30 Things: Progress update

You won’t be surprised to hear that my year of 30 Things didn’t go exactly as planned. But despite all that, here’s what I’ve crossed off my list so far, in roughly chronological order:

1. Visit islands in Brittany

In mid-December, JC and I had a great day out to the Isle de Groix. We did the tour of the island in just a few hours, enjoying the dramatic cliffs, foamy blue sea and cute stone walls. It was off-season so we almost had the place to ourselves.

Mini harbour

Then in September, JC organised a trip to the Sept Isles as a birthday surprise! We went on a beautiful sailing boat called Saint Guirec – named after the Welsh saint who arrived in Brittany in the 6thC to build a monastery. (Welsh readers might be interested to know that the Bretons nicked our anthem and stuck their own words in). It was a beautifully sunny day with not too much wind, and we learnt when to pull on which ropes to make the boat go. Although I was mildly seasick in the morning, a picnic on the Isle de Moines sorted me out. We saw a huge colony of northern gannets – up to 40,000 of them – and some fluffy seals hanging out on rocks.

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That gannet colony was pretty stinky

Proof

2. Run a 10k

This feels like a lifetime ago but Harri and did successfully run 10k, in around 1hr 15. It was a lifetime PB for me! (Yes, I’ve never ran 10k before or since). We had fun, it didn’t rain, H got us novelty t-shirts and the rest of the family cheered us on. Done.

3. Play the trumpet for 30 seconds every day for 30 day

I can’t swear to practicing every day, but I can tell you that I’m now in my second year of trumpet lessons, that my favourite songs are Summertime’, ‘Aristocats’ and ‘It don’t mean a thing’, and that I’ve even invested in my own shiny golden trumpet. A surprisingly Covid-proof activity, because lessons on Skype work quite well (unlike the samba band. That’s a different story).

4. Shave your head

One of the easiest tasks to cross off the list, I did it myself one morning in the start of the first lockdown. It. Was. Brilliant!! Who knew about the feeling of wind in your scalp? Highly recommended. The regrowth is a bit more challenging – only yesterday, my dear sister told me my latest attempt at styling it made me look like Ron Weasley.

Proof of baldy-ness

Who needs kettle chips?

5. Play more bridge

Starting with a baseline of zero bridge, any bridge would have ticked this off the list, so a few virtual sessions with Rob and Maz during the lockdown made this one an easy win. Much easier than actually winning at bridge.

6. Forage for food

I’m already partial to some hedgerow browsing, but new discoveries this year included young borage leaves (which taste surprisingly cucumber-like), nettle crisps (which taste like whatever spice you put on them) and vin de noix and nocino liqueurs made with green walnuts (not tasted them yet).

7. Book a holiday

We had a great 2 week summer holiday, starting with the Jura and it’s cheese then exploring the Loire valley and it’s wine. The holidays also gave me the chance to tick off a few more Things.

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Jura up top and Loire valley down below

9. Go on an escapade

The exact definition of ‘escapade’ did pose some challenges, in both French (the language the Thing was suggested in) and English. In the end I decided that scarpering up a small peak in the Alps was a pretty good escapade. Passing some gorgeous alpine cows, complete with bells, at the top we were rewarded with 360 mountain views and a birds eye view of Lake Leman.

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Meuh, as the cows say here

8. Go and see what’s on the other side of the bridge

On the first night of our cycling holiday along the Loire, we found a great spot to camp, next to a stream inhabited by a coypu (side note: these don’t live in the UK so they’re exciting to see!). While the others were busy setting up tents, I disappeared to fulfill the mighty quest of seeing what was on the other side of the little stone bridge – and what I saw will remain with me forever.

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Thanks to Geogeo for not only suggesting this Thing, but also starring in the accompanying photo

10. Take 4-7 days to do a thing or explore France on your own / Go walking for 3 days / Do a 7-day hike on your own

11. See the sea!

Various people suggested long solo walks, something I’ve never tried before (or frankly been interested in). Changing jobs in September meant a week off, so I walked a section of the GR34 coastal path that covers the length of the Brittany coastline. I did about 45 km in 3.5 days, between Paimpol and St Quay de Portrieux.

I loved every minute of it! The views were stunning: the path wove through lots of old forests, up and down the coastal cliffs, along the beach, past fields of cabbages, and through some tiny seaside villages. It was even warm enough for a swim in my undies on the second day! I was expecting some sort of profound epiphany but I was just either happy, or tired and happy to be at my accommodation. Definitely something I want to do again.

