It's been a loooooong time. Though shorter than eternity.

Yo Boon!

Was so great to chat a bit with you the other day. I hope that the time with your Mum is going ok!

All is good here. I am studying for an exam on Thursday but am thoroughly uninspired. It seems that they cannot even find someone to write their questions in a manner that is understandable to an English-speaking human being. Alas. This is one problem with a country with at least eleven languages!

What are you up to with your Mummy? Is it all going well? How many jobs are you doing at the moment?

The other day, Shaun Pollock came to our church. He is fab. (He used to play cricket for SA and has red hair. I like him very much). This is my only news, really.

It is late and my brain is fragmenting. I love you!

xx

The video is of Nathan and Esther earlier today. I just wanted you to see a bit of them.

Rubbish I am, yes!

Beanery! I have taken ages to write anything, and this will be a meagre offering too! I am in the UK, and it has been hectic to say the least! It has been all go go go and here there and everywhere. As I put on good ol' Facebook, it is beginning to feel like a walking holiday because I have now racked up three days of walking more than 10km around London (today was nearly 15km... I think I might have gone a bit mad).

I'll be back in Dahab on Friday. I'm looking forward to it but they say it is very hot there right now.

EEEEEK I am running out of time before the bear grumbles!! BUT I have been mulling over trip to South Africa again. What say you if I were to put it back even more? I am just thinking that I will be planning to spend the hottest months of next year away from Egypt, so I am thinking June, July and August will be spent elsewhere. If that means I spend three months early in the year with you and then three more months in somewhere else, that will mean I am not much in Egypt and given there are two businesses theoretically in business by then, that might be a bit excessive. So what say you to the plan that I come to you for the hottest months? That might mean that i come for the winter with you, and this might not mean optimum greatness, but i don't mind that, for I will still be with you. What do you think? Would this be an error?

Right, I must go. There is work to be done and a bear who refuses to sleep. I also have an entirely pins and needly foot; it is very unsettling.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yodles

Hello, Boon!

Am just about to tune in to da radio!

A generally unfocused round-up

Hello Bean.  It's taken me a while to write again.  I think it was because I wanted Grandad to stay at the top of the page - I visited a couple of times and then didn't actually write anything.

I'm not sure I'm going to write too much either, I feel like I am just putting off going to bed. Tis 1am and I should be rejoicing that I have no work to keep me up late, and just go to bed.  I don't even really have anything to write about!  There is not much news to be had.

The heat isn't so bad at the mo - I have been almost entirely staying out of the sun though, and we haven't had too many of those days where the air and the breeze is as hot as the sun.  So normally if you are in the shade, you are comfortable.  These are the good days.  I worry there will be less and less of them as we get into the summer.

I saw on something on facebook - I'm really not quite sure what now - that your bro and Paul went off on a journey to that other England football match.  That must have been slightly better than the Algeria one in the end - did they enjoy it?  What other matches did you and they go to?  Must be so exciting.  Bit rubbish of England to be so, um, rubbish, generally, but what can you do.  It seems like all the big teams wanted to crash out early, there must have been something they wanted to watch on TV.  I think some of the countries have gone a bit OTT about how much it actually matters, like France seems to be in a state of national crisis, and Nigeria has suspended their team from international matches... sounds a bit hysterical to me!  Have they all forgotten that it's only a game?  The England/Germany match was a shocker, wasn't it?  I was too blinded by the injustice of the denied goal that I didn't actually notice that apparently the England team was totally shit all the way through, but I have subsequently been told that they were.

Another Glastonbury has been and gone without me being there.  It's FIVE years since I went, I can't believe it.  I remember once when I was at a festival ----- I think it was Glastonbury, but something is telling me it was Reading, but I think Reading is too late in the summer --- calling you from a payphone there to find out your a-level results :)  Happy days.  You had done very well and I was so happy.

ARGH can i turn the clock back ten years, please?  I am so worried that when I look back on now from the future I will always regret that I have been sad the last few years.  Will I?  I feel like I will regret so much.  I really need to turn things round.  I'm super miserable about the situation I'm in now, and I feel like I am a simmering pot of resentment.  What can I do?

Probably the best immediate answer is go to bed, so that is what I shall do for now.  Besides, I think there are ants up my trouser leg - this is what we get for enjoying the outdoors whilst blog-writing - so I must remove said garment and purge myself of beasties.

