Dear All,
I’m now formally based in Vientiane, I met my Swedish project bosses last Sunday and taking in to account the problems with my arthritis and necessary regular trips to hospital we decided that I should stop work up country and leave the Phongsaly project. I’ll go back up in a few weeks or so and pack up everything, have a leaving party, and take a last long happy look at the villages.
I’m looking now for a house, a job, and looking to make the transition in to Phase 2 of my life in Laos. Being up-country has been a huge success; the villages now have roughly twice as many pigs in them as they did before I came up there, we have fought off major serious animal disease outbreaks too. And there is now a Lao staff member on the project well able to do the vast bulk of my job. I’ll Read More »
Dear All,
I’m back in Laos, terrifically jet-lagged and somewhat sore after my journey. But I’m back, and grateful, it is already incredibly lovely being back here.
The last few days before leaving to come back were hectic but very good indeed, I had some wonderful times with my family and all doctors letters that needed to come through came through; there are no medical issues with me being back in Laos in Vientiane. As Read More »
Dear All,
It looks like I’m finally heading back to Laos this week, I’m booked to leave the UK on Thursday morning and arrive in to Vientiane on Friday lunchtime. I had a medical a few days ago, and the doctors have said to me that it is fine to go back on Thursday, there are a few outstanding questions but these look like they’ll be resolved in the next few days.
All my doctors are clear and agreed that my arthritis has not been caused by being in Laos, and it hasn’t been triggered by living up county either. I have not been made sick by being where I have been. But the flare ups are probably going to happen from time to Read More »
Dear All,
It has been a cold week, with light snow and biting northerly winds. And my Dad this week had a 18m (59ft) tall wind turbine for generating electricity installed at the bottom of my parents vegetable patch in their sheep field. As one does.
A giant crane came along and in just a single day slotted it on to the concrete foundation that had been previously prepared. The UK is the windiest country in Europe and the government gives huge subsidies for producing electricity from renewable means so it Read More »
Dear All,
I’ve been delayed again, my return to Laos has been pushed back a further 10 days. My organisation decided that I hadn’t seen enough doctors and weren’t sure I am nuts enough to return to Laos (you and me know otherwise, obviously) and so have insisted on me getting a mid-term medical and psychological evaluation done, so I’m now due to arrive back in Laos on the 26th February. It is frustrating.
It is frustrating because every day that passes I am getting better, my bad days now are better than my good days were just a few Read More »
Dear All,
It has been another week of progress, of feeling dismally cold, and of getting stuff done. This break back in the UK has been just wonderful for me, I really have been able to relax, get addicted to the TV show “Top Gear” once again and eat an awful lot of Jaffa Cakes.
But it has also been frustrating. I’m still in a lot of pain, most of the time, and some days have been bad. I really wanted to make a meeting on Wednesday in Nottingham, but when I woke up very early in the morning I tried getting dressed but Read More »
Dear All,
It has been a week of journeys, of turning 32 and more medical tests. And turning 32 felt odd. I celebrated it by hosting a tea party for 3 of my nephews, my dear mother prepared everything and we had jelly and ice-cream, chocolate cake, party poppers, and silly hats. It was truly as if the ’80s had returned, and sweet memories to hold on to during the hard times when back on the field.
I’m slowly still getting better, the pain is frustrating and it has been difficult sleeping, but the progress overall is very Read More »
Dear All,
The snow has finally cleared and with it has come cold heavy rains and heavy blankets of cloud, the days are dark and still and quite hard to adjust to. It seems the longer I live in Asia, the harder I find the adjustment back to the UK is.
I’m still caught up in lots of medical tests and doctors appointments, it is frustrating but necessary. The current medical thinking is that I have a Spondyloarthropathy of some kind (in America this is known as Spondylitis); Reactive Arthritis is a Spondyloarthropathy but I seem to have a few odd symptoms. I’ve got another doctors appointment and more tests this Read More »
Dear All,
This past week I got the sad news from Laos that my cat, Simon, had died. It looks like he got some kind of infection or something, and even if I had been there it would have been hard to do much for him. I rescued him as a kitten, after he’d been mauled by a dog and very almost killed, and I nursed him back to health. His will to live was an inspiration to me, his Read More »
Dear All,
Happy New Year to you, it feels great to see the back of 2009… Last year so many different horrible things seemed to happen, but hopefully 2010 will be a fresh start.
It feels strange to be back in the UK, the reverse culture shock has been rather emphatic this time around. But it is so lovely being around my family, enjoying their considerable personalities, and experiencing again their sometimes astonishing quirks. My family is really very competitive, one lunchtime recently over our sausages and beans the discussion Read More »
