Yesterday I was thinking about how much better I've become about dealing with the little annoyances in life and not getting irritated by trivia.

Today I'm sat on a LONG train journey with my neighbour who has sat about 2 inches into my personal space from Paddington to beyond Newport.

Back to the drawing board Joy.



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Extra snaps

Will someone design an adult version please?


If the course doesn't work out, I could always try grass-balancing..?




Sass :)





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Burkina yarns

Welcome back to 'Lighter Bites' and this week I shall provide for your delectation, tales and curiosities from beyond the Volta.




This picture is the start of an unusual cup of coffee. It is a long glug of condensed milk with a sprinkling of Nescafé. Once the hot water ready, your glass is filled up and you mix up the milk and water for something that tastes like a latte with half a bottle of syrup shots added. Great to bring you back to life after a long journey!



This picture, being in my top 5 favourites from my time in West Africa, is a lorry side used as a blackboard. Here, the future simple tense has been explained.




In my ten days, I visited Ouagadougou (pronounced waga...), Koubri & Bobo Dialasso.

It was my first time in West Africa, sleeping under a mosquito net and eating millet. My first time going into a neighbourhood at night and seeing 200+ people coming out to watch a film in the square. My first time taking anti-malarials, doing public-speaking in French and watching Burkina get to the semi's in the African Cup of Nations. (Eventually got to the final but lost to Nigeria.)

I found the country to be resourceful;



Refreshingly free of H&S regulations;



beautiful;



quirky;



welcoming, diverse and safe;




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All-nighter

11:30 pm - leave Llanelli
00:15 am - bus from Swansea
04:00 am - arrive Bristol airport
06:20 am - flight to Brussels
12 noon - flight Ouagadougou
16:50 pm - arrive in Burkina Faso!



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The digs

2 weeks back in Llanelli and living in a new place. Roaring log fires in Pam's wood burner is one of the highlights of living here!




Pam is a lot of fun and takes my teasing in good form. I even caught her giving some back the other day.

The house is beautifully quiet and we enjoy lots of ordinary things together; eating, chatting, praying, reading, watching iPlayer and DVDs.

I've met the hounds next door 'that way' and met another neighbour 'the other side' who took an instant dislike to me and expressed her feelings clearly and repeatedly. I hadn't done anything and I was polite but it seems my very existence was an irritant to her. I got used to that a long time ago!




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A rambling post in which many subjects are touched upon

I am back in Wales, returned to Llanelli, in new digs and ready for the next step.
My new room is a good size and although the floor is covered with bags still, the most important job is done - books are the bookshelf!
Have had Minky returned to me after his trip to South Sudan, Uganda and Egypt over December.
Ate amazing Pizza at Verdi's and followed it up with 2 scoops of their famous ice-cream. 1 x apple crumble & 1 x praline pecan. Too happy-making!
Tears last night as Greta and I prayed about 2012-13 together.


More tears from nieces as they dropped me back here and had to leave.


2012 has been incredible in many ways. I have been particularly grateful for my travels to Greece, North Africa & Iceland. The move to Wales has also been hugely significant. The year has not been without its pains either.
2013, similarly, promises to be a year of travel, change, excitement and challenge that will be costly. But I am not journeying alone and there will be coffee




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The 12:00 to Diss

Sitting opposite a reader of impeccable taste who has invested in a 3'6 copy of Under the Net. My own read, 'Passage to India' is an interesting study in shame V guilt culture


but not consistently engaging and as much as I want to be impressed by a classic I'm rather underwhelmed.

Wishing the passenger two seats away had an absorbing book!


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'Unreal city...'

Today in London I saw three men dressed as Elvis on the underground, a door numbered as eleven and a half, a super fun skirt with Laayoune on it,


drank Afghan tea



and may have had a sighting of spiny Norman




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Pre-Christmas festivities

It's been an endless round of cuteness in nativity plays, long lie-ins, meeting friends for coffee, brunches out and dinners in.




I've hung out with the hound of distinction again and taken him for tramps through the woods. Was twice asked if he was an army dog!




Met a new baby, listened to my nieces read, started catching up on Downton and exchanged presents. I'm now ill with a stinking head cold but there's plenty of fun and more good food on the horizon.




Can't wait to hang out with mini-me over Christmas week, see my folks and then it'll be back to Wales and another type of adventure starts again.
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Back in the 'ford

Back to Bedford and already had one of my nieces restyling my entire look;


So far I've had lots of Sunday morning hugs, breakfast, coffee, lunch & dinner invites, space to chill and a nativity play with a show-stealing Herod.

Retreat day

Time to process some of the last 3 months & eat rhubarb and orange crumble.




Beautiful woods



Anyone know what this plant is called?







Had to scramble in a river for this one!




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'Work week'

Once a year there is a 'work week' where everyone gets involved in building, painting & cleaning. I was asked to head up the painting crew. It's been fun and after slapping one of the core team in the face with a loaded paintbrush and having a full on fight through the coffee bar and reception with 'grown ups' telling us to stop, I now have an H painted on the back of my t-shirt. Thanks Hugo!


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Thanksgiving in pictures

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Upstairs downstairs

Aurora collaborated in the kidnap of my gilet. Retribution was swift and brutal;




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DT; On the fifth day we dried, debriefed and died quietly!