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Despite all the stunning views, I think meeting these amazing sheep-pigs was the real highlight

12. Make veggie spring rolls

This was so much easier than I thought it would be! Adding some mint from the garden was the key finishing touch, as well as a couple of sauces, one with ground up peanuts, and a fish sauce/soy/chili one. Also Jordan inspired me to put a few nasturtium flowers which made them very pretty.

Not shown: Excellent peanut sauce

13. Go to Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris

Thanks to Alice for not only suggesting this, but actually giving me a guided tour of some of the highlights!

A sunny October day spent visiting dead folks

So that makes a total of 13 Things done, which when said quickly, sounds a lot like ’30 Things’ anyway. There’s a few other Things which I hope to finish before the end of 2020. If you think I should be prioritizing your Thing, feel free to get in touch with encouragement/lobbying/threats.

G

xx

30 things…aka 61 things and counting!

And we’re off – the year of being 30 and doing 30 things has started!

The first ten days of being 30 have already been pretty intense. They’ve involved going to a festival in Kent, trying out new swing dance, Zumba and yoga courses, picking up a trumpet and meeting my teacher, making blackberry jelly, bottling tomato sauce and sardines, getting a new mattress, signing up for the local cooperative cafe, having a discussion about hosting asylum-seekers, and preparing a ‘meet the neighbours’ apéro on Sunday.

Also as a 30 year old, my bike mudguard broke then my bike got locked in a university overnight (leaving me to walk home carrying the aforementioned trumpet plus yoga mat plus trainers plus laptop), I forgot my purse when at the supermarket, and the cafetière broke. I had to rebook our trip to Hong Kong because the prefecture finally offered an appointment for residency papers at that exact time. AND I saw Mallie the dog eating another pigeon :(

All this at a time when work is completely overwhelming in a good and in a bad way. I’ll be honest, there’s been tears, swearing, and nights full of sleep talking (or so I’m told).

So it was with some trepidation that I turned to 30 Things project, which has now grown to 61 suggestions and counting…why had I done this to myself?!

But the suggestions are a thing of beauty, an homage to embracing life, a travel guide to destinations unknown, and a vision of a different way of living. They come from such a brilliant range of people, some of whom have known me my whole life, some for only part of it, and others only recently. The suggestors of things range in age from 3 years old to…significantly older!

To everyone that contributed, I can’t thank you enough for the creativity of your wishes and the loveliness of your messages. I hope we can stay in touch this year as I try and possibly fail to make them happen, I’ll be updating on here.

So whilst I get my head around how many of these I can do (and go away on a work trip for 10 days), I wanted to share the full list for your reading pleasure and inspiration. I’ve taken the names off as I think it’s more fun.

REVEALED: The 30 Things List

Not included in that list are a couple of suggestions from friends I didn’t even know I had, how do you think they found out??

 

Here’s the original request, suggestions are still welcome but not sure I can guarantee managing to do more things! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf2pl-lhxObXtr4Vc9zV-kdOP4VeVCLm0bEa-ZcaFi3fS5Pag/viewform

Premières impressions de Ouagadougou

Youpi, il fait pas trop chaud!

La ville est assez verte, et la terre a une teinte rouge profond comme une brique échouée sur une plage.

Il n’y a pas trop d’ordures dans la rue, peut-être parce qu’il y a des bidons de pétrole utilisés comme des poubelles. Et dans notre rue, un des bidons est une excellente cachette pour des poulets.

Malgré les efforts des étudiants pour la rebaptiser Boulevard Thomas Sankara , une des routes principales est encore nommée Boulevard Charles de Gaulle. D’ailleurs, le chauffeur nous a montré la place où Sankara a été assassiné – juste à côté du rond-point du coq.

Les orages le soir sont impressionnants! Et les moustiques sont féroces.

C’est tout pour le moment. Entre le boulot chargé et les règles qui interdisent de marcher à pied après le coucher du soleil, vers 18.45, il nous reste encore plein de choses à découvrir!

My commute

I wish you could see my daily commute on the bus from Ouakam to Mermoz and back again. Dakar Dem Dikk number 007 (just like James Bond).

I wish I could film the journey to show you how the bus fills up along the way, and how just when you think there’s no room left, another body squeezes in. I would show you which ticket seller is the best at takingfaresstampingticketshandingoutchange all at once, like she has 15 fingers. I would show you how daily acts of kindness are partly but not entirely borne out of necessity: the money passed down and the tickets passed back, the bags rested on strangers’ laps, and the shifts into non-existent space that allow you to get off.

