Monkeying Around

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

28th Jan

Ok – 2 days later and ive worked up the will power to continue. I should say that the reason the parking break got left on is that I’m currently teaching one of the guys (Shed) how to drive. Thankfully not from scratch. He’s had proper lessons in an old landrover where he rotated with 9 other students over a 90 min period. His theory is sound, he just needs practice and the occasional warning that edge of the road is getting a bit close..

On the 10^th of Dec my Mum, Jules and Jonty came out to visit me. I’d like to think they came to see me anyway, if I was living in some crummy suburb in Poland it may have been a different story. Thankfully we’ll never find out. It was great to see them all. Jonty in particular (3 year old brother), he’s grown lots and his diction is now good enough to express how awesome his big brother is. They flew into Kilimanjaro airport, a half hour outside of Arusha. We then had a day to kill in the city before heading West. Somehow I managed to convince them that that day was best spent at a place called Meserani Snake park. God knows how I managed that. It was awesome. Going to a snake park in Africa really does make you realise how boring Health and Safety makes life in the UK e.g. On jokingly asking the guide if I could pick up one of the younger crocodiles he said “yeh sure” and promptly showed me how, next thing I know im holding a wriggling foot long croc. Mum then insisted on holding the fella!

Me and Mum holding our Nile Crocs

Jonty and a Sand snake - definately my brother

Rufous beaked snake - im not stoned btw

12^th of Dec and it was time to depart Arusha for the splendid 2 day car journey back my home town of Kigoma. The journey went pretty well considering the length and quality of the roads, bar one minor incident of me nearly painting the road with a dog. Fearless bastards.

26th Jan

Sorry that it has been so long since I’ve written anything (formality)… Im afraid it is becoming increasingly evident that my laziness knows no bounds. The consequence of this character flaw is that occasionally I leave a mountain of literature on my blog that no one wants to read tbh. Its intimidating to the most interested of readers (mum), who has probably skimmed over this already. My excuse for the inevitable typos that you will find is that I myself cannot face reading over what I have written. So there you have it, quit while you are ahead and just look at the pretty pics. Everyone prefers little and often – unfortunately that is a luxury that is not afforded to me. It has been roughly 2 months since I last posted any words on my blog but now im afraid your holiday is over.. The nagging feeling inside my to bore the shit out of you again has become strong enough to force me to my desk to jumble together a series of words that I hope to sum up these last 8 weeks.

It is 6pm on the 26^th of Jan and I have just informed that the parking light is still on for the car. This is not ordinarily a problem because the car is usually at camp. The wet season however is becoming the bane of my life – it has forced us to leave car 45 mins away where the road is not so bad. So there goes my plan to whittle away the hours masterminding my plan to bore you.. Count yourselves lucky. Especially while you sit at home sipping your tea and eating your crumpets while I go trudging off through the swamp and forest at night to turn the f*cking parking light of before the battery goes dead.