I set off on Friday 3 May with Gambia Bird, flying overnight
via Sierra Leone. The plane was pretty quiet until we reached Freetown, where
it filled up quickly. The flight was fine, the only interesting part being the
fact that I was complemented not once but twice on how I had tied my wrapper,
by a Sierra Leonean man and woman! I don’t know if they do it differently in
Sierra Leone but they were both pretty impressed that I had tied it myself!
Once I landed, I was met at the airport at 8am on Saturday
morning by my best friend Alex, who quickly whisked me away to Southampton. My only real moment of reverse culture shock
came as we stood in Waitrose on a busy Saturday morning! I was overawed by the
choice and the amount of people, but soon got over it and focused on choosing
cheese and wine! We hurried back to Alex’s house and had an indoor picnic…
 |
| Feast! |
 |
| Can you tell I have missed cheese? |
The two weeks passed in a blur. I spent the first week and a
half down in Christchurch and Southampton, mostly staying with my Mum and Dad
in their caravan (sleeping under piles of blankets, sleeping bags and duvets!),
with Alex and Eddie, and a few nights with my aunt and uncle. I ate so much
delicious food, and stocked up on red and white wine!
 |
| Mum’s home-made steak and kidney pie |
I spent my last few days in London, in a whirlwind of
shopping and meeting friends. On arrival I took my suitcase to my friend Chi’s
before dashing off to meet Sue for a quick drink, and then Nicola, Zoe, Toni,
Adam, Tim and Alex in Shepherd’s Bush for – you guessed it – cheese and wine!
On Thursday I shopped like a demon, met Paul and Athene for lunch at Nandos
(mmmm chicken!) and then went to Jonno’s in the evening to meet him, Alex,
Ebony, Dagna, Vicki, and Cormac. We ate Thai food and drank champagne – bliss.
 |
| Jonno |
 |
| Vicki, Alex, Ebony, me and Dagna |
Friday was coffee with Jonno, lunch with Faraneh and more shopping,
before dinner with more friends back at Chi’s house! It was great to catch up
with Chi, her Alex, Ceri, Vac, James, Shahana, Aneta and Takako! And yes… we
drank more champagne!
 |
Chi cooked up a storm
|
 |
| I managed to get in some quality play time with my buddy Isla! |
I had a fabulous time in England, but I also really missed The
Gambia. It wasn’t just the weather, I missed the colours and smells, the
greetings, and the of course all the friends I have made here. It’s such a
different way of life, you cannot really compare, and as much as I soon felt at
home in London (speeding around, marching up and down escalators on the underground etc)
the first thing I thought when I landed in Banjul was ‘it’s nice to be home’.
 |
| I won't miss the cold English rain! |
No comments:
Post a Comment