And if I could show you the views through the windows! The bustle of Ouakam market, stretching from the first mattress stall, past the electrics shops and right down to the tented stall selling bright gold jewellery. Left at the Total garage. Past the franco-Arabic school, the Indian fabric shop, the car parts shop, the stall selling madeleine cake tins. And on every street: furniture makers, women in wax with babies strapped to their backs, fruit sellers, cafe touba stalls, djibiteries, football shirt hawkers, welders, and taxis, taxis, taxis.

Every day a I would show you a new surprise – guinea fowl running between houses; three women dressed up to the nines taking selfies in a shiny red Ferrari; a new fruit you don’t recognise (tiny clementines? kumquats?); a knee-high girl playing with a broom; a clutch of fresh sheep tethered to a fence; a guy running in laps on his 4th storey terrace.

I wish I could record and play you the chatter in Wolof, and the sound of the car rapid bus boys banging coins against the metal door to tell the driver to go or to stop or to go again. The quiet murmur of passengers joining and leaving the journey.

J’aimerais pouvoir l’écrire en français.

I wish I could paint you the huge sky hanging over the football pitch, held up on each side by a giant baobab.

And at the end of the day, I wish you could feel the breeze float through the bus as it empties on the way home.

But for now, these words will have to do.

7 things I learnt this week

1. The Île de Madeline is inhabited by genies, who are on the whole friendly as long as you don’t build on the island.

2. Some sheep enjoy a sunset stroll on the beach

3. Baobabs make a welcome home for cormorant nests (and other guests)

4. Pelicans don’t seem to find it easy to start flying (on Ngor beach we watched two of them spread their wings like this for quite a long time, I think looking for the right air current?)

5. Idrissa Ouedrago is one of Burkina’s most celebrated film directors. We saw his film Yaaba at the Institut Français, shown on an old-school 35mm film projector, complete with scratches, crackles and technical problems.

 

6. Living 50m from a mosque (not pictured) means the first few nights in your new house (pictured) may feel like the muezzin is doing the call to prayer in your bedroom.

 

 

7. Wow is yes in Wolof.

 

The zebu cows of Mermoz

7 May

After a delayed overnight flight from Ouaga, I arrived back at then guesthouse at 5.30am to find JC sleeping there. After moving to an Airbnb we looked round Mamelles and then went for a nice dinner at an African restaurant. Our meal was accompanied by a live kora soundtrack – beautiful.

8 May

Visited an apartment with a massive terrace, and a kitchen and bedroom accessible by separate exterior door – the weirdest layout I’ve ever seen but JC said he’s seen quite a few odd ones.

9 May

Tonight after work we did yog & yog: a nice gentle yoga class with a lovely American lady called Mina, followed by frozen yoghurt with bissap sauce at Yoghurtlandia. The search for an apartment continues.

10 May

Another public holiday. In the evening we walked around Mermoz and came across some zebu cows, happily strolling round and eating rubbish. Apparently they’ve been roaming around for years, sometimes they go down to the beach. A security guard in the street told us he would never eat them, and nor would anyone else. Why not? Because the cows’ owner has got gri-gri and has put a spell on them.

We also enjoyed an apéro with our lovely AirBnb hosts, a French couple who have lived in Africa and the Maghreb for more than 25 years – they have some stories to tell! They also had plenty of insider info on Dakar, including the fact that there will be no water for 7 days due to repairs. Good to know!

Oumar Ka’s “Man Standing in a Courtyard,” 1959-1968. Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art

11 May

Tonight we went to a vernissage which was part of the Biennale. My favourite was Oumar Ka, a Senegalese photographer who took pictures in the 50s and 60s.

12 May

Finally the weekend! We spent the afternoon hanging out with Alieu and his family, a guy that JC knows through his ex-girlfriend’s dad’s friend. We ate real home made thieu bou dienn, a big plate of rice with two types of fish and tangy tamarinds on the side. Alieu’s daughter is 5 and very chatty! She was happy to go and play on Yoff beach.

In the evening we visited downtown, Le Plateau, which has a very different vibe. Walking down the street for 10 minutes we got hassled, asked for money and generally bothered more than the rest of our whole stay in Dakar so far! We bought some fresh strawberries from a lady outside of the supermarket – apparently they’re only in season for a very short time.

13 May

For lunch and we found a place that offered a range of African dishes. JC wins the prize for getting the most exciting meal so far – smoky fish sauce with some kind of starchy banana ‘potatoes’! We also explored Mamelles beach, a cute cove with a few beach bars.

Mangoes in Ouagadougou

30 April

Today in the office I ate one of the most famous Senegalese dishes, thiep bou dieune rouge (riz au poisson rouge) – it had a real chilli kick! After work I bought my first Senegalese mangoes. Two beautiful green round fruits with a pinky-red blush, for less than 80p.

