Habari

I haven’t really talked about the weather out here have I; okay I won’t bang on about it too much, just letting you know that’s all, it can get very hot; regularly reaching around Thirty degrees, but boy; when it rains it chucks it down.

By the time we have completed the bus checks, my clothes are wringing wet from the heat, I cool down in the shade during a tea break, which is known as “Chai” or join Neil in his luxury office (really just a room with a ceiling fan) before heading out onto the road.

The Scania that I am using for training, has not got air conditioning, so it can get extremely hot on there, it feels great when we do get a piece of open road and can make good progress, the breeze coming through the open windows is wonderful.

Not so much fun when stuck in traffic, but Hey Ho T I A that stands for “This Is Africa” a phrase people seem to use quite a lot, when things are not quite how they would like them to be.

Cooling down in the swimming pool after work is a real drag, the things I do for Metroline, I’m pleased that the hotel has a laundry guy, who can wash and iron shirts as good as anyone; he even ironed my boxers, how crazy is that!

A funny thing happened to me early in the trip; I decided to stick a note on the mirror in my room reminding me to take my Malaria tablets, I didn’t want to miss taking one.

I was given twenty four tablets by my GP and told to take one a day until they had all gone, they came in two boxes, each box containing one foil strip of twelve, as they were in the same bag I received from the chemist; I thought it would be sensible to take one foil strip out, throw the box away and use that foil strip first, therefore, I wouldn’t inadvertently start both boxes (just seemed a good idea at the time)

On the note I had written a question to my self which said “have you taken the Malaria tablets” and thought no more of it.

When I return to the room after work, the housekeeper had written on the note in a sort of pigeon English: “I sorry sir excuses me, I taken the box from bin of rubbish as I thought no good pleases excuses me”

I thought OMG she thinks she’s thrown away my tablets. I immediately went to the cleaning station at the end of the walk way and tried to explain what the note was all about, things got a bit lost in translation at times, but I got it sorted in the end.

To combat mosquito bites I have been using a four pronged attack. In the room I have the usual plug in device that you all have probably used before on your trips abroad, I have also used aerosol sprays from head to foot, a useful tip when ever you use a spray, when spraying yourself stand in front of the blinds or curtains in the room, the overspray will then impregnate the curtains, it will help to stop the little blighters getting into your room.

I have also tried something different, my local chemist at home who regularly visits India, suggested using Clove Oil, he said it’s the best thing he ever uses, “put a couple of drops on your wrists, ankles and behind your ears” he said, Mosquitoes hate the smell. I smell like a humbug though, who cares; no on really knows me out here anyway. 

I was also told by a driving instructor who works for Metroline; who regularly visit Ghana to add a couple of drops of Citronella Oil to any creams that I might be using.

Well!! touch wood I have escape up to now, but now I have told you that, you know what will happen!!!

Not been so lucky in another areas though, taking some Pharmaceutical products now, the stomach pains have kicked in, by the very fact that I brought these products with me, suggests I was well aware that I would succumb to the inevitable, however, as I write this blog the pain has eased.

There you go again “Awareness & Planning “sorts all sorts of things out”

I’m smiling to my self now, I  was going to substitute the word “things” with a word starting with “S” I thought better of it though!!

The lads have responded well to the training, as I said before; they really do appreciate everything so much. I have seen a great improvement in their driving skills.

Driving faults; really do centre around awareness and planning to be fair, if you’re not aware of anything and can’t plan anything, then maybe driving is not an option for you, it might be an idea for some drivers home to go on a “Manual Handling Course” that way they won’t hurt their backs putting heavy tins of tomatoes on the top shelf at Tescos (other stores are available for Manual Handling Operatives)

I have been driving since I was 15; I left school with some dodgy reports and a twenty five yard swimming certificate. I secured a job as a trainee car mechanic at Borehamwood Motor Centre, the garage, if you use the A1 travelling north of Stirling Corner, is now a plant hire company.

I was a school boy on Friday; on the Monday I was suppose to be a man. I entered a whole new world, what a wake up call I can tell you.  

At the garage; I was given a pair of green overalls and introduce to the mechanic I would be working with, no that’s a lie, the mechanic I would be working for, we are talking 1972 here, back chat was not an option and this guy meant business.

The mechanic gave me some simple instructions: he said “right son I ask you for a tool, you take it out my tool box and give it me, I use the tool and give it back to you; you clean it and put it back in the tool box, how hard could that be I thought. except with this guy barking out his orders like 7/16- 9/16 -5/8 -open ended spanner, ring spanner, combination spanner etc etc, I just got totally lost, after a while it became quite easy though; I could look at a nut and size it up straight away (no change there then)

Any way, on my first day this mechanic asked me if I could drive, I of course said no, ok he told me, at lunch time I’ll show you. True to his word he let me have a go in his “Ford Classic” after Kangarooing around the compound during a few lunch times, after a while I started to get the hang of it; it wasn’t long before I was manoeuvring the cars around the yard on my own and driving them onto the ramps and pits. I could never have imagined then, that my driving skills would bring me to Tanzania.

Anyway I digress. On the road we stop for lunch at places picked by the lads, one place we used was two large lorry containers with the sides cut out for serving hatches, stoves and fridges had been installed, a few plastic tables and chairs scattered about in the yard to sit on and that was it.

