January Blues

It's been a while - I've been suffering from the Jan Blues and I didn't want to commit to anything publicly that I might regret. There is a strong gloom hanging over Malawi at the moment: January Blues, it turns out, are not just caused by the cold weather.

Here's what's going on:

- The rains have not arrived properly so everyone is worried about the crop. Increasing risk of famine. This is known as the 'hungry season', I knew it was coming, but I'm still not tough enough to be unaffected by being so close. A woman came down to the hut begging for food. I don't think she will be the last. Constant Guilt.

- It is really really hot. 3 showers a day, very sleepy. Even A is wishing for a break in the weather, a good bit of rain or cloud cover.

- A LOT of people have malaria.

- I itch like hell from the mozzie bites, stood on a centipede in the shower (they 'pop' BTW) and a geko got squished in the door. Blurgh.

- Work has been extraordinarily tough since we got back too.

On the plus side, petrol situation has improved, I'm enjoying French again and we now have a family of mongooses in the garden (am ignoring the fact this means we have enough snakes to support a family of mongooses).

We'll shake this off, re-group and give it a final blast. But first we're going to retreat into the hut, watch DVDs and munch the last of the mangoes.

F x