It is a long time since Friday morning...

.... When I left my daughters at Heathrow and started my journey to Burkina Faso.  Flying over Ouagadougou Airport 14 hours later was the furthest south I have ever been, and Ouagadougou -Ouaga for the sake of us all, I think - spread for miles - long boulevards, open spaces, lit up and glittering looked like a fairground in the middle of the darkness.  They kept my passport at immigration - scary - but said I could collect it on Monday.  At least, that is what I thought they said. Oops.  My comprehension of West African French is going to have to improve!  Edmond, carrying a VSO sign, met me, and drove me along quite a few of the long boulevards, eventually turning off Tarmac onto a short dirt road, into a gate and I was installed in Village Nong Taaba Hotel - my next week's in- country training home.  A dash to get me into a room, to the restaurant before the kitchen closed, and settled down to a meal .... And conversation with another VSO, Dominic, who explained the way of things.  In English, which was excellent, as confusion, exhaustion and sheer fear had robbed me of a brain.  Then bed, then bathroom, bed, bathroom, bed, bathroom.... I hope you are getting the picture.  Thirty six hours of sleep and some litres of water later, I felt ready to emerge and start my new life.