Pineapple upside-down cake, anyone?
I had two jabs this morning: rabies and meningitis. I toyed with the idea of Yellow Fever, but it’s expensive, and apparently not rife in Namibia. Which is nice.
Time is galloping forward. I spent much of this weekend at a VSO luxury retreat and spa, complete with its own gourmet restaurant, the menu designed for maximum healthiness – not a speck of lard in sight. The bar serves a selection of fine wines, and you are pampered and cosseted the whole time. It’s bliss.
I like Harborne Hall, as VSO like to call this oasis of calm. It reminds me of my first halls of residence at university: single bed, endless winding corridors that smell of bleach, and stodge all round for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Which is good, because even though you’re sitting down almost all the time during the courses, all the volunteers emerge ravenous, and climb over each other to get into the dining room, where the day’s offering - fried haddock, chips and peas, washed down with sponge and custard - is put away in a matter of seconds.
I sometimes wonder what it must be like for international volunteers who haven’t grown up with the UK’s standard institutional fare. I can almost see their confused faces, gazing in wonder at a piece of lamb hotpot skewered on the end of their forks, threatening to glop gravy and unidentified flying vegetable over their laps.
Anyway, with that random piece of head-space nicely popped onto the page, I’m off to have a cup of tea, and work on recruiting my replacement.