Number Five...

Oh the joy of waking up to Jim, John, Evan or Justin.  All is right with the world as I listen to the news unfold as I postpone getting out of bed.  On Saturday it was Farming Today as I had the mad idea of a 6am run but it's great as I learn so much about subjects I would never dream of researching - a farm which allows wheel chair users to access the countryside.

The radio is my companion at home.  My first action on coming in the door at any time of day is to turn on the nearest radio.  Woman's Hour, The World at One, Book of the Week, comedy , Great Lives - I've been soaking them all in.

I love podcasts when I am away but nothing is better stumbling across a programme you would never have selected.  So what am I looking forward to? Everything!  I really am a radio addict but I do love catching up with the arts on Front Row after the Archers.  Oh the Archers - I've not managed to catch an episode yet but I'm sure something of excitement is happening in Ambridge.

Oh well off to catch up with Libby Purvis on Midweek - a spoon maker and an ex-nun are among the guests.  Let's see what they have to say......

The fourth reason...

FOOD!!!!!

I always think of myself as quite a decisive person but that was challenged last Saturday as I surveyed the produce in Waitrose.  I could not decide what to buy.  In Freetown the food choices are limited and variety is non existent so I was overwhelmed with what was before me on the shelves and in the fridges.

So what was the top of my shopping list?  Fruit and vegetables. I was drooling over the stoned fruit and berries.  Moving on to green veg I had to decide between the varieties of broccoli - tender stem, purple sprouting, the plain vanilla type - oh my I'll have to have them all!

I've been to a couple of my favourite places already - Wagamama and Pizza Express.  Oh the excitement of new menu items.  I'm like a kid in a candy shop.  I may tire of this but at the  moment I'm indulging in all my favourites.

Here's my breakfast this morning - delicious

Three reasons to be happy to be home...

Theatre, Walking and Wapping

Wapping - On Thursday I had the fun of rising at 5am to be ready at 6am for my taxi to catch the 7am Peilcan to Lungi Airport.  I was on my way home.  The flight left at 10.40am and at 6pm I was landing at Heathrow.  Happy to be in London I'm settled into my usual high quality Wapping accommodation with these great views

Theatre - Friday brought my first theatre trip to see the amazing A Season in the Congo at the Young Vic which made the transition from Africa to London easier for me as it was full of women wearing lappas, music and dancing.  The play tells the story of Patrice Lumumba who was the democratically elected prime minister of Congo when it gained independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960.  By January 1961 Lumumba was dead - shot in very murky circumstances.  The lead role was taken by Chiwetel Eijofor  who delivered a complex and powerful performance.  Here he is on stage.

Walking - Sunday and time fro my walk with the Surrey Strollers.  Gail and John Elrick lead a 20 mile walk in the Surrey countryside.  The walk was circular from Clandon and took in the villages of Westcott and Abinger Hammer and for a part followed the North Downs Way.  The weather was glorious and I am very happy to report that these legs still have 20 + mile walks in them.

Striding through the maize

English pubs do a good window box!

Rolling Surrey countryside

Fields of wheat

The August rain....

Last year I escaped back to the UK for the month of August.  Why?  Well August is reputedly the worst month of the rainy season.  This year I am not off to the UK until the 15th of this month so am braving out the weather.  And brave i did on Friday when it rained and rained.  I have never seen anything like it or had a wetter birthday.  It was coming down in sheets for hours.

In July we had rain but also had lovely sunny days but August has been far wetter.  In some ways it's nice to be hemmed in by the rain as you can settle down to watch a whole box set - The Wire, The Killing, The Sopranos, The ........, you get the idea.   My personal fav is the Nordic Noir of The Killing, The Bridge and Borgen.  I shall be a fluent Danish speaker soon.

Or you can pick up those big thick books.  I've just finished Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (guess what my first book purchase in the UK shall be) and I've started Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy - a 1400 page book which has engaged me from page 1.

That said you do have to go out sometimes.  In order to keep as dry as I can I have adopted the Glastonbury look - wellies, shorts, t-shirt, anorak and umbrella to make doubly sure.  Nice! If I'm off to work I then carry a change of clothes.

The strange bulge is my handbag

So you can understand the need for this protection here are some pictures of the rain

It's my Birthday!

Well I don't know how it happens but another year has gone past and today it's my birthday again.

This year I'm spending my birthday in Freetown with a small band of people who have not run away from the August rains. I thought it may be a national holiday but no that was yesterday for Eid.  New start today as beginning a short term consultancy contract.

So how am I looking as I enter my 47th year?  See for yourselves as I model some of my latest Africana creations.  I have been keeping Allieu, my tailor, very busy recently as a trip home approaches.

Truly wearing my heart on my sleeve

I'm happy with this one

I love a big pattern

Bodycon Africana style

Bad Dogs

As part of the VSO preparations for coming to Sierra Leone we had to have a rabies vaccination.  This was a course of three injections and not the most pleasant of experiences.  However, it was a necessary evil as rabies does exist in the dog population here.

I, luckily, have not come across any rabid dogs ( that I have been aware of), and in the main they are all pretty docile.  The heat means they sleep in the day and come to life in the night – oh the barking can drive you mad.

If the gates of Freetown are to be believed though there are bad dogs all around.  I’m not sure all the signs are that convincing however.

More the Dulux dog than a guard dog

Now that's scarier