1 May

Labour Day so only a few hours of work at home today. An afternoon trip to Terrou Bi private pool and beach meant my first paddle in the sea! Apparently the water was 19C, so still some warming up to do. After just a few hours in the sun my freckles have already started to multiply.

2 May

A last minute 4 day work trip to Burkina started with an overnight flight. On the way to the airport, a driver called Dame (“oui, comme madame”) taught me Wolof. From the car I could see the silent silhouettes of baobab trees pass by as we drove along listening to Wasi Diob.

3 May

After delays in Dakar, we arrived in Ouaga at 6am in a tiny plane with about 45 seats. As it was my second time there, I felt much less stressed about getting a visa, and this time I came with a stack of CFA notes. Only time for 2 hours sleep before going to the office, where I had lunch with Azara and we talked about vegans, her trip to Kenya to learn about the dairy industry, and of course work.

4 May

More than 13 hours of work today – and I gave my first work presentation in French! It was a very short overview of the vision for public mobilisation. I could follow conversations much better than the last meeting in Ouaga, although partly because this time there was three times less people and the meeting was three times shorter.

5 May

Another 40°C day in Ouagadougou. As well as working, today I explored a bit. I bought some fresh coconut slices for 100 cfa. I saw 2 lorry loads of mangoes being unloaded. I drank a Togolese drink which I think consisted only of E numbers. I said bonsoir to some people in the street (they say bonsoir all the time here!)

6 May

Sunday in Ouaga. With the heat, the work ban on using taxis, and being stuck in a quiet and dusty part of town, there wasn’t much to do today. For the first time I watched a whole film dubbed into French (Black Butterfly, terrible). I talked to mum. And I did some work. Today when I walked out there was more (male) attention in the street, so I went back to the hotel.

Dakar: Week 1

28 April

The driver who collects me at the airport is very friendly and keeps proudly telling me that Senegal is the country of terranga (hospitality). He’s a proud Dakarois, but he’s never swam in the sea.

29 April

First day in Dakar! From the window of the kitchen in the guesthouse, I can see the African Renaissance Monument, a stocky baobab tree and a horde of black kites floating in the wind. And from the balcony I can see a fuzzy wedge of deep blue sea. A promising start.

There’s an obvious link between the Everest Sherpa tragedy and climate change; the world is warming, meaning ice and snow at the top of Everest is at risk of melting at an increased rate, and that avalanches of snow, rock or ice may increase. The Atlantic declared 2014 as ‘The Year Climate Change Closed Everest’.

But I think the tragedy is also a useful analogy for climate change as a whole.

Photo copyright ilkerender (http://tinyurl.com/p78m52t)

Climate change is happening – and it’s caused by humans

The world’s climate – like the climate of Everest – is changing. This is a direct result of human activities. And in Everest, instability  is exacerbated by huge increases in the number of climbers: in the late 1970s, only a handful of climbers reached the top every year. In 2012, more than 500 did. This sharp rise in climbers is just like the sharp rise in CO2 emissions since the Industrial Revolution.

Climate change is already affecting people’s lives

Contrary to what many people believe, climate change isn’t some faraway problem that our children’s children will have to deal with. It’s happening now, with deadly effects – as the families of those killed in the avalanche know only too well.

Climate change is disproportionately hitting the poorest

Those worst affected by the effects of climate change – like those affected by the Everest disaster – are the poorest. Not the climbers, who pay up to £45,000 to summit the peak, but the sherpas, who “carry the heaviest loads and pay the highest prices” – their lives. And globally, it is the poorest, especially those in tropical and sub-tropical regions,  who will be hit hardest – the very same people who are currently have the least food security.

We’re not doing enough to help the poorest adapt to a changing climate

Climate change-aggravated extreme weather, floods, droughts, and sea level rises are already a daily reality in many developing countries. In 2009, to kick start adaptation efforts to deal with this reality, rich countries committed to provide $30bn of funding between 2010-2012. But only 20% of these funds have been received. This is nowhere near enough to help people cope with the large-scale effects of climate change – just as the compensation package  of £245 per life has been deemed insufficient by the mourning families of the Sherpas killed in April.

People are taking action – but governments aren’t listening yet

Following the disaster on Everest, the Sherpas are protesting by refusing to climb Everest this season. They’re taking a stand to protect their mountain – just like the millions of people worldwide taking a stand to protect the earth and its inhabitants from catastrophic climate change.

 

You can read more about the history and culture of Sherpas in this beautiful article from National Geographic.

Figureheads at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich