Futbol. We speekee.

Last night was an early one; I think most others went early too, so I didn't miss any action. Woke this morning to another hot day, but we had arranged to play football against the local woodcarving lads who have their stalls just outside the campsite. Well we met them at the gate and wandered down to their pitch, which was a fair size, and also had goalposts. Obviously no white lines (white paint doesn't stick to dust), but otherwise good. They were all quite skillful as we had seen them juggling balls and kicking about, but although we weren't necessarily talented, we had the aggression of the English game on our side.

I was playing right wing, but straight away I realised I was dehydrated before we'd even kicked off; I guess 2 days of booze does that to you. My legs felt so heavy but it was good to play a proper game; the last one I played was in Cape Town in 1989. To cut a long story short, I didn't get to see too much of the ball, but we were soon 2 nil up, but they got 2 quick goals before half time.

I was completely shattered and needed water badly. For the locals' half time refreshment a really big spliff seemed to work for them, until they got back on the pitch, when we knocked in another 3. So a 5-2 final score with our organisation beating their individual skill.

Obviously there were a few scrapes, so my wound care bag came out at the end.

I've spent the rest of the day negotiating for them to carve me a few bits 'n bobs so I will soon be the proud owner of a framed painting and a game box.

Got a bit sunburnt on my neck, but it was worth it. Tonight we're going for a meal in some village somewhere, then tomorrow we're off to Blantyre to get our Mozambique visas. I have to do shopping for food as it's my team's turn to cook and I have to go to the police to get a report about the theft of my camera. Everyone on the truck is uploading their pics to a common website, so I'll be able to get their shots instead of mine which is better than nothing.

Not sure when the next interweb portal thingy will be...

Sherry? Sherry.

Well, yesterday was fun. Did very little other than drinking sherry, watching Dolce and Gabbana, eating Dolce and Gabbana, drinking beer and chatting with the other guys and girls on the truck.

I haven't written much about them, but on the whole they're a good bunch, although there is one girl who after initially being very friendly, suddenly started treating me with contempt and little else. Takes issue with everything I say, takes a contrary position to me on every discussion, always sits as far away as possible, refuses to acknowledge my presence when there's no one else around, you get the idea. Initially I was puzzled and did the usual obsessive soul searching, but I've come to the conclusion that there's nowt I can do about it and moreover, if she wants to behave oddly, then that's her issue and I've got more interesting things to engage my brain with. Partly because of this, it was really good to sit down and talk nonsense over several beers with some of the others on the truck, with Mrs Odd nowhere in sight. One of the girls said she'd really like to hook up with me when we get back to London. I don't think she was thinking of a romantic liaison, just that I'm a good bloke basically. Well Mrs Odd has made me doubt a little, but I think I'm a good bloke, and it was good to hear someone else say so too.

Eventually went to bed a little calmer at about 1130, with requests to get up at 6 to watch the cricket ringing in my ears. We've been getting up very early all trip; I think the earliest was quarter to five, six being the norm, but I slept in until 930. What a rebel I am. When I sauntered over to the truck I was surprised to see people still having breakfast, so I got a lie in AND pancakes. What a most excellent way to start boxing day.

Then I heard the cricket score.

Merry Christmas, yer arse.

Well, it's Christmas although it doesn't really feel like it: given the year I've had, with the feeling of life passing me by I guess it's kind of appropriate. Nevertheless, it's a really lovely way to spend Christmas. We're right by the beach and the HUGE thunderstorm that hit us last night has left the air fresh and the sky blue, with just a few little fluffy clouds. It's very warm, so the factor 40 is going on before I get out into the sun proper, but before that I have to shave and do my ablutions.

We all had a secret Santa gift; mine was a Tusker beer T shirt and a jar of Nivea hand cream. We all got a stocking from the truck crew which had an African bangle, water pistol, sweeties, a firework and one of those blarting trumpet things. I got an ankle bracelet and a hippo necklace for Kate, my designated person, and she seemed quite pleased, especially as her boyfriend had sent her a gold and Zirconia bangle which she thought was hideous.

