“It seems like every day is the same…”

September 9th 2005, 0610B

It’s been a few days since I sat & typed anything up for this, & I figure it’s about time I made the effort before I get out of the habit.
I don’t really have the time to type up much right now though, as I’ll be going on an escort in another 30min or so & I still need to get ready. It’s also been quiet lately, so it’s not as though I have a lot of news either. I’ll add to this after I get back though, & who knows – maybe something interesting happens while I’m out :P

Otherwise it’s been pretty much the same shit, different day lately. I’ve been able to keep myself reasonably occupied at least the last few days, which has helped my sense of humour some. The last few days still haven’t been too much fun though, as the mefliam side-effects have been giving me a pretty hard time of it this last week or so, but that should sort itself out before too much longer. I’m still a grumpy, moody, & depressed bastard, but I at least know and understand why I’m feeling kak, which makes it a lot easier to deal with. It’s still not any fun, but you can at least function normally, outwardly at least.

Enough of that though. I had a chance to speak with Lt Col Munday again yesterday, & he had a little more information for us regarding the extension to the deployment. We’ve been hearing a number of conflicting stories lately, ranging from we’ll be home by the end of the month to that we’ll be here till the end of June 06, so I’m glad I managed to catch up with him. He still doesn’t have any confirmed info for us, but he was at least able to tell me that we’ll be here till at least December, & the decision to either extend the deployment or come home will be made then.
Part of the confusion as to when we’ll be coming home stems from there being SA troops contributed to two different missions here in Burundi, the AU & UN missions, and they’re working according to different timetables. However it seems that people here, and their families at home have perhaps been “selectively interpreting” what they’ve been hearing to mean that both missions will definitely be ending soon. So far as I understand things, the AU will in fact have completed its mission by December and will be withdrawing then, whereas the UN will be remaining in the country. President Mbeki wants to withdraw all troops from Burundi & deploy them elsewhere as soon as possible, but he can’t pull us out of the UN mission till we’ve met our contractual obligations to the UN and there’s someone to replace us. Just what will come of those negotiations remains to be seen, but it means that we’ll still be here for a few months at least. Maybe I’ll be home for sometime in December, but I find it more likely that I’ll be home sometime around February at the earliest, & that I’ll still quite possibly be here for longer.
To tell the truth, I’m not keen on the idea of coming home anytime before February. As much as I miss everyone at home, and as much as I can’t say that I’m having the party of my life here, financially speaking the longer I’m here the better. Coming home before February really would not be healthy for my budget, especially if I’m going to be leaving the army by September next year. Besides, I really want to buy that 500mm lens I’ve mentioned previously, and I’ll be seriously pissed if I can’t afford it :P
Something that the colonel gave me a pretty good indication of, was that if the deployment is extended beyond February we should be able to come home for about two weeks. The planning for that will be tricky, and it’s certainly not a confirmed thing, but it’s far better than the “there’s no chance” we heard the last time. It’ll mean forfeiting all allowances for the period spent away from the mission area, but I doubt that will worry me much if the opportunity arises. As I’ve said before, I’ll let people know what’s happening as soon as I have the info myself, especially with regards to when I’ll be home.

That’s it for now though, as I’d best be getting ready for this escort mission. I’ll catch up again later.

1945B

I finally managed to drag myself away from my book long enough to get back to this – the window has been open on the task bar, staring at me accusingly for the last few hours, making me feel guilty :P
The rest of the day went well enough, & the escort mission made for a pleasant break in the routine. This time it was a trip out to the border with the Congo, where we met a group of UN personnel who were transferring to the UN operation here in Burundi & needed an escort into town. The border with the Congo is actually really close to where we are here in Bujumbura, only about 20km or so to the west, & it made for a pleasant drive other than the kamikaze cyclists. Bicycles are a very popular form of transport in this part of the world, & the loads the locals manage to carry on them is something to behold at times – I took a photo this morning of a guy who’d loaded 16 car tyres onto his bike, for example.
The taxi cycles are the worst though, as they have the suicidal tendencies of all African taxi drivers, but none of the even limited protection a minibus would provide. The whole damn lot of them seem determined to commit “suicide by armoured vehicle”, & it can make driving in this country a nerve-wracking experience. There’s no chance at all that I’d be injured in any crash involving a bicycle, but the amount of hassle & paper work that’s involved in having turned one of the locals into road-kill does not bare contemplating. The pedestrians are also deficient in terms of survival instincts, but they’re nowhere near as bad as the cyclists.

That was pretty much it for the day though. I spent the afternoon editing some of the photos I took today, & finishing off Republic Commando again. After that I was at a bit of a loss for something to do till I came across the book I’m reading at the moment. It’s something I’ve read before, a science fiction novel by a guy called David Weber, but it was long enough ago that I don’t remember the story all that well. There’s about 10 books in the series, so they should keep me amused for a week or two. It can be a little inconvenient only having e-books with me, like when the power is off & the battery on this has died, & getting used to reading off a screen takes some getting used to, but there’s no way in hell I’d have been able to bring enough books with me to keep me amused otherwise.
I’ve had Rob buy an external hard drive to send up to me, & I’ll have him put things like movies & more games on it for me which should hopefully help keep me occupied on the quiet days. Keeping busy is the trick, no matter how you manage it – there’s nothing to make the time drag like having too much time spent in your own company with nothing to do.

Anyway, I’d best finish this off for now. It’s been a real stinking hot day again today, so I’m going to go stand under a cold shower to cool off for half an hour before roll-call at 2100.
I’ll catch up again soon though ;)