Night night Bean xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Grandad

Last night Grandad died. It's been a long time coming, obviously, but nevertheless it was quite something to actually hear the words "Grandad died". It feels like such a strange concept and yet we have all been wanting it to happen on some level for months now - his quality of life has been so low.

The nursing staff at the care home have been great. They phoned Mum on Sunday to say that he had turned a corner on Saturday night be when Mum and Dad went in for their daily visit on Sunday, he seemed to have improved. After that, he got a chest infection and they simply chose not to treat it. I think everyone believed that was the kindest thing to do. He had no strength left to cough and always hated bringing anything up anyway!! So, this morning I heard the very, very sad news that Herbert James Matthew had passed away. What a strange concoction of sadness and relief.

HA!!!

 I posted this on facebook, but it was too good for you to miss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfamTmY5REw

Ben Folds, being a genius.  You have to be slightly aware of what chatroulette is though - it's a weird website where you connect to random people to chat to.  You can't specify anything about who you talk to, just randomly connects you.  And thus becomes Ben Folds a bigger genius than ever.  :)

Hurrazzle

Ahhhhhhh that was great to see those pics! Were you all painted too? :) Surely you will be for the england match! I will try to watch it - I didn't watch the other but I will watch it and then we can talk about it afterwards!!! I will show Ehab those pics too. The stadium looked very very exciting! I find it funny how the vuvuzelas at the stadia (?!!!) have been talked about nearly MORE than the football. I have another friend who has flown from the UK to go to the england match as well. I wish we had coordinated ourselves to come!!!!!

Anyway the news that I wanted to tell you today is that my cousin Mike was working with your other bro today! They were recording something together for the BBC. Good, no?!

So there isn't so much news now. I've just been working and getting on. I don't feel as sad as I did a few days ago either, getting better. I blame hormones for utter loss of control last weekend.

The camp is quiet again tonight. We have had two empty nights this week which is a bit of a shame but also a bit of a rest! Everyone in town was expecting to be quiet now and then apparently it'll get busier as we get towards July.

Right, I'm off back home. I need some food and I have poop loads of work. I'm quite jealous of you doing fun things! I feel like I haven't done anything fun in a long time, especially with someone I love and loves me back. Booooo. I miss that feeling. I've been only a mum doing boring things for so long. People's facebook photos of all their fun make me bitter and resentful. This is not good. I must find fun. Not tonight however. I might be bad and smoke another cigarette and then leave. That is not good, but it is the way it will be.

xxxxxxxxxx

Thinking of you

Just want to tell you that I'm thinking lots about you and want to give you a big hug.

Tim arrived today - so great to see him. I love having adult siblings and being an adult myself. It is better than being little and them being big!

Off to see England play on Friday. I'm so excited!

Hugs to you and your little girlie!

xxxx

Photos of the guys at the game last week. Paul's on the left. They got stopped loads of times for photos with tourists and were even photographed at the waterfront by the 'official' Mexican press.

And this is the stadium...

Mainly pics

Hello Beanio. A little on the glum side again today but trying to not moan too much! Feeling like there aren't enough friends here to get through this all terribly comfortably. There are a few, but not really what I need, even though that sounds really picky! Since Ehab and I have split up we have still spent so much time together, just friendly time, hanging out at the camp, still having all our meals together etc. I think really it kept me in a false sense of hope about somehow working things out, and it's only been the last couple of days when it seems more clear that it's all done, so I told him I can't spend time with him like that anymore. Bit rubbish, but never mind.

I hope you got to the World Cup match today! The whole world is so excited about it.

Anyway, time for some pictures. My camera has broken so these are all courtesy of my phone, which has a rubbish camera.

Dahab in t'evening. Sea's on the left, mountains everywhere else.

Salma went to a 1st birthday party... and stole the toys for the most part. Then complained about the homemade cake.

Charly, mum of 1st birthday boy Malek, and Zohra, who wins the award for Best Bedouin

Khadija and slightly sad looking b-day boy Malek

Awesome kids chairs painted by a friend Angie

Salma and her friend Alice taking a walk

Some more pictures of Dahab

Over and out for today xxxxx

Habit, and Hope.

