Sunset over the Atlantic
Where did that year go? We arrived on the first day of Ramadan last year and here it is again. This time I’m a little bit older but I wouldn’t say wiser, at least I have a good idea about what is going on. No eating, drinking or bad thoughts going on between sunrise and sunset. Life goes on as normal, all be it at a slower pace and come 3pm I seem to have a lot of very sleepy students on my hands. Well, I thought, if you can’t beat them, join them. Today has been the start of my fasting experiment. It is now 7pm, I have another 40 minutes to go before I am able to eat or drink anything. It seems a long time since 5.30 this morning. The not eating has been fine, not drinking is a struggle. My mouth feels a bit like the bottom of a bird cage and just as well there are no mind readers present because the nice thoughts factor has gone straight out of the window. I think my experiment will be ending on Saturday as I have been invited to a BBQ on Sunday. At least I now know what everybody is going through and I take my hat off to them.I have lost my running partner to the sunny shores of California so I’m on my Jack Jones at the moment until I find another playmate. As I plodded or should I say squelched along the road earlier this week I was joined by a young man, probably around twelve years old. This happens sometimes but they usually peel off after 100m. This one didn’t and he stuck to my shoulder ( well elbow he wasn’t that tall) like glue. When I stopped to stretch, so did he, when I attempted to pick up the pace, so did he and then he out sprinted me at the end. To make matters worse I looked down at his footwear and he was wearing a pair of plastic flip flops. I could look at this in a couple of ways. I could be feeling very pleased with myself because this young man could be a distant relative to Usain Bolt or I could, at last, be moving according to the years that have passed since 1960. Sadly I think the latter is true. Maybe I need to trade my Sooper Dooper Nike numbers in for a pair of plastic blue flip flops.
Team Touray (no I'm not part of the team)
Flip flops or the more upper class jellies with buckle seem to be the chosen footwear for Team Touray. Footwear doesn’t seem to stop them running up and down the football pitch. They now have more spring in their step as we just bought them their first football strip so now they can enter the local league. I think next on the shopping list might be linesman’s flags as the leaves are falling off the mango branches which they currently use. Who knows there could be the next Didier Drogba in the line up.
And finally I got to see the President in person. He came to open an extension to our power station. We all thought that this would mean 24 hr electricity, I was wrong, I am sweating over a burning candle as we speak. After many speeches, dancing and singing we eventually came to the highlight of the afternoon when the president zoomed past in a hail of biscuits. I ended up getting a half share in a packet. All eaten under the cover of darkness of course.
Messing about on the river when Nik came to visit.
June’s tip for the month – Don’t waste money on expensive trainers.
