Home Sweet Home

Over recent years I have become increasingly annoyed with adverts. However, there are a few which I love come Christmas time. The "Holidays are coming" one by coke, the Irn-Bru ad featuring the snowman and that mastercard ad when all the families are reunited in the airport. All good wholesome stuff and after what can only be described as an epic trip home I felt a little like I'd been in that mastercard ad!

Mr Snowy. The Christmas guardian of Desford House

Our very symmetrical christmas tree

It is brilliant to be home and amazing to see people again. I've been fairly exhausted and a little bit dazed and confused by it all. I initially spent a few days at home sluicing down my gear and checking the mulled wine was ok before Christmas proper hit. I then hopped on a plane to Aviemore to see Gaz and bump up my ever increasing carbon footprint a little bit more. It's been so great spending time with him again.

I went to work with him for a couple of days at RSPB Abernethy helping him to sort and identify lots of bugs in bottles of anti-freeze. We had to work in an outhouse because the chemicals they use to preserve the bugs are really noxious. This means sitting with the door open, in an outhouse, in Aviemore, in winter. Very very cold. But great to see what he's been up to all these weeks. Hats off to him, I think I would've lasted about a week in those arctic conditions!

Gaz Marshall, Senior Reserve Ecologist at Abernethy concentrating hard and sorting pit fall traps whilst sporting good knitwear. Awesome.

Sadly the conditions in the Cairngorms wasn't right for skiing/winter climbing so I've put my tools to rest for another year. 2009/2010 is going to be the best winter season anyway, I can tell already.

Me on Twin Ribs, Coire an't Sneachda, Cairngorms last season

Gaz getting the "admin" done on Fiacall Ridge

Then down to Somerset with Gaz to his parent's place which was a picture postcard festive scene. We decked the halls, supped a lot of wine (cider and brandy) and had a wonderous time.

Rosie taking five in Somerset. Gaz maintains she is evil, I believe she is misunderstood.

Then it was Christmas day! I went for my first run in over 3 months which was the most apalling 20 minutes of exercise I have done in a long time (I have work to do!). Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles were assembled, we ate, drank and were very merry (I mostly ate all day). Hats off to the team for an amazing dinner (complete with yorkshire pudding in keeping with Overton tradition) and all round merry day! Ho ho ho!

So, people keep asking me "what's it been like?" and "how does it feel to be back?" and in truth neither of these questions can easily be answered in a few sentences. One thing that I can say is that I've had some of the worst culture shock that I can remember. Things which have scrambled my brain include:

the cold
not living outside
the lack of children around
how white everybody is
how I can understand everything and everybody around me
how sad everybody seems
how fat everybody is
how busy everybody is
driving on motorways
how much food there is everywhere
cleanliness
going days without speaking to a stranger
absence of rice
not having animals scuttling under your feet from the moment you step outside

I think one of the hardest things about going away for so long is trying to step back into the routine you had before you left. Almost every bit of daily life has been completely different the past few months.

It's also difficult because there aren't really the words, or the pictures, to convey how much an experience like this means to you. You want people you care about to be a part of it, but it's impossible to do that as there just isn't a frame of reference. (You also don't want to come across like a pretentious arse either by wittering on about it all the time!).

Having said all that, even though I've only been back 2 weeks, I already feel a lot less mithered by all the differences. And people, as always, have been very sweet and understanding if I have had a bit of a moment when it all feels a bit much.

So I hope everybody is enjoying a very merry Christmas season! I'm hoping to get up to Edinburgh for New Year so hopefully see a few of you then.

Big festive hugs to all

Homeward Bound

Wow. I’m coming home really soon. Thinking about it makes my stomach go a bit funny and makes me excited so as a distraction I’ll chat about what we’ve been up to.

Weeks 9 and 10 of the October pioneer scheme have been fairly relaxed compared to time in the bush. We’ve been renovating the police garden in Fort Dauphin which on the face of it seems like quite an odd choice of project. But Azafady does a lot of great work in the bush which most people in town never hear about. So, we were helping to redo the police garden (where the families of all the poor arrested souls wait to find out the verdict on whether they’ve been charged or not) as a sort of showcase project of work that Azafady has done in town.

Pioneers were not too psyched by this project. After working SO hard in the bush they’d thought that they’d be winding down for weeks 9 or 10 but no! More digging and land clearance in the tropical sun for them! Ha! But to be fair they all took it on the chin, understood why we were doing the project and got properly stuck in. Go team October!

This week has really honestly been very chilled, lots of lazy days. We’ve been doing tree nursery work and community mapping interviews. This time round, the interviews are to establish people’s attitudes in town towards a proposed arts and cultural centre that Azafady is setting up in March which sounds like it’ll be a really exciting new enterprise.

I’ve also been spending time trying to make my skin less stripy (I am currently sporting a very fetching “pioneer” tan) and hanging out with Liv a lot. Liv and her friend Miranda arrived like a whirlwind in Fort Dauphin on the same flight as me but Miranda had to go home a month or two ago to start earning money in the real world. They are two immensely bubbly and, to an extent, mad pair of girls. Liv was out here on her medical elective and Miranda just came along for the craic for a month or two. They both have a really great effervescent attitude to pretty much everything and are always up for a bit of an adventure. They’ve been so much fun to hang out with and it’s a real shame that neither of them will be around after Christmas. But hopefully there will be some sort of NYE reunion in Scotchland, bring it!

Bug number four struck on Monday (boooo) which hopefully means that there is NOTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG BETWEEN NOW AND CHRISTMAS. NOTHING. Especially since I have now booked my flights up to Inverness. Snow! Reindeer! Comfortable temperatures! And most importantly, Mr Marshall. Lovely jubbly.

So all that’s left over the next few days is for me to attend the leaving party on Friday night, bundle up my Christmas presents (and my wish list) and head back over to the northern hemisphere! I am really excited about coming home and seeing everybody. I’m worried I may bore everybody rigid by waxing lyrical about my beloved Madagascar so, I apologise in advance. But hopefully by looking at the pictures and listening to the tales you’ll be able to get a better feel for this amazing place and it’ll inspire lots of people to come here too. Everybody should.

So, see you all in a few days! I can’t wait.