Long time no news.
It is quite a while since I last updated the blog - apologies, but you you haven't missed much.
I left Uganda in July 2012 and returned to UK to catch up with friends and to look for my next job. Needless to say, I had a lovely time and found some fun things to do. See below
Carolyn and I made it to the Olypmics. No pictures of us with our medals, but the Brownlee brothers wouldn't have made it without us on the sidelines.
Carlo Matley was 21 again and chose to go to Benidorm. The pictures are sensored but I can show you how fit and well we all were the day after. Much eating, drinking and dancing took place and it is one hell of a place to party.
On a more sophisticated basis, Sue, Sara and I went to Barthelona. Ask us anything you want about Goudi and the answer is Rioja - obviously. We wandered the streets in fabulous weather and traipsed all round the back streets of the city. Gorgeous, plus lots of culture, honest!
During all this time in Beverley I was working hard for Becky and Keith, John and Sally lent me a car, Chris, Tony, Mike and Trina helped with my teeth re-alignment, Sara lent me her dog, Kaite poured beer down me at the Sun and Kate put up with a long time lodger.
I was also applying for hundreds of jobs with everybody anywhere. Eventually Mercy Corps came up with a Project Managers job in Central African Republic. Where's that? Central Africa.
Very excited and pleased to get a job I packed my bags and set off to CAR
I arrived full of beans on the Saturday and checked out the capital - Bangui. See above.
Decent bars, good supermarkets and lots of interesting work to get started with. Sadly Kenyan Airlines took a liking to my luggage, so making new friends whilst wearing the same clothes for 6 days is not really the start you want in a new location but I persevered and eventually the luggage turned up.
The timing of my arrival in Bangui wasn't great as the rebels in CAR who had been quiet for several years decided that they wanted a change of government. So I relocated on Christmas Eve to a house in the centre of town.
Thanks to my lovely Beverley friends, Christmas Day was not bereft of Christmas cheer. They had sent me off with a gorgeously packaged and brilliant selection of those things you just can't do without in a foreign country - cafetiere with coffee, chocolate and port, snakeskin nightie, Mobile Ipod speaker, alarm clock, diary . travel mug and cuddly toy. Generation Game has a lot to answer for. The rebels were a little less thoughtful. There was a march on Boxing Day through the capital and I was evacuated out of CAR to Cameroon later that evening
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| A lovely sunny weekend in Filey with Kate Snowden and unexpected house pets
Kate and I took up a kind offer from Kate's sister to check out Filey and the pea season had finished so Birds Eye didn't mind losing Kate for a couple of days. The sun shone, we took Bess the dog and had the best weather in 2012.
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| Pocklington Beer Festival
This is the old train station in Pocklington, A great venue for the festival and we managed to sample 36 out of the 52 beers. Surprising the picture is not blurred.
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Some momentus things happened in 2012.
This is Ruth and Steve before the big event, which didn't go smoothly but everyone is fit and well now. I also have to mention Clare and Rob and congrats with their new addition too. Doesn't time fly.
Carolyn and I made it to the Olypmics. No pictures of us with our medals, but the Brownlee brothers wouldn't have made it without us on the sidelines.
Carlo Matley was 21 again and chose to go to Benidorm. The pictures are sensored but I can show you how fit and well we all were the day after. Much eating, drinking and dancing took place and it is one hell of a place to party.
On a more sophisticated basis, Sue, Sara and I went to Barthelona. Ask us anything you want about Goudi and the answer is Rioja - obviously. We wandered the streets in fabulous weather and traipsed all round the back streets of the city. Gorgeous, plus lots of culture, honest!
During all this time in Beverley I was working hard for Becky and Keith, John and Sally lent me a car, Chris, Tony, Mike and Trina helped with my teeth re-alignment, Sara lent me her dog, Kaite poured beer down me at the Sun and Kate put up with a long time lodger.
I was also applying for hundreds of jobs with everybody anywhere. Eventually Mercy Corps came up with a Project Managers job in Central African Republic. Where's that? Central Africa.
Very excited and pleased to get a job I packed my bags and set off to CAR
I arrived full of beans on the Saturday and checked out the capital - Bangui. See above.
Decent bars, good supermarkets and lots of interesting work to get started with. Sadly Kenyan Airlines took a liking to my luggage, so making new friends whilst wearing the same clothes for 6 days is not really the start you want in a new location but I persevered and eventually the luggage turned up.
The timing of my arrival in Bangui wasn't great as the rebels in CAR who had been quiet for several years decided that they wanted a change of government. So I relocated on Christmas Eve to a house in the centre of town.
Thanks to my lovely Beverley friends, Christmas Day was not bereft of Christmas cheer. They had sent me off with a gorgeously packaged and brilliant selection of those things you just can't do without in a foreign country - cafetiere with coffee, chocolate and port, snakeskin nightie, Mobile Ipod speaker, alarm clock, diary . travel mug and cuddly toy. Generation Game has a lot to answer for. The rebels were a little less thoughtful. There was a march on Boxing Day through the capital and I was evacuated out of CAR to Cameroon later that evening
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| New Year's Eve |
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| Who has ever seen a white lion? A first for me.
We have been doing the tourist things in Dubai and went to the wildlife park. Saw some great animals - how regal is he? My favourites were the meerkats - so cute.
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| Meydan Races Jan 2013
We treated ourselves to a night at the races. Met Kieran Fallon in the lift but he was a bit grumpy as he didn't win.
It is not all comfort and luxury, I will have you know. I have been hard at work reading information for the new job and my swimming and yoga are coming along a treat. It is likely that I will return shortly to CAR as the situation is calm and no reason to believe there will be any more troubles. So back to the grindstone shortly.
I will send an update as soon as I can but in the meantime, I look forward to hearing news from you guys.
Take care
xxx
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