A quick update to let you know that I have now been back in the Cotswolds for nearly a month and am feeling much better. I have been loving being back with Rupes in the Cotswold spring, watching the primroses and bluebells emerge and eating loads of cheese. As I have no need to be classed as an emergency my progress through the National Health Service has been steady (rather than rapid) and I am due to see the renal specialist on Wednesday this week. Eventually, I hope to have the reports I need to enable the VSO medics in London to decide if and when I can get back to Ethiopia and on with the job.

I am not sure if it has been the expectation that I am only over short time or arriving over here ill and hence forced to take it easy, but I have not found it too difficult to settle back into a previous life. I have managed to avoid too many shopping trips, rather I have been filling my time with catching up with family and friends, taking Rupe’s dog for a walk and being “domestic” with vacuum cleaner, oven and grill!

It was great to spend four nights with Dennis and Dionne and help get the nursery ready for the baby (now due in less than four weeks) and do a bit of London culture! It was also timely to spend a long session with Anthony’s mum starting to get the plans for Caz and Ant’s wedding (August 9th) from email ideas to ‘place setting’ reality.

The tenants of my house moved out last weekend, by chance, so the challenge is to get Rupert’s house emptied and let and Rupe into my house (even if most of my stuff does remain in storage) before I leave.

If I do return to Ethiopia in early May (as I am currently hoping) this leaves very little time to contact many of the people I would love to see – which is disappointing but the next part of the plan involves me coming home again in mid July to help the wedding preparations so I will be back, again, before you know it.

Well, I never promised every update would be upbeat and cheerful and this one just may not be!

I am just beginning to emerge from what felt at the time to be the very illest and worst 10 days of my life - a winning combination of kidney infection and very bad flu. I can say with all certainty that I don't ever, EVER, EVER want to feel so ill again and am therefore taking the specialist advice from here and UK and returning for checks with my old kidney specialist at Gloucester Royal (if indeed he is still there). If all goes according to plan, I will fly back on Wednesday and be tucked up in Winstone by late Wed evening. At this stage there is no knowing when, (or, very hard to contemplate, "IF") I will get back out here. It will depend o n getting medical clearance from VSO I guess but I am not packing up so will have to come back, in some way or other, to do that, at the very least.

Meanwhile I am still weak as a kitten can manage about three hours up and about but ingesting any food is EXHAUSTING! although every day am slightly stronger. What a sad way to end this chapter - hopefully I will bounce back in the cool (freezing cold?) of the Cotswolds in March.

The big launch took place on Saturday, without me - another disappointment but at least today I manange to WATCH the women's 5 k race and see three Aspiration Hope runners coming in in the first 40 - Marza was 21st.

21 new photos in a folder called Birthday and March 2008, including my actual birthday at Wenchi crater (but NOT including any of the party) and the great camping trip to Debre Berhan.

HOPE TO HEAR FROM SOME OF YOU SOON

As usual, I don’t have access to the Internet as I write but I calculate that it must be over a month since the last installment and it has been a very busy time –
Briefly- in my world:
• The Adult Strategy was agreed
• A launch date set – for mid Feb – before my birthday
• Move offices while roof/ceiling is being repaired ( following the removal of the roof during the rainy season). All my furniture down to my wire basket is given away am now camping out with Abiynur
• The strategy needed shortening
• Launch date moved to end of Feb – around my birthday
• Mid Feb Lindsay and John arrived to stay- took to Ethiopia like ducks to water, loved everyone and everything and spoiled me rotten with meals out and/or shopping done
• Strategy needed restructuring
• Launch date move to early March
• Kate, Francis and Rosie arrive to help celebrate the birthday
• 60th party held on Feb 23rd with help from Lindsay and John decorating the restaurant venue, teaching the Aspiration Hope Runners to sing “happy Birthday”, organizing cake cutting etc. Over 100 – mostly Ethiopians, danced the night away to live, traditional music and everyone tells me there was enough food – or are they just being polite?? Started the day with running a half marathon and spent some of the afternoon playing table tennis, in between doing all the getting ready jobs so it was as near a perfect day as I could have asked for given that so many of your were the other side of the world at the time.
• Strategy needs rewriting
• Launch date moved and really really fixed (??) to March 22nd which will clash with the arrival of Lois and Ian but Abiynur and I are both now past caring.
• Ultimate treat of Sunday High Tea at the Sheraton
• John catches me describing Uk as “they” and Ethiopia as “we”! – more than once
• Am only granted one day’s leave as there is so much going on at work which means visitors have to explore on their own and all rise to the challenge.
• I, with all five Uk visitors, go in hire car to Wolisso for two nights and spend my birthday walking around the crater rim with L and J before joining others in hidden green valley for the final two hours walking - revisiting sights seen with Rupes so no new photos.
• Feb 26th celebrate becoming a pensioner as above, followed by meal, fizzy pop, party hats, piles of presents and cards and wonderful birthday cake made to Christmas cake recipe by guess who? – the wonderful Lindsay!
• Back to work, (no less hectic) and different groupings of visitors manage navigating the city, using local minibus taxis, visiting museums, local markets, bargaining and shopping with great aplomb.
• L + J depart for home closely followed by K, F and R flying north to Lalibela and to do the Community Walking – which, as I write, I hope they are enjoying.
• For me, a weekend camping on the mountainside some 3750 metres above Debre Berhan Core of two runners and three young friends of Julian (VSO in DB)but joined by many others including two local lads sleep. Cold but wonderfully clear night – a million stars per inch visible and despite the hazy days, miles of Ethiopian highland gorges to the NW and the Rift Valley and Awash river to the SE. Well off any tourist route so visits from locals included group with guns offering protection in exchange for money. Funny they never came back in the morning for visit to the local police we requested/suggested!
• Today the Launch invitation written – can this really be true???????????
• K, F and R due back on Thursday and am hoping to be slightly less hectic and have time to put all worlds to rights with them and enjoy their excellent company.
• Ended up taking 5 days of antibiotics to kick out sore, throat, chest and hacking couch – feeling much better now – should have done the pills earlier – a camping may not have been so very clever either!

