check list

The evening before leaving. A quiet day of tying up loose ends – or trying to. Shopping for last minute items. Packing safari kit. Piles of clothes set out on the bed neatly then crammed into bags.

The Trip Checklist is stuck on wall by the back door –its the last thing to look at before leaving:

Passports and visas

Tickets and travel docs, spare copies

Driving licence, vehicle registration papers

Triangles (reflective)

Fuel Cans

Puncture kit, tyre weld, airpump

First aid kit

Malaria pills, testing kit, insect repellent

Matches, braai grid kettle

Maps

Water

Bed rolls, mossie nets or tent

Fishing gear

Torch and phone chargers

I love reading this list – even when I am not leaving on a trip. There are some more that should be added but this is the bare bones. Over time the last list disintegrated. We started forgetting things. Big things – like bed rolls. So a new list is in place.

Once we drove all the way to the mozambique border and then realised we had left the vehicle registration papers behind. We had to drive home again. It was quiet in the car.

I am home alone. Al Gore is on TV describing the state of the planets resources. If we were a farm we would know we were overstocked and this is unsustainable. Some people are trying so hard to repair damage done, and create more sustainable ways of living; the bulk of humankind is intent on destroying each other, and needing more more. James Blunt plays on the CD player.

An eagle took a guinea fowl chick – six left. I hope these are survivors. Chicken is in the oven – is that a paradox? Darkness falls swiftly softly. Monkeys are having that last race across the roof before they have to find a safe sleeping spot. Windows are turning black. I should be getting on with stuff. I love this time of year!

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