Sun 20 Jun 2010
I write this, not from the plush surroundings of my new lounge, but rather from the unfamiliar surroundings of the Hotel Ryalls in Blantyre (in Malawi, for the geographically; and perhaps Google-ly, challenged amongst you). That said, looking around, you would be hard pressed to work out what country you’re in. The only thing that would give it away is the rather curious cuisine, and the maps of Africa on the walls.
So I guess I ought to try and satisfy those of you who don’t read my myriad exploits on Twitter (@bryns), and bring you all up to speed on the events in my life. There is little really to say, other than the substantive portions of work on the house are done. The walls are painted; most of the furniture is in place. I’m gradually noticing all the little things you have to do to keep the place in order, and little things (like a scuff mark on the floor) that wouldn’t have bothered me a month or two ago, now *MUST* be dealt with right away.
All in all, it’s been a curious experience, and most of the decisions regarding decorating have happened more through luck than by design. Various people have tried to re-assure me that I shouldn’t worry about making the wrong choices, telling me “everyone makes mistakes with their first house”. I try to point out that such statements aren’t as helpful as they imagine. The idea of spending a day painting a wall, to then find you’ve picked the wrong colour and having to paint over it several times again is a little hard to ignore. The same can be said I think of what you chose to decorate the walls with. You see a nice bit of artwork in the shop, and think “gosh, that’d looks nice in the lounge/hallway/office/bedroom” and spend a fair old bit of money on it, only to get it home and realise it looks ridiculous there. People again assure me “don’t worry, it’ll take time to decorate the place” again seems a little depressing when you end up looking through the place at bare walls.
Enough of this house related nonsense.
As I said, I’m currently visiting the gloriously sunny Republic of Malawi. The route here was a little bit circuitous, having to fly down to Johannesburg first, before catching another flight back north for 2hrs. Blantyre is apparently the 2nd largest city in Malawi, and by all accounts, the financial capital of the country. You wouldn’t guess this of course by seeing the airport, or by driving around. On the way to the hotel, I saw rather bizarre scenes of people selling puppies by the side of the road (something I’ve often regarded as an impulse buy…) and people selling what appeared to be animal hides and clothes.
Malawi makes for my 11th major trip this year (and we’re only half way through), and the 5th country I’ve seen this year. It’s been a hectic few months recently, with a great number of things piling up in all directions. That said, with things falling into place now, the next six months will seemingly be a lot easier. There should be fewer trips, with the work being spread around. That said, there are a few on the horizon that will be quite good fun, and give me a chance to strike off a few countries from the “big list of places I’d like to visit” (I can’t say which yet, as they’re not confirmed).
My travels have meant I’ve been spending a lot of time doing very little (waiting for planes, in taxis on the way to the airport, being sat on planes etc), and the one piece of technology that’s kept me even slightly close to sane has been my iPod. I’ve been increasingly dependent on it lately for keeping up to date on my media and for something familiar to listen to when I’m stuck trying not to listen to a conversation at the airport where I have no idea what language is being spoken. As a consequence, I’ve been curious as to why there are no decent daily tech podcasts made in the UK. The Americans seem to have the market all to themselves with offerings like Buzz Out Loud and Tech News Today, whilst the UK seemingly manages with the (rather excellent, if unimaginatively named) Tech Weekly by the Guardian, and the CNET UK Podcast – both of which are weekly podcasts. Would there not be a market for such a podcast? Wouldn’t there be an advertiser who’d want to reach out to this particular market segment? I suppose it’s the same thing as to why there isn’t anything like the Daily Show in the UK, as we’d probably only end up with something like The One Show, only with cruder language. It’s a programme format We’re just not up to…
The summer promises a few more trips, a wedding or two (and the associated stag nights), as well as the Eiteddfod. This year is certainly an eventful one…
Until next time.
B