We have a buffet starting at 1pm (currently 1100), then Jase our driver is doing us a couple of pigs for dinner. They were called (at my suggestion) Dolce and Gabbana and were killed about 2 hours ago. They currently have apples in their mouths and their guts in the bin, are split down the middle and are slowly roasting over hot coals.

Guess I'll phone the UK later although my phone is still bust; I'll have to get a sim card and borrow a blower. Ho hum. Anyway, enjoy your cold, wet Christmases, and I'll enjoy my sunny warm one. Laters!

Ooh, Malawi!

Malawi is supposed to be the poorest country on Earth, yet it looks cleaner and tidier than either Kenya or Tanzania. I guess it just means that the ruling elite are a little poorer, as on the ground it seems to make bugger all difference.

Zanzibar is a beautiful place, but only on the beaches. Everything else is just dispiritingly dirty, run down and poor. It was quite surprising to find that the concept of 'civic pride', or even 'community' seems to have passed the place by - it was a land of everyone for themselves and bugger everyone else; it seemed like a place where the only aim in life is to get as much money out of white people as possible. Rubbish.

Racing against the clock as this place is closing but we're at Kande Beach in Malawi for Chrimbo, which has ace sunsets. Christmas tomorrow and Secret Santa. All is well here...

Never met a nice South African

We drank heavily last night. Wearing clean clothes. Glorious. We walked to the bar up the beach and ate and drank and drank and drank. Met some nice South Africans who tried to hook me up with their mate, but she was so drunk she could barely speak or stand. Fit though.

Today has been mostly recovering. Got up about 11 and blundered down to the beach restaurant, had food then collapsed onto a sunbed under an umbrella for the next 5 hours. You can burn here even in the shade with factor 40 on so you kind of have to be careful. I was supposed to be going snorkelling today, but couldn't face it, especially as the last trip that people did was particularly shit - they went fishing, but there were no rods, just sticks with string wrapped around them, which weren't even ready to be used. And the sea was rough, the boat small and the fish weren't biting.

Not sure what's happening to night, but maybe I'll try and find that South African girl before she gets too drunk...

Zanzibar

So much for posting every day. The computers here are so infested with spyware that just about the only thing you can use them for is to type text. Over the past few days I've tried to post but when it takes you half an hour to get to the blog page, you begin to wonder if it's worth the bother.

So, since my last post I've been to the Ngorongoro crater - just incredible; got up close and rather personal with some elephants, seen lions mating including a lion orgasm, zebra, rhino, jackals, foxes... Incredible rain on the way out of the crater, reminiscent of the scenes in Jurassic Park where the fat computer technician crashes his jeep in the rain. We were driving through flooded mud tracks. Really cool. All the rain so far has been something to be enjoyed rather than endured.

Slept out on the endless plain of the Serengeti that night. I heard a lion roaring during the night and we found tracks through our camp in the morning...

The Serengeti was a little disappointing as we saw very little wildlife, which I guess is the luck of the draw, but we did get really close to some giraffes who were content to ignore us completely.

So we are now on Zanzibar for a few days. We're at a place on the northern tip of the island with white beaches, cobalt blue sea and clear skies. It's a bit rubbish, but I'm struggling through. It does say something that I appreciate the proper beds and not constantly moving more than the scenery!

One of the girls (Jacqui) has a birthday today, so doubtless there will be a few beers and cocktails sunk in her honour this evening. I took some laundry in to reception at the hotel today so I might even be able to wear clean clothes, hurrah!

As I write this it's 1.41 pm so the worst of the midday heat is over, so it's time to go back and top up my sunburn. Not that I'm actually burnt, just a nice brown, courtesy of my factor 40 sunscreen. Ciao.

On the Road

Well, it's now Tuesday Evening and I'm in a camp on the edge of the Ngoro Ngoro crater. Kinda surreal that they have net access here. Oh, and this keyboard doesn't have any letters on it so I'm typing from memory. Anyway...