Only the second day of blogging and this is a sad one, I'm afraid. I'm sad tonight. Trying to detangle myself from the failed relationship is reeeeeeally tough. We are together every day yet go our separate ways at night. I know that we are incompatible, and we don't make each other happy... either that or we have just gone so far down a sad road, it is impossible turn back. I still find myself wanting to keep trying to make things work but I don't know why. Out of habit and hope; habit because for the last three out of the four years I have been trying to keep things going, bending and lowering my expectations to make him feel like he has as much space as he needs; hope because there is a great side to him and I hope for a huge change that will bring that out more; hope because I want to change myself to put right all the things he doesn't like about me.

We made it from one world cup to the next. Let's hope England win, or something.

Sorry for glumness.

I'm Feeling Confident - I Will Now Upload a Video

This is the wee man...

My First Ever Bloggage

It was so grand to see your photos and to hear a little bit about life over with you. I will try to also post some photos but we shall have to see if that works out what with my potential for...well, not being able to do stuff like that!

So, today we went to toys r us and Esther was amazing. She picked up everything - especially Barney - and then promptly put it back when told to. I couldn't believe how good she was. That is my highlight of the day. It made me want to buy everything, of course, and I really hate the way that Toys R Us around the world - every bloomin store - make it impossible to leave without walking up and down several aisles in a maze-style fighting kids' impulses and needs for sweets, toys and other such things before finally emerging through the exit only to find six (yes, six) slides, swings and wendy houses outside between you and your car. Grr. I had to bribe Esther at that point, but hell everyone does, right?

Paul's on the phone to his sister talking about how great Esther is and how badly-behaved her other cousins are. Priceless.

So, I'm going to try to load some pictures. Good luck, me!





Hooray! These are all pictures of a walk we took at a local wine farm. Very much fun!

Well, off I go. OOOdles of love, xxx

What's up wit de blog?

Ha, I have now sent you a million emails about the blog. You can now either sign in with the beanandboon email address, or with your own. Now I am writing from my own email address, so i will come up as CeeCeeEnn or some such, can't remember! This is because I once started a blog from this email address, so they are linked. I like coming up as Boon McBean though, so I might just use that one. You should be able to choose your name.

Arrrrrgh I am wasting my whole evening away! I even have another post planned! Will attempt to leave it until tomorrow!

xxx

Photos!

This is Salma sitting with Jane who painted the murals on our wall at the camp. :)

These are what the rooms in the camp looked like before we got to them. I think we did well. They were awful.

Um, no introduction needed!

As above!

And again! (I am very boring, I know. I just never take pictures of anything. I will try and change this but i will have to get a new camera.)

First up :)

Hello Beanio!!!! This is going to be great. This is exciting. :) We can write to each other when we have the time, and it can be tiny short sms style messages or longer ramblings when we have more to rant about, and then when we are old we will have a wonderful 21st Century style record!

Tonight before I get on with real work I have a little bit of time to write something so I will do so! Right now I am sitting outside my flat, in our little garden type area. I say garden but it is mostly tiled apart from a small area in the corner with big plants and a bit palm-type thing in a pot which is quite space-consuming. There are stairs up to the roof terrace, and really I should be up there because there's a possibility there might actually be some air moving up there, but I imagine I would probably get all the way up there, get sweaty whilst doing it, and then be annoyed to realise that no, it is just as hot up there as it is down here. Here I am at least nearer to the freezer if I want to stick my head in it.

I bought a bag full of apricots on the way home which I am about to start munching, yum yum yum. I am always worried that I get ripped off when I buy fruit and vegetables because I'm sure other people don't pay as much as I do, and that makes them taste not as good. Ah well, I will eat them all in one go and I will find out tomorrow whether or not I got ripped off or not. There is a very pretty cat sitting at the top of my stairs and I am trying to entice it down with a piece of laughing cow. So far it is unimpressed. It is very beautiful though, and I wonder whether in time it may or may not like to live here. I must find other bait though; it seems to not like cheese that could be pieces in an outsized trivial pursuits game.

There was a big loud roar from all directions just now. It seems like the whole town is watching the final of the Egyptian cup, and nearly everyone in Egypt supports one team, and it is likely they have just won one-nil, as I only heard one great big noise. This could of course mean that they lost by infinity goals to one, as the other team likely only has one fan in this town and he would be scared like a mouse to make a noise. He is probably hiding somewhere on his own.

It is nearly half past 11 at night, and i am still sweating. ARRRGH! It is just going to get hotter. I also haven't started my work, but I really should. I'm just going to see if I can add some pictures to this post, to make it a bit more interesting.