Other family news:
Eldest sister, Alice, becomes a grandmother and Julia and Graham rise wonderfully to the challenges of parenthood
Dionne and Dennis continue fit and well. Dionne now looking big and gorgeous while Dennis just received major promotion , hurt his back and is busy replacing the kitchen.
Caroline and Anthony busy with plans for an august wedding in London (Sat 9th?) but Ant still found time to make his feelings about Bush clear as the Pres’ motorcade swept passed the school in Arusha. He emerged unscathed (and unrepentant?) after five hours in the local police station but I am sure the Tanzanian people appreciated his apology – you can guess what his future mother in law thinks!!
The tenants of No 37 Chesterton Park may move out by end of March – Rupes may move in or we will have to find a very short term tenant as have fixed my return date as Wednesday 23rd July.
See you then if not before

PS No new photos this time around - another day

All is well - photos are now on as described below. enjoy! Thanks Mick even though it was my problem not yours!!

At last the promised photographs (well a small subset thereof) of Zanzibar in one album and a very select few others (given that the places already featured in the trip south with Desna) of Rupert and my trip down south in another.

You may find it hard to believe that it was Christmas and New Year when I was in Zanzibar and I promise that the white expanses were sand not snow. We had a lovely time with Caz and Ant in great form, a Faulty Towers of a beachside hotel which not only provided much amusement (and some frustrations) but also allowed us to stay nearly in budget (and eat a lot of fresh fish and goat) by self catering. High tides came lashing outside the doors of our huts but reaching the water at low tide involved walking for up to a kilometre over the white sands. It was always hot and sometimes quite sticky and the taste of salt dominated everything including the shower water but it mattered not, it was a wonderful break away from work, domestic chores and Ethiopia and what better place to lie in azure waters and plan Caz and Ant’s wedding (August in Cirencester and London??)and speculate about Dennis and Dionne’s baby. The latter is due May 13th but gender still unknown – it refused to reveal the relevant bits during the scan!

Rupert arrive within days of my return and he has experienced/enjoyed(?) a mix of two long weekends away and very busy working weeks. For the first weekend which stretched over Ethiopian Christmas we returned to Wenchi crater (previously visited with Heather and Jamie) to fulfil my ambition to run round the crater rim. Last weekend we went down to Arba Minch to revisit the game park and the Dorze village previously seen with Desna. Another ambition was realized when we spent a magical night camping inside the game park with views over both lakes and the sound of hippos below in the evening and zebra grazing close by the tent in the morning. Sightings of lion pad prints on the track close by in the evening, to be replaced by others in the morning, added to the excitement.

The Dorze village was a mixed experience. The photos show parts of a day long walk including airborne views of clusters of shaggy inkcap shaped houses (assuming you know your fungi)nestling amongst the bamboo and False banana trees. Rats and human tics also featured but somehow didn’t get photographed!

Rupert’s holiday ended with three days in Debre Zeit while Abiynur and I ran a workshop working with Regional staff and NGOs to write guidelines for providing alternative basic education for out of school children. It went well and the level of planning and organization was appreciated as was the funding from the Save the Children Alliance. Earlier on in his visit Rupert came with me to visit the Trampled Rose Hostel (the subject of an article) and passed on items purchased with money some of you donated. I will update you on progress via another article soon. I also got involved with a German film crew and helped them shoot the requisite hours needed to make a documentary about running, especially women runners, in Ethiopia. It is planned to screen it during the Olympics and hopefully there will be an English version for us all to see. In addition and as a result, we just might have found sponsor for my great running friends and supporters – Martha and Daniel. If it all works out Cirencester Athletics Club is in for a few surprises.

Rupes flew off the morning so I am “a widow” again and busy trying to catch up. It was unfortunate that he came when I had SO much work to do but it was lovely for me to have meals cooked and camping equipment packed.

It is looking as if I will be back in the Cotswolds before the end of July. I can’t imagine being able to wait any longer to see first ‘real’ grandchild (I hope the 7 in Zimbabwe understand the distinction), hopefully move back into Number 37 Chesterton Park and start getting ready for Caz and Ant’s wedding, avoid the worst of the rainy season and pick up the threads of that other life.

In twelve hours time I should be about to board a plane for Dar es Salam on the way to Zanzibar – so … nothing much to say except I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, good new year and lots of rest, bracing walks, wine or what ever it takes in between. I should be back in Ethiopia on January 2nd with photos of sun, sand, palm trees ……………to prove it - whoops I promised I would not try to make you jealous! - sorry.

Happy Christmas everyone.