Stealing a moment this morning to take stock. I’m sitting
just outside our beloved bus amidst palms under the hot sun. It is 8.30am on
Monday morning. With no time difference between here and the UK, it is easy –
and weird – to picture what most people back home are doing right now.
I’ve been a bit of an accidental domestic goddess this
morning: last night’s washing up is hanging from a net bag over the wing
mirror, and all the trees and bushes around have sprouted pairs of damp pants,
socks and pyjamas. The holes in the pockets in Huw’s combat trousers that have
been bugging him for weeks have even been patched up, though he doesn’t know it
yet: he’s sleeping soundly up in the roof. We were up late last night learning
new Arabic words and practicing them on each other. Enta aat-shorn Huw? Ai-whizz
maya? (Are you thirsty Huw? Would you like some water?!)
We’re on the outskirts of a pretty grotty place called Gabes
on the east coast of Tunisia. We wouldn’t have stopped here, save the fact that
this is the ‘port of the Sahara’ and you’ve got to come through to pass from
central to southern Tunisia. Today we’re changing the wobbly UJ (universal
joint) on the back prop shaft then we head west to seek oases: little islands
of life in the sea of sand.
UPDATE: It’s now Tuesday and we’re heading into the desert
any minute now – as soon as I’ve uploaded this. It turns out the vibrations we’ve
been feeling were not due to a wobbly UJ but to a slightly distorted prop shaft
yoke hole. After several calls to our angel Martin Howdle back in fair
Leicestershire, we’ve decided to have a spare shipped out. It will hopefully be
here by the time we return to Gabes after the desert voyage, and we can fit it
before we commence the next big challenge: Libya. Thanks again Martin, so much.
You know you can always tell us to piss off if we’re calling too much!
Route,
photos and more at www.thelongandwinding.co.uk
