Really must do some packing soon!

For the first time in years we haven't received an extra baggage allowance from Thomas Cook. THIS GIVES US A BIT OF A PROBLEM - WHAT DO WE LEAVE BEHIND? It's a headache. People have been very generous again and the spare bed is swamped with donations. Clothes, educational materials and medical equipment. We would like to take some odds and ends for ourselves, too! It's surprising how quickly 20kg mounts up. We have a ritual of weighing everything on the bathroom scales, remembering to include the weight of the suitcases.
 I have been given the loan of one of these new phones which not only can take pictures but can send them to blogs and web-sites and whatever. I'd been perfectly happy for years (and years and years) with my old Nokia - it was just a phone (oh, and it could turn into a torch, very handy on a dark night in a village!). This phone has survived rainy seasons, being dropped, being generally ill-treated, but now it's starting to fall apart. The keyboard bit is detaching itself from the rest of the phone and it's lost part of its memory (it's not the only one!)
 So I have a loan of one of these new (how new?) multi-purpose phones. So far I've learned to switch it on. If and when I learn how to take and send pictures I will 1) post some on here, just to show off, and 2) set about finding a similar camera for myself.
 Oh, and a big 'thank you' to Barclay's Bank for the gift of lots of pens - should keep a couple of schools happy!
 I've not posted on here for a while because I've been busy re-writing 'Empty Bananas' - the first of the Malinding series of books. The original version was a disgrace, I'm ashamed to say. The new edition is much improved (so I'm told) and will soon be on free offer for a few days on Kindle. I hope you enjoy it and that it encourages you to buy the other books in the series. All money from the sales goes to GOES and then on to The Gambia.
 Thanks for reading this - I know I ramble on!
Tom

Moving on ...

Greetings, again. Postal strike over so application forms posted off to the Charity Commission at Liverpool. Just noted that the strike isn't over in Liverpool. Drat and bother. Hoped to hear that we had managed to register before I trot off to The Gambia again next week but this now seems unlikely. Lots of things to organise - decide what to leave behind as T. Cook failed to grant me a few extra kgs of luggage space. The medical supplies must go, anf the books I'd promised people out there. Lucky I learned to travel light back in the cycle camping days ...
Travel clinic for the Malarone on Thursday; weigh everything twice, more things to leave behind. Adama tells me she has found a room for me, probably in Bakau, but refuses to be more descriptive. Exchange rate seems to be against the GBP at the moment, down from 52 to 38 last week. Hope to meet Ras Bai again, running on the beach. Missed him on the last trip.
Large, overflowing suitcase on spare bed. Thinks "Why not drive instead of fly? Only 3000 miles, only 1500 miles of Sahara ..." Carbon footprint glowers over my shoulder. Sounds like contortion feat/feet.