Sunday

A very pleasant chap by the name of Stanley came up to me in the lobby saying that Tony had asked him to take me out so we were to go to the Baby Elephant rescue place, the giraffe centre and the Blixen museum. First though, we drove over most of Nairobi looking for a charger for my Zen to no avail, so no tunes for me which is really annoying.

The baby elephants were very cute and playful. I talked to them about woundcare and promised to leave them some Aquacel ag (antimicrobial) for infected wounds. It turns out that the husband of the lady who runs the place has an infected elbow wound, so she was very pleased to talk to me.

The giraffes were also very sweet, but I missed the 3 week old one which was a shame. Bought a safari hat here; it's very hard to find one not covered in gaudy logos.

Then went to the Blixen museum. Expensive. Small. Had to be done though.

Got back to the hotel to watch the footy and bumped into Keith who is coming on the truck with us. A few beers. Conversation at last!

Gave up with the web at Ngorongoro - now in Arusha typing.

I spent yesterday morning sunbathing by the pool. Having slapped on the factor 40 I still managed to get a bit of colour, even though I was only in the sun for an hour or so. I guess it was another frustrating day of not talking to many people, as Tony hadn't called, but in the afternoon I decided to venture out of the house to find the local shopping centre; Well, there wasn't much there, it reminded me of the more run down precincts you find on the isle of dogs, maybe six or seven shops, one of them selling much at all. A barber's, a photocopy place, a dry cleaner's. It just seemed devoid of soul, so I turned around and came back to the hotel, past the street vendors who had a few rags on the floor for sale, past the kids who pestered me in Swahili for, well I don't really know what ewxactly, but I ignored them and continued my solitary trudge back to the hotel compound, for that is what it is - uniformed guards, high walls, security cameras. Is Nairobi really that dangerous? Baghdad, yes; Mogadishu, yes, but Nairobi?

I went to the bar in the evening to watch the football and guess what! I talked to someone! Woo hoo! His name was Benny; a Chelsea fan from Mozambique who travels all over working for Save the Children as a logistics coordinator. If there's one job guaranteed to give you high blood pressure, it's logistics in Africa, especially when people die if you can't get it right. So we nattered about football and all sorts. It was such a relief to be normal.

I also bumped into Tony who apologised for not calling as he had to go out of Nairobi for the whole day, but he'll call about ten today and take me to see the baby elephants at the orphanage; apparently 11-12 is feeding time and the most interesting part of the day. It turns out that Oasis sponsor one of the elephants, so I'll try and get a piccy.

I was sitting at breakfast by the pool this morning. A little strange me getting up at seven, but hey ho, when I can just rock up to the buffet and pile my plate high with little effort, its ok by me. So I was sitting there, on my own as usual, soaking in the atmosphere, with the smell of the breakfast mingled with the oily perfume of the paraffin heaters, reflecting on, well, nothing much, just being content, hoping that Tony will be able to round up a couple of my fellow travellers to come see the elephants with me. Apparently we're all here now, but I've yet to see ANYONE who could remotely resemble a mid 20's safari traveller, just lots of tanned middle aged women with no make up doing their relief agency stuff.

The day beckons...

The Silver Springs, Nairobi

Written on Saturday morning:

I got here on Thursday night at about 11pm (GMT +3). Tony my taxi driver recommended a few places to go and would call me on Friday evening to arrange to drive me about on Saturday. The hotel seemed so quiet and the bar empty, but I guess it was midnight and people here seem to go to bed and rise early. Ho hum.

