I could get used to this!

Out with the old and in with the new as they say.

We finished 2011 with a few parties. Leaving parties for those resigning from Mercy Corps and moving to greener grasses and Christmas celebrations, marking the last weekends with all of us together

This was another goat roast party. You've seen roasted and boiled goats before, but you've never seen this. One of our drivers helping out with the food prep. A woman's place is definately in the kitchen/in front of the charcoal burner over her. This is the veranda of my little house with Oliva and Galdin prepping the roast tatties

Does he look familiar? Yes, it's Galdin again. He's our best driver and Garry gave him the nick name of Sebastien (after Sebastien Loebbe the rally driver). In addition to the nick name, Garry also got Dave Lockham (thank you Dave) to do some jiggery pokery photography magic and now Galdin has the gear and the champs to make him into the great rally driver that he is. The photo is still up in our office as a lovely reminder of Mr M's sense of humour!

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You don't know the reprobates I work with , so here goes - along the front (right to left ) George, Dan, Michael, Peter (aka Romeo), George and Joseph. Picture taken in my garden.

Peanuts are one of the staple foods here. How labour intensive did you imagine de-shelling to be? Pour in the  husks and rock forward and back on this stick and you get shelled peanuts. Leave the nuts to dry on the sheet below and don't forget to shoo off the goats who come and munch on your valuable crops. 

Mmmm, nice curtains, strange pattern? What's that? Ahh yes, Fatty practising her technique for catching geckos. A little disrespectful maybe climbing the curtains but she now catches rats and scares off snakes, so I guess the training has paid off!

As a change, Monica invited a few of us round for dinner rather than go to town for the usual beans and rice. Kitchens are a bit of a rarity, so everyone uses their veranda for prep, cooking and washing up. Charcoal pans in the foreground, full of rice, cabbage and beans (Plus tonnes of cleavage) Vegetarian dinner in my honour - bless her

When we are out in the bush (see background) the bored kids use our cars as target practice, if there's no birds/animals around. This little guy, unfortunately for him was a crack shot with his catapult and cracked our rear windscreen. Driver Ochello left and Norman right chased after him to administer justice. This consisted of a stern talking to, a ride in the back of our car and delivery to his community with instructions to tell his mum. He cried a lot. Sometimes, they get a whacking with a branch but not this time. Takes me back to the good old days?

Have I said how tough it is out here? Well it's not true. Mercy Corps is funded by USAID and USAID wanted all NGOs working on projects in different countries to compare notes. So to do this, we went to Kenya and sadly the only hotel that could accommodate us all was this lovely boutique hotel with a fancy pool. It was actually too cold to use it and I saw nothing at all of Kenya apart from a giraffe near the airport, but the conference was great and I learnt tonnes from the experiences shared by everyone.

No, it's not another swimming pool although the locals do use the large ponds for a quick dip now and again. This is a watering hole for the local animals. In a good season, the water stays in for 8 months of the year. Mercy Corps built for last year and has plans for more in the future.

One of the local bridges broke, fortunately no-one was on it at the time. The alternative is a short detour. On this day, it took a bit longer to cross as we had to wait for the waters to recede a bit. Here are Atief, Peter and Ochello doing a "stop raining" dance,

We drive through the national park every now and again and see some of the wild animals. Sometimes they don't see us though. This was a dik dik (no, I haven't made this up), which was too slow. So waste not want not. It was gathered up and put in the back of the truck. Celine has a soft spot for these creatures so wanted her photo taken with it, before it was put in the pot!

Masai's bar was the location for end of year party before we all went our separate ways at Christmas. It doesn't look like it, but it is possible to dance on the bar! Best done when Masai is not looking. 

So on to a bit of a different setting.

After an eventful trip from Uganda to Dubai, (don't ask),  my brother in law, Farhad introduced me to shisha. Carolyn and I invaded a local male dominated cafe and enjoyed an afternoon of smoking orange and mint pipes and putting the world to rights. These things always look so dodgy and totally illegal, but now I can understand how you can spend the whole afternoon in a cafe.

There were many attempts to fatten me up and treat me to fantastic meals. This was an eat your weight brunch. No, no bacon and sausages here in this staunchly Muslim country, just sushi, prawns, salmon, fruit, chocolate and delicious wine. Did you know brunch takes all day and should carry a health warning.

We went for a wander round town. Things had changed a little since I was last here. There are now 4 marinas. This one is only for gin palaces, not for proper sailors.

I'm not sure how many average places there are in Dubai. Carolyn and Farhad were in a swanky double story apartment, so you could shout your breakfast order over the balcony.

Sisters - I'm lucky I have an extra special one. Where would I be without her!!!

Everything in Dubai is swanky, even the shopping malls. This one has an aquarium in it, complete with scuba divers and sharks (not just the shop keepers)

For those of you who have seen Mission Impossible, you may recognise the Burj Kalifa that Tom Cruise climbed round. With an Armani Hotel occupying the first few floors it is an excellent landmark when you get lost amongst all the sky scrapers and shopping malls.

At the bottom of the hotel is a sunset extravaganza. As the light starts to fade, the water comes alive and dances to music, either Latin, Arabic or classical. It is absolutely amazing - you're lucky I didn't download the video and make you watch it all the way through.

Just a taster of the designer shops on offer. Chanel, Cartier, Louis Vitton etc. How have I managed to cope without them for such a long time?

Carolyn and I found a good swimming pool and some comfy sun loungers with a fabulous view over the Burj Arab and the Jumeira Beach Hotel. It is such an iconic sight, I can't forget it from when Garry and I went 8 years ago.

New Years Eve was spent with "special" coca cola, music and blankets on the beach next to the Burj Arabe. With great views of fireworks all over Dubai, we were full of oohs and aahs. Dubai does absolutely everything with style.

The Volvo Ocean Race was finishing leg 2 in Abu Dhabi, so not having found anyone willing to share their boat in Dubai, we trouped off to Abu Dhabi to try our luck there. We turned up early and went to check out the finish of the race and where we should stand. I asked one of the security staff if the buoys were out there to the left of the old wooden dhow boats. He looked a little confused and said "no there's just some plastic things". Maybe he thought us strange British people throw young lads in the water to mark the finishing points.

There was a replica Azzam training boat for the Abu Dhabi team that they left for us to have a wander round. I checked the charts and the GPS reading and I reckon they were heading in the right direction.


This was the Telephonica Team coming in after the stealth leg, when they hitched a lift to avoid the pirates. What a bunch of softies. (I'm only jealous)

On the way back from Abu Dhabi, we stopped for a well earned rest by the sea. Who would believe how hard these guys worked looking after me so well?

And lastly, there was some camel racing going on. Looks more like an endurance sport to me and that's the audience, not the camels.  The camels have it easy now. No more small boys, just a computer to race round the track with.

So after a great month, being completely spoilt, I am now safely back in Uganda and back into the swing of things again. It is back to the dry season and dusty, hot and windy but plenty to do and great people to work with.

Let's hope 2012 is a good year for all of us.