Need or greed?

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Going away makes you come back to this country with eyes wide open, seeing and appreciating things in a totally different light. So yes i am home briefly. I travelled home with a friend just having finished a project like me in Kigali. I was chuffed as i've only ever done one longhaul flight in my life with someone i know. We didn't get seats together but that didn't matter because we were intending to sleep for the most part anyway. I got sat next to an Ethiopian lady who didn't speak a word of english and had clearly never been on a plane. she seemed nice enough until she kept nudging me and pointing to the aisle..... now i think i'm pretty good at sign language as a means of communicating given all the travelling and living abroad i've done..... so i thought she meant she wanted to go to the loo - reasonable assumption. I got up and stood in the aisle to let her get out but she didn't move, i probably waited for 2/3 mins before she decided to lie down on my seat to sleep - the cheek of it!!!!! I went and found another seat with more room anyway and had a good kip before playing cards to kill time all the way back to Heathrow. It was surprisingly warm back here - glad to see all the snow had melted.

It was bliss to get a warm powerful shower - although i'd like to think it wasn't as necessary as some of you might fear! I had remembered from when i went to Africa before that the one thing i really appreciated when i came home was a real towel as opposed to a trek towel and so deprived myself this time of the priviliege when i came home by taking one with me. i had an easy break-in to the uk with a gorgeously sunny day and so read my book in the sun - bit like life in Africa really.

My body clock is still waking up at the crack of dawn which i love and that's fine until i try and stay awake in the evening when i'm only a presence. it's strange switching from cultures bythe click of a finger......it was a huge shock getting a 15 min bus ride into guildford and being charged a whopping £2.20 - a similar journey in Kigali cost 18p (and i hear you wonder how on earth i ran out of money! - tourist attractions are however not on the same price scale). i made it to the tube and had a couple of young guys sat next to me - well one sat and the other standing. it made me chuckle when after 2 stops they swaped - their poor legs clearly suffering - and i turned round to chat but then realised that that is NOT done in London......aaaaah - why are people so closed. Admittedly it's not necessary to ask for people's phone number and email when just meeting on public transpot but they only need to small chat. Everyone gets in their own transport 'bubble' whether that be car or bus or tube and just does their own thing 😞

this country and in fact all western countries are so spoilt with choice - i got quite overwhemled yesterday just wandering around the shops... it is no wonder that people get in trouble moneywise as temptation is present by every step you take. There are just 100s of shops and they all sell 1000s of slightly different designs/products. how does one choose which one -especially when people don't really need things. It is a complete consumer soceity rotating by money - people need to work more to but all those things they're being tempted to buy and round and round it goes...... I was embarrassed to have maybe 2/3 times as many clothes, with me for the 9 weeks i was away, than over 90% of the Rwandese population own!

i have just downloaded the 2 songs which play on repeat on the rwandan radio so i'm not feeling so far away anymore! unfortunately i know i'll slip back in to western lifestyle and rush all too soon.

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Comments

[Katy]

Very introspective entry and a joy to read as always. Love the photo!