April Update

So it’s the last day of the month. My last post was on the last day of last month, and it promised new posts filled with adventures. And, of course, this hasn’t happened. So I will get a quick April post in. It must be brief due to my current circumstances. I am sitting in a Blantyre backpackers with 1 hour 15 minutes left on laptop battery, and 18 minutes left on my wireless account. So that gives me 57 minutes to write. Actually, considering my last 24 hours, I probably won’t use the full 57 minutes. I will just describe a few things I’ve been up to over the last week. And then I promise, promise, promise to write more soon. Although I don’t know why I am so worried – “my friends with blogs” are rubbish and never post.

So, my week in a nutshell… (actually, let’s make it 8 days so that I can include going to court). I’ve been to court. Pleaded guilty. Paid a fine. I’ve sent yet another draft to my supervisor, only to get an automated response to say that he’s on holiday. I’ve been to a paradise island on Lake Malawi. I’ve been 25 metres below the surface, with the cichlids, the crabs and the eels (and my buddy and the dive master). I’ve driven up the escarpment of the rift valley from the lake shore to dedza and down again to Lilongwe. I’ve got home, unpacked, packed again and driven down to Blantyre, and then down to the Shire Valley to Chikwawa. I’ve been in focus groups with Malawian women farmers involved with fair trade sugar. I’ve sat on a beer crate in Chikwawa’s latest bar watching the UEFA Champion’s league semi final of Man U and Barcelona. And now I sit in a Blantyre backpackers. A cit backpackers – what a strange, transient place. Kylie sings from the bar, the usual suspect Blantyre crowd have their after work greens. A couple from a (unidentified) European country sit at the computer checking their emails. A Japanese couple are in the room next to me – listening to Japanese pop. I long to be at home but know not to drive to Lilongwe in the dark.

Till next time. I promise more.