After three weeks in the UK we are back. Visiting the UK was an eye-opening experience. Just over 24 hours after leaving Addis I was walking along Oxford Street in London, filled with feelings of fascination and horror. Everybody seemed very rich and pre-occupied with buying “stuff” they don’t need. Two things struck me most of all: the orgy of consumerism and just how many fat people there are. After visiting friends and family, Gill and I spent a week camping and walking in the Lake District. Britain seemed so green to me. I hated London and any built up areas, but the countryside seemed incredibly beautiful. When we come back for good we will have to live somewhere remote and rural if only to stay sane.

Coming back to Ethiopia was a pleasant anticlimax. Walking the streets of Addis and then arriving back in Awassa seemed very familiar and normal. Compared to the UK everybody here is so friendly and cheerful. Everybody smiles here. Even being the centre of attention in the street doesn’t seem so bad right now. The weather is cooler than London and life is back to being very simple.