Arrived!

Pre-trip prologue:
Well, the last month has been extremely busy. I have managed to rent my house out to a guy called Matt who I know through Ruth, my car is being looked after, I have sorted out various admin things that had to be sorted for home and the trip, and packed – which was quite an undertaking, as not only do you have to pack for a few months away, but we also had to take a number of items in the luggage for use out in Zambia, such as printers and copiers, extension leads, tents, and strangely a portable microwave! I also took my trumpet for good measure. However my piano keyboard was too big to take, but is being used by a friend - Susie.

I left Altrincham in somewhat of a whirlwind last Friday, desperately trying to get the house sorted, including moving a great many boxes into the loft. Thanks to Brian, Kinga and Dave for their help with this last week, and huge thank you to Sally and Ruth who helped on the Friday with some cleaning and getting yet more boxes in the loft. Anyway I made my pre-booked train down south with plenty of time – 10 seconds before the guard's whistle is plenty isn’t it?!

So to the trip…
I met up with Ruth and Mark at the airport on Monday and after checking in the extremely heavy luggage (but fortunately within the weight limit), we had a coffee with families and flew out around 8pm. The flight was ok, although as usual not a great deal of sleep was had. I dont really sleep anywhere, unlike Mark, who can sleep in a vehicle driving over numerous potholes through the bush!

Tuesday 5th August
Jon (who has been out in Zambia with his wife and 3 kids for around 2 weeks now) was there to pick us up at the airport, as well as all our luggage. This was an improvement for British Airways on the trip in March, when Mark’s bag never made it further than Heathrow. The fact that mark’s luggage got lost last Tuesday on a business flight from Heathrow to Manchester, did make us slightly concerned though!
The rest of Tuesday was spent sleeping a bit, and doing a bit of shopping in Lusaka, including getting Zambian mobile phones for us.

Wednesday 6th August
Jon and I drove the 2 vehicles to Chingola. First challenge was trying to buy diesel. By the 5th fuel station we cracked it though and managed to find somewhere that had diesel. However we needed air for the tyres. Of course they didnt have any air, so we had to go back to one of the other fuel stations. Anyway, with the cars fully fuelled, we were off; for at least 30 minutes before a Police check point pulled me over for overtaking on a solid white line, along with the other 4 cars in front of me who had done the same., only they were allowed to carry on. So the moral here is 'When in Zambia don’t do as the Zambians do!' Fortunately Jon turned his car back and arrived just in time to argue the way out of my first Zambian ticket. Close call! Another 30 minutes later the kids were hungry so we stopped off for food. An hour and half later we were back on the road. I know things in Africa take a little longer than normal but we had planned to set off at 10am and arrive in Chingola by 4pm. Night driving is not fun, and was reminiscent of some driving I did in Hungary where night time driving means it’s hard to see where the road actually is! After stopping off at a friend of Jon’s in Kitwe to drop some items off, we eventually arrived at our new flat around 10pm at night, safe, but quite exhausted.

Thursday 7th August
Today the team are getting their bearings, getting properly unpacked and settling into the 'better than expected' accomodation. By the way it's hot here today. However this is really more like spring for Zambia, and I couldnt help noticing an old guy wearing a thick scalf.

I'll say goodbye for now, until next time.