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Archive for July, 2008

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purchased!

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

After serious amounts of research in each and every instance, Rob’s been making some Very Important Trip Purchases……like a steripen, a GPS unit and an Ipod (no link, because I’ve got no idea what he’s got except that it has cool little pictures of the album covers to show what you’re listening to in case you couldn’t work it out from the music alone, but I suspect you can put them on any ipod so that’s no help, is it?)….anyway, I have to admit each and every one of these will have its uses. One might save our health, one our marriage (I believe in asking for directions and using maps, he’s a guy, nuff said….but if it’s a tech-y map, then that’s a different story, right?) and the other will surely preserve his sanity.

I, on the other hand, could travel much more simply. I just want a decent pencil sharpener and these. Coz you’re not allowed sharp metal needles on aeroplanes (and seeing as we are booked on the sum total of two aeroplanes, it really is an issue), I figured I’d found a fine justification for rounding out my tool supply. So I did. Cost less than any of Rob’s toys tools, will last forever and will never need to be updated to a smaller-sized-bigger-memoried-takes-fewer-batteries-model. Ever.

did you hear them?

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

the two little girls, that is.
You see, the last kids went for the final round of rabies/typhoid vaccinations this morning. 
But then there was still a Mantoux test for the little girlies at another lab. As soon as I tried to unbutton her sleeve, ER(2) dissolved in a puddle of tears. Oh, let’s be honest, she started howling and kicking. T4 went out in sympathy. Both of them yowling, just a thin partition away from an overflowing waiting room. I managed to calm T4 before the syringes were drawn up, but they called another nurse to help me hold her down anyway. Just as well – it took both of us. As soon as the skin was punctured she yelled without any inhibition at all at the nurse, “You’re hurting me.” ER, meanwhile, threw herself to the floor crying, “No, no, no, don’t hurt me, don’t touch me”.
The girls swapped positions and I struggled to get the sleeve unbuttoned. I might be bigger than her, but that wee two year old is almost as strong! And I’d got the wrong sleeve. Sigh.
More struggles, and the jab was done. I was relieved we couldn’t understand everything she verbalised!

I didn’t think the nurse would believe they had barely even uttered a squeak for their first vaccination three weeks ago, so I just apologised on their behalf and mentioned they’d had a few more jabs than they were comfortable with recently.
Bad Mother Syndrome evaporated when they managed “Thank you” for the teddy bear stickers (and I vowed to myself to bribe the four year old before her last jab on Monday).

Assuming no-one needs a rabies booster, we’ll have had 86 pricks by the time we’ve finished! 

to buy or rent?

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
There are some definite correlations between real estate talk and guidebook chat. In the travel world, character filled actually means pokey and dim, authentic bedding means a really thin mattress on a wooden platform, close to amenities means there's a disco next ... [Continue reading this entry]

an organised tour

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
Well....kind of. We have some good friends meeting up with us for three weeks, and so to make the most of our time together, we have plotted out a very loose and flexible plan. In case we lose the piece of paper it's ... [Continue reading this entry]

How do you eat an elephant?

Monday, July 21st, 2008
One bite at a time. Right now, it seems our bites are getting bigger and we might be in danger of suffering from indigestion if we don't slow down ;-) Here are the trip preparations we have made in just the last three ... [Continue reading this entry]

snail mail

Saturday, July 19th, 2008
A few days back we received one of those letters we love. Dear Mum and Dad, 81 days till we leave, I so can't wait till Dad is off work for a year; that will be one of the best things about ... [Continue reading this entry]

World Travellers – Part VII

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
So we're the last kid on the travelling block to watch this.......won't you join us?

Dancing 2008

And if you like it, you might want to go and have a look at his [Continue reading this entry]