The first time I used one of these places; the waiter came over with a jug of hot water, hand soap and a bowl so I could wash my hands. I washed my hands, then ordered some food (I still put on my antibacterial hand gel; I had in my pocket, just in case) 

I won’t give you the address of this café’ it’s not the type of establishment you would find on a tourist map, I don’t think Gordon Ramsey will have too much to worry about, but Hey Ho, T I A

As I am here to work; getting out and about, doing the touristy thing; has not been on the agenda, so I have no real experience of Tanzania from that point of view, who knows; sometime in the future I might be able to return and explore a bit more. I’m not here on a jolly; I have a job to do, so just like home I retire around 10:30

The only other time I have visited Africa was to Morocco, many years ago.

There are a couple of things that have stayed with me about my trip to Morocco, one being the endless amount of bartering needed when buying anything or using a service, from a coffee to cab, from a beer to burger, it became very tiresome towards the end of that holiday I can tell you, can’t think why I have never returned!!

Another thing I remember about that holiday though, one night me and two of the lads were standing at the bar and the conversation turn towards a trip into the next local town, we decide that we would hire some push bikes, head off and see what it was like.

The barman, over hearing what we were talking about said he would be our guide if we wanted and of course we had to negotiate the fee.

Sure enough, the next day, three lads, three hangovers and one guide head off to town on our push bikes.

I can remember the town, with tall slim buildings, all painted white, the streets twisted and turned and were very narrow, with lots of nooks and crannies.

(I have no idea what a nook is and no idea what a crannie is) but put both words together and all becomes clear.

The guide wasn’t too bad to be fair; he pointed out lots of places of interest (some not so interesting) and was very knowledgeable about the town.

We decide to stop off for a cold drink and the guide suggested a place that he knew, it turn out that this place not only sold cold drinks it also sold every piece of tourist tat you could think of (I think he might have pulled this stunt before) the name of the place and I will never forget it was “Charlie’s Bazaar”

At Charlie’s we looked around the shop, if there was anything that caught our eye, it was put on a rug which was unrolled in the middle of the shop.

Once I had enough of this tat on the rug, Charlie and I sat on the rug cross legged and the bartering began, nothing was priced on an individual basis, it was sold as a job lot,

 I began the bartering at the equivalent of twenty quid and Charlie, far from impressed, raised his arms and said “Mr Sir, for that I wont be able to feed my family”

That was a phrase I would here again when I visited a street market in the second week of the holiday, but by this time though I was well versed in the art Bartering and a dismissive flick of the wrist was enough to deter any further negotiations, take it or leave it I said as I began to walk away, they usually took it.

I manage to get Charlie to take about thirty quid for the lot, even to this day I know I was ripped off, it happens on holidays doesn’t it?

My mate ended up spending around a hundred pounds though, among all the stuff he liked was an Afgan coat, do you remember them?  me and the other lad, had to bite our lips to stop ourselves laughing when we told him he look good in it, anyway he paid up.

When we got back to the UK, after about two weeks this coat started to smell like road kill, I think there was a problem with the tanning process; I never did see him wear that coat again.

Habari

Yet another sad day for some Tanzanian families. I have to tell you even more people have been killed in road traffic accidents.

According to the newspaper report, three people were killed and four others were injured, involving a fuel tanker and six other vehicles. It happened a stones throw from the hotel where I am staying.

The tanker driver was approaching a Dala Dala at pace, which had just set down some passengers, the Dala Dala driver moved away to re-join the carriage way, from my brief experience here of Dala Dala drivers, this would have been done with total disregard for following traffic, I have seen with my own eyes that they are simply not concerned about road safety, pulling out without a care in the world is common place.

To avoid hitting the Dala Dala the newspaper claimed “the truck spun out of control and flew over a kerb hitting six vehicles” also according to the newspaper an eye witness said “the tanker was driving at high speed”

The report went on to say: Regional Police Commander Charles Kenyela told reporters at the scene that one expectant mother and two men died on the spot, while the injured people were taken to hospital. The report also claimed that the accident happened at 1pm and people were rescued at 2pm!!

Commander Kenyela said “the driver of the fuel truck disappeared after the accident and was being sought by the police”

Attached to the newspaper article about this accident, is another report which stated: Last week at least 18 people including university students died in a road accident which involved a bus; that had collided head-on with a lorry.

Tanzanians need help; people are getting killed on the roads out here at an alarming rate. There are initiatives taking place, I know that because Metroline have sponsored me to be here. There was a bit of a buzz going around the institute the other day, I was told that a debate was taking place on transport issues and it would be live on the telly that night, so I know things are happening.

It wouldn’t be right of me as a Jonnie Foreigner to breeze into Tanzania like a cool wind, declaring a holiday saying “all you need to do is fix this, build that, buy this” I’m just a simple driving examiner, this place needs a lot of money to sort it out, so they need someone out there of real influence, who can say “fix this, build that, buy this”

How that’s going to be achieved I don’t know, the world is in a financial mess, austerity measure are biting hard at home, businesses and people are finding it hard to get by, something needs to be done though.

Maybe, I don’t know, they could start with the traffic police; I get the feeling and this is second hand info as I haven’t seen that many, the driving standards of a police officer are no better than that of the average motorist, because of this they have no way of knowing what makes a good driver; a bad driver or how to give motorists proper advice, if this is the case, then they also need proper training to be able to make sound judgements and convict offenders though the proper channels.

I have also been made aware that drivers are pulled over by the police from time too time and on the spot fines are issued for alleