Back to a rainy Freetown.. but I was number one!

I was hoping that by taking such a long break - a luxurious five and a half weeks - I would have missed the rain and returned to glorious sunshine.  Alas this has not been the case as it has rained every day since I cam back on Tuesday.  Not the ferocious downpours of early August but pretty long showers that create puddles as obstacles to walking anywhere.

Currently, it is changing in November, the BA flight lands at 4am!  This makes the journey extra exhausting.  You take off at 10.30pm, try to have some sleep before you are woken at 3.30am with a cheese sandwich! You have to wake up pretty quickly to go through immigration, baggage reclaim and the water taxi from Lungi to Aberdeen.

I had the most amazing luck this trip.  First through immigration, my bags came off so quickly that I had ticket NO.1  for the water taxi.  It is always heartening to have a low number as it means you are on the first boat.  This did not used to guarantee a swift departure from Aberdeen to home as your luggage may be in the boat behind you.  However, it appears that a new system is in operation whereby the bags go first.  This means a longer wait on Lungi side but it is great to be able to walk oft the boat and pick up luggage.

Barry,my regular taxi driver, was waiting for me at 6.30am and I arrived at my new accommodation before 7am.  New accommodatoin?  Oh yes I've moved again but more of that in my next post.

So situation?  I'm back in Freetown with a return ticket for 20 December so let's see what the next 12 weeks brings.

You never know what you are going to come across

While walking around Stonehaven to stretch my legs the day after the Kiltwalk I cam across this amazing sculpture.

I spotted this boat as I walked to the harbour and had to have a closer look. Boy was that a scramble across rocks worth it.  Look at the detail

Check out the wooly hat and the fag!

Amazing!  It made me so happy.

Oh as promised a comment on The Herd - well observed new writing acted out by a great cast who were a pleasure to watch.  A joy!

Theatre, Theatre and a bit more theatre

As many of you know theatre is a passion of mine and a trip home offers the opportunity to stock up on theatre experiences to see me through to Christmas.  I try very hard not to overdo it and tire myself out but invariably that goes awry.  So in the last 5 weeks I will have seen 10 shows.  I'm currently at 9 with the last one tomorrow.  So what have I seen, and what did I think?  I'm going to try to capture this in a word or phrase per show

A Season in the Congo, Young Vic - wonderful fusion of acting, music and movement
A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, National - one big lighting effect
A Strange Interlude, National - the time flew in the company of an accomplished cast
Handel Furioso, Grimeborne at Arcola - Mama Mia with the music of Handel
The Same Deep Water as Me, Donmar - Nick Payne, you can write! (loved Greggs references)
Home, The Shed at National - surprised and delighted me
Othello, National - the finest Iago I have seen
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Globe - disappointing
Chimerica, Almeida - I didn't get what all the fuss was about - predictable and over rated (for me)
The Herd, The Bush .... (I'll get back to you after I've seen this)

So my highlight? - Home.  Amazing and I ovated!  I never ovate.  It was that good.

Farmageddon

One of the joys of my time in Sierra Leone has been meeting so many new people.  They all come with amazing tales of travelling, studying, working and living in general.

One of these people is Tom, who for the last 11 years has been organising a music festival on his parents farm.  This year I attended my first Farmageddon with a group of Sierra Leone returnees.  A great way to catch up picnicking in the sunshine with a glass of Cava in hand.

Off we headed to a secret location in Cambridgeshire where the Age of Aquarius was with us once more as Woodstock was recreated.  It was amazing,  The organisation that went in to this was huge - beer, cider, cocktails, sausages, stages, tents, bands (lots of bands), a smoothie stand, a children's area - it was all there.

A thoroughly wonderful day (day for me as I headed back to London in evening rather than camping and dancing to the wee small hours).  Here is the gang

Dave, Laura, Beth, Bryn, Tom, Heather,Banke, Freya, Marc and Me

Thank you Tom and Mark.  I look forward to next year

A lovely Sunday walk...

On Sunday 5 friends and I took part in the Speyside Kiltwalk.  This is a Scottish Charity which organises sponsored walking events to raise money to support Scottish children's charities.  The Speyside Kiltwalk is a walk through Scotland’s whisky country, from the Moray coast towards the Cairngorm Mountains following the valley of the River Spey.  We started at Buckie on the coast and finished 26 miles later  inland at Aberlour.

The weather was in our favour and we only had a little rain at the beginning but by the end the sun was shining.  We started at 9am and finished at 6.30pm.  We kept up a steady 3 mile per hour pace but our total time is longer as we took advantage of the refreshments stands which were handily set at 5 mile intervals.  We had our fill of Selkirk Bannock, tablet, tea, sandwiches.....  Really this was a sponsored eating event!

Here we are at the end

Fiona, Sheena, Iona, Ruth, Susan and me

 happy as we'd been walking in this beautiful scenery

The River Spey

We received congratulations from Susan and Iona's girls who had made this great banner which greeted us when we arrived home - look carefully at the detail in each letter which relates to the walk. Thank you Kate, Catriona, Hannah, Gemma and Eve.