Again, this has taken too long in the writing so I shall leave you with a picture that sums it up;



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DT; On the fourth day we came up, went down & climbed up

Have tried so many times to write this then had it deleted that you're getting it like a telegram!
Climbed out of cave at 4:30 a.m. Pitch black still hammering down with rain.
Half of group went to the 'bothy' (look it up!) and rest of us went to Rhossili Bay to abseil, rock climb and smash our knees up on rocks. Oh. No. That was just me.
Wet, tired, in pain and cold. Drove to somewhere in Black Mountains. No real idea where in our staggering, aimless state of exhaustion, brought on by one hour of sleep.




(20m down in the cave)
Walked a couple of km to bothy where we were due to spend the night. It was flooded. Rain torrential. Feet cold. Mood diabolical. Ate meal. Threatened with hike. Took group decision to get back to North Dock (home) and finish off our tasks early in the morning.
There is so much more to say but it will have to wait.

DT; on the third day we got wet

We had been due to have a morning of climbing on the Wednesday but plans changed. Part of what we have to do was to complete voluntary tasks that would us 'money' which could then be spent in the 'shop' to buy things such as waterproof clothes, climbing gear and safety equipment. Although we had completed enough tasks to afford all of this we unfortunately misread the brief that said out order needed to be in half an hour before the shop opened rather than half an hour before shop shut. This meant we were heavily penalised and had to make new plans. We rescheduled the climbing for another day and were taken out on an expedition.

All I remember from this stage was wading through bogs and seeing the other trainees sinking into muddy water. No that's not true I also remember the rain! We had to walk from one point to another passing several places marked on the OS map. This was a pretty upbeat exercise.

In the evening we were led up the side of a hill in horizontal rain and pitch black. We had a head torch, belt and battery pack each and had to carry out 45 minutes of sweep searching the hillside looking for a cave opening. Eventually we found it though it was barely visible and looked rather like a hole in the ground. While most of us, with sodden feet, huddled under a parachute 'kisu' trying to keep the wind from ripping it out of our hands, a small group were led into the cave and taught how to get the rest of the group down. I had visions of a cave with a narrow entrance that I would have to wriggle through so was pretty nervous, being a little claustrophobic. In fact the 20m entrance was vertical rather than horizontal so I was upright the whole way down. Some amazing guys in the team talked me through everything I had to do; where to put my feet, where to slide and what to hang on to. Once at the bottom we settled, shivering and having the compulsory 30 minute team debrief. Nowhere was even and most of the cave floor was a bunch of rocks. Wet too, obviously.

I had an hour's sleep before getting up at 4:30 to make it to.....well, that's another day!




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DT; on the second day they created team morale and fatigue

Already I feel like I have forgotten the order in which we did things. But you are none the wiser so here goes.

This date was called vice versa. Our team of 10 was split in two and each team performed a morning task that needed to be explained to the other team over lunch so they could perform it. The team I was on had to construct a raft. It involved learning a series of knots and strict rules regarding safety. We then had to take it out on the dock and paddle it to a pontoon. After a couple of manoeuvers we returned to disassemble the raft. In the 30 minutes lunch break we had to pass on a huge volume of information to the other team. They in turn has learnt how to conduct a search and rescue mission and needed to give us copious amounts of information. Time restrictions made it an interesting lunch break!

Our team had to carry out a sweep search and find a member of staff acting as an injured person. We then needed to carry out first aid, make a hot drink and return them to the vehicle on a bivvy bag acting as a stretcher. It was exhausting and funny, particularly when I lent over the injured person and accidentally poured milk all over his face as it taken out of my bag!!




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DT; On the first day, they created chaos

Let's see how DT week ended then go back to the beginning;


(2 ANE visits, 1 broken arm, 1 acute eye inflammation, 2 bruised knees, 1 banged head, 1 painful ankle, more bruises than we could count, coughs, colds, sneezes, sore throat, nearly lost voice & 2 people sent back to bed with ill health.)

Now, how did all this happen, why did everyone agree to it, why did we agree to pay for this and why did we feel guilty when we weren't doing it well enough? What just happened?!

On the first day, my assistant leader and I were briefed with a colossal amount of information and given a short turnaround to pass on everything to the group and get everyone involved in a thoroughly comprehensive presentation of the information. Our first disappointment was having to repeat this task as it fulfilled the requirements of being interesting and well put together but lacking some key information. The trainers are deliberately punishing to get you to face negative emotions.

The afternoon's task, at which we excelled, gained bonus points and all had as a high of the week, was to prepare a V. I. P meal for our group and 8 others. We put together a candle-lit, 3-course meal and provided a jazz band as entertainment.

The main event wasn't to start until Wednesday morning and Tuesday would be a warm up day.


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The DT's?

Not to be confused with 'delirium tremens', our DT week is a time of being pushed to our limits so we display some 'unfiltered behaviour'. Hopefully we can go more Coral Island than Lord of the Flies'.

Today we built a raft from wood, Aston barrels and rope, learning different knots on the way. We then paddled it out onto North Dock to complete a couple of manoeuvres. In the afternoon we carried out a search & rescue mission in the woods which involved sweep searching, performing first aid, making a hot drink and carrying a man with an injury (staged) on a bivvy bag stretcher.

Tonight our phones will be taken from us for the rest of the week as we head into more outdoor craziness with dark rumours of sleeping in caves, abseiling, hiking through the night and caving. Unconfirmed rumours but whatever the rest of the week holds we are fairly well guaranteed that cold and wet will be the main protagonists.