"If you wanna go and take a ride with me...." is in my head because Lizzie tells me the charming Egyptian hostel assistant reminds her of Nelly. I don't see it but I wish I did. He came to fix the screen when the computer gave up after five minutes use on Arabic Facebook and was very excited to see that neither he nor I are wearing shoes. Two of a kind. Most Arabian men would like to be a pea in my pod, it seems. Although Lizzie, with her lilywhite limbs and rust-coloured hair is the real apple of their [View Full Entry]

---

---

We are now packing in earnest. Having serious phone conversations about sandal straps and the relative merits of facial sun-care products. Or rather I am not packing, I am writing. And there are light-coloured clothes strewn all over the faded black floorboards of the spare room. The window is open. My mother is a great believer in the benefits of a good breeze. And the sun is an antidote to everything. “Your spots will disappear in the sun and what can I do for that sty in your eye?” She prescribed me a fucithalmic ointment from the back of the veterinary [View Full Entry]

---

---

Things have changed. Friends are pressing heatfelt cards into my hands and I am thumbing gold stars on to an envelope with your name on it. Flatmates, friends, family. It was my birthday and neither parent managed more than a text message. Nevermind. Twenty three isn't worth writing home about and my lack of birthday greetings make the ones I did get much nicer. The messages: It's been so good to know you, to work with you, to live with you, to be with you. I am feeling quite smug. But this really isnt the point. The point is that things [View Full Entry]

---

---

Given the title and purpose of this blog, this entry should strictly be written by both Lizzie and I whilst pouring over maps and travel guides, sitting on the floor in my bedroom and talking routes and visas. We should be uploading equipment lists and travel plans and writing about how many litres in there are in the rucksacks, which injections we plan to have and the theats posed by the upcoming elections in Lebanon. As it is, it's only me. Lizzie is at work in the Marks and Spencer and I have cast my attention over the vaugue prospect of [View Full Entry]

---

---