Friday the 8th
Woke up before my alarm at about eight and went straight down for breakfast. Wow. A huge buffet, with all the fried, baked, fresh and sliced stuff you could want. They do bacon they way I've always wanted it without realising - sort of big scraps all in a big tray - take a spoonful or two. I was looking forward to Kenyan coffee, but the stuff I was served was quite weak, although it had a pleasant nuttiness about it. Still really tired so I went back to my room for a snooze. Slept for essentially the whole day and went down for dinner at about seven. The place had come alive, with a barbecue, another huge buffet and live music. I think there are loads of conferences on here, as all these Europeans (ie whiteys) had come out of the woodwork and were all tucking in. Ate on my own again though as there seems to be as yet nobody else from my group around, and everyone else seems to be into their own thing. Went to the bar to find company but again, no one around. Guess I'm used to being lonely, and that coupled with the knowledge that from Monday I'm going to have no time by myself, meant that it didn't really get to me. Recorded the following 'voice diary' on my phone:

"So I'm recording this on my phone and this is my first diary, and it feels very odd talking to myself, but hey. It's um Friday night in the hotel and it's coming up to nine o'clock and there's nobody around; I went downstairs and had some food. There's plenty of people around, but you know, nobody that I necessarily would want to talk to. Nobody that's actually coming on the trip, yeah so it's a bit disappointing to be sitting in my room at nine o'clock; I've spent all day pretty much asleep, hopefully I'll get a decent night's sleep tonight and then tomorrow go with Tony the taxi driver somewhere constructive and take some photos and do active things, and maybe meet some people because apparently they're flying in tonight. That'll do for the moment I guess."

As I write this on Saturday morning (weird listening to myself from last night) Tony didn't call, so I'm kind of on my own again. Undecided what to do with the day - don't think I'll be asleep like yesterday, but I think I'll otherwise just drift with the sea and go where it takes me, at least until I come up with a desire worth chasing. I'm treating this as the calm before the storm; things will start to rumble in to place from tomorrow, so today is for me to experiment with myself and see how I react to things. I guess in any situation at the moment I'm more interested in myself and how I react, rather than the place I'm visiting, so what I'm actually doing and where I'm doing it seems comparatively unimportant. Part of me feels that I should be out exploring Nairobi, but at the moment I feel a bit like a butterfly fresh out of the pupa, drying my wings in the sun and getting used to my new body.

The Dream

Last night I had a very lucid dream, which was so startling in it's clarity and profundity, I woke up. And wrote it down:


I had a dream. Its all about love. There is one place, and one song, "I am weary (Let me rest)." Must tell K. Music is the key. Elvis is the King, the original. Dad did play with us when we were tiny. Catherine Cookson IS Carol Vorderman IS every woman. All women are the same woman. Music links all through time and is everything, don't forget this. You can't predict the future, its not set. Look back through time for the music, we must save it all. Wanted to place a (monetary) bet on what I thought was the future, but I realised it was irrelevant; it wasn't as important as love - I love K, but we wont be together; she will find love. I will find love. All cars are the same, all possessions are meaningless. All colours and creeds are the same; we are the same person recurring through time.

There was a very old Sikh man and his son with their wives in an attic room, looking at the father's music collection. The father's heart began to quickly fail. As this was happening, he realised that the music had to be saved, as it was the link between generations and ages. He struggled to get the words out, however his son understood, but then he too began to die. He repeated the same words and the women, through their grief, understood that they had to get the music published, but with time they forget, yet keep it safe. Generations later three old men discover the music, but one of them dies of old age whilst in the room, so the other two lay him on the bed and go downstairs, but there is a fire in the upstairs room. The dead man makes banging noises to alert the other two so that they can save the music. The Mind keeps going after death to help people.

The World Cup Final this year will be Italy vs Holland. Italy win. I saw the world cup through generations. Music all the way through. Asia is Europe is Africa is Americas.

Did I ever have a sister? I feel the pain of her absence, her early death. Ask mum. Uncle Frank understood to save as much as he could, but he saved film and book, not music. The future isn't set. Pancake Tuesday is Christmas is every day is every place? Children are nearer to our past selves than adults so remember it yet don't realise. There was a film of me dancing to the Who as a kid, maybe 2 or 3 years old. Books come round again, like music. Love is the thing which lasts forever. Bill Hicks was right. Everything dies except love. There are no 'omens'. Music lasts through memory. Music must be about love. Money can cause misunderstandings. My job is a loving job, helping people to live longer so they have more time to understand love. Tell P. Tell everyone. Remember this revelation. K must understand. She is trying to 'force' it. Be with love.