Saturday 19th December - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
on A Zambian Experience (Zambia), 21/Dec/2009 08:33, 34 days ago
I woke up early with a craving for an English Breakfast, a cup of tea and the latest gossip from Grazia Magazine. I could even picture myself snuggling up on my old sofa at home, watching repeats of X Factor (I still have no idea who is in the running )whilst nibbling at a huge bar of Dairy Milk Chocolate..Hmmmm Dairy Milk!. Ah I miss home, especially as I’m shocked to hear the latest news that it’s snowing in the U.K. Snowing at Christmas! Can you believe it and I’m not there to enjoy it! Is it going to be a white Christmas I wonder? I think there’s something special about the snow at home in the UK. I think it’s something to do with theunexpected that is quite pleasing to the British mind. The weather is one of the great excuses we use to strike up a conversation with a random person and when it’s snowing, well, then that’s extra special. I’m gutted to be missing out on the fun.Ah well, back to Zambia. OK, it’s 28 degrees and it’s 5:30 in the morning. I’ve woken up really early as I’m about to climb a mountain. No joke! Last week, I decided that I should try something I’ve never done before. Something that I’d be proud of, something that I could accomplish in one day and think about for therest of my life…so I decided to brave the blazing hot African sun and climb Mount Kanjala, the tallest hill (mountain) in Chipata. It was a struggle, especially the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes, everything in the middle was either a bit of a blur or an amazing rush of pure wonder and excitement. Once at the top I could see all the way to Malawi – fantastic.Despite the fact that there’s no snow, no twinkling Christmas lights and no smell of mince pies and cinnamon biscuits baking in the oven, I had a great day taking in the wonders of the great African landscape. Once I reached the summit, I thought to myself that I wouldn’t want to swap that experience for anything else inthe world.