This blog has moved. For a number of reasons that I don’t need to go into. Happy to go into if you wish…
This site will still be active for a week or two before being deleted.
If you want to keep reading, please go to http://medicsinmalawi.wordpress.com
Sorry for the faff.

Just 7 days until Claire and I meet up at Heathrow, I feel there’s still a lot of stuff to do. Mainly to unpack and repack, decide what’s worth taking, and boring things like changing addresses. It took Claire and I over 9 hours to finish packing and cleaning our flat in Leeds on Saturday. I have so much stuff, I’m a hoarder, so I spent most of that time recycling and packing. I filled every bit of the car, and even had my sourdough starter wedged under the my seat, hoping that it wasn’t going to roll out and make a sticky mess around the clutch pedal! Claire did a lot of scrubbing and vacuuming that day. I figured out how to speed defrost a freezer using salt and a hot water bottle. After a quick refreshing pit stop from our friendly neighbour, Claire and I drove off in perpendicular directions, with belongings in tow.

Now, I’m waiting for my close family to arrive for a farewell dinner in Manchester. Claire and I said bye to a lot of old, not-so-old, and fairly new friends at a leaving drinks do in Leeds last Saturday at the Whitelocks. Quite a few turned up and it was one of those situations where I tried to speak to everyone, but probably missed a few out. Thank you to all those who made it!

A friend asked what I would miss the most about Blighty; I said “grass”. It’s true, most other places outside Northern Europe has grass which is just a little too coarse, or not green enough, or not bouncy enough, and when you do find some, you’re not allowed onto it. It’s just nice to sit on throw a frisbee around on! It might sound frivolous, but it is one of the things that reminds me of home. Perhaps after working at the hospital for awhile, I’ll actually miss things like antibiotics, good nurses, oxygen on tap, a social life…

It’s cloudy outside, and I’m procrastinating. I have work to do, loose ends to tie up, plans to make and do, and I need to get ready for a twilight shift in A&E. My other half and I are leaving Leeds in about a month’s time, and we’re heading to Blantyre, Malawi to volunteer for 7 months in the paediatric department of the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. I suspect our experiences will be similar to my friend,  Sarah’s experiences in Lilongwe. She’s out there now and lucky to be getting a handle on things before the rainy season.

I finished my Foundation Programme in 2012 and signed up to do the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. It was great, and highly recommended for anyone planning on working in a resource-limited setting. Here’s hoping I remember enough to get through malaria season. It’s not going to be a fancy holiday and expat life in Africa I don’t think. This is going to be tough.

Now for some grub before shower and Lycra, for the cycle in to work. Ta ra for now.