a mobile phone or something?!