Not a bad day at all…

October 12^th 2005, 1340B

It’s been a bloody pleasant day actually. Expensive to be sure, but very pleasant. Bujumbura hasn’t been too bad since I got back either, or at least so far – the climate is still up to shit, & there are far too many assholes in too small an area, but I’ve still enjoyed the last few days.

It’s not been without its challenges & disappointments, but the good has outweighed the bad by a fair margin thus far. Monday was pretty arb, but the escort mission I did yesterday was really enjoyable, a drive down most of the Burundian shoreline to Lake Tanganyika, & receiving our cash allowances was also certainly welcome. We’re fairly busy here at the base in town right now, even if today was a quiet day, so fortunately it seems I won’t be sitting around twiddling my thumbs, which should help keep me from going off my nut too quickly while I’m here.

I woke up feeling rather tender this morning, but that may just have something to do with the amount of beer I sucked down last night, so I won’t complain :P I’m feeling pretty good now though, as I just got back from having a few hairs of the dog – the first one may go down like barbed-wire, but the next two or three taste just fine ;)

So far as the day being expensive goes, I finally managed to get my hands on one of those backpacks the Nepalese have for sale. It’s a different bag from the one I saw last time, a bit smaller & also more expensive at $40, but still very cheap at the price. And most importantly it still has the little extra daypack that zips onto it, so I have something to carry the camera & notebook in till the new camera bag gets here. I also bought myself a kukri while I was at the Nepalese camp, one of those wicked huge curved knives of theirs. You can chop down small trees with the damn thing, so it should prove a good deterrent to the locals the next time the rude bastards thrust out their hands at me, demanding money :P I may have hassles getting it home – I won’t be able to carry it on the plane, & the postal service is full of shit when it comes to what we can send home – but I should be able to make a plan. Failing that, it was only $10, so I’m not going to be hugely out of pocket if I end up having to leave it here.

Speaking of the camera bag, that’s one of the small disappointments of the last few days. I called Rob on Monday expecting him to say the package should be here in a day or two, only to have him tell me that there have been problems with flights & so on, & that he’d not sent the parcel yet. So it’s going to be another few weeks before I get the new bag, or the external hard drives. Bummer. There is an upside to this though, as the Sin City & Keen Eddie DVD’s I’d ordered from Amazon arrived on Monday, so he can dump them to one of the drives before he sends them up to me. I think he’s also ripped my Firefly discs to one of the drives, & I’m keen to watch those again. Which reminds me… last year I’d arranged with Shirlz & G to come over to watch those, but we didn’t get around to it. Something else to add to the “to do” list for when I get back ;)

Another thing I spent a fair chunk of cash on was a fan for my tent – at $55 it was *fucking* expensive, but worth every cent for the difference it makes here in Bujumbura – and also a hair clipper machine. The clipper I really needed as the beard in particular was getting a touch on the bushy side, & if I’d left it much longer I’d have needed one of those weed-eater things to trim it back :P It also cost me in the region of $50, but it’s a good one that should last a good few years, so it’s money well spent.

The best thing about being back in town is the greatly improved comms situation. The landline in the office is still up to shit, but email has made up for that, & I had quite a few waiting in my inbox when I got back into town. It’s been great to hear from everyone who’s sent mail, & the contact with home is really appreciated :D

It was bloody good to hear back from Nicole in particular, & I’m going to be putting in a little more effort to keep in touch in future. It was also good to get a mail from Gareth F, as it’s the first time I’ve had any direct contact with him since I got here. Ash also managed to get a few email addresses to me that I’d been short, & I’ll be firing off mails to everyone as soon as I’ve had chance to type them up.

In addition to getting my mail done, I also had chance to upload a few more photos to TravelGallery if you’d like to have a look. I’ve still got a few more that I want to upload but ran out of time for, so hopefully the computer isn’t too crowded this evening & I’ll be able to do it then.

Something I’m going to be following up on while I’m here in town is a signboard I saw for wireless internet connectivity. I have no idea what the area coverage is, or the cost either, but I’m damn sure going to be looking into it, especially after I lucked out with connecting to the UN wireless lan. I’ve really missed having a regular net connection since I’ve been here, & having a connection of my own instead of having to rely on net cafés or fighting for a ten minute gap on the pc here on the base will make keeping in touch far easier. We have the day off tomorrow because it’s a UN holiday, so I’ll see what I can find out then. Who knows, maybe by tomorrow afternoon I’m hooked up here in my tent again, so hold thumbs for me ;)

Anyway, I think I’m going to end off here so that I can make some coffee and then go jump in the shower – I’m itching like crazy after cutting my hair & I need to rinse off before it drives me completely nuts :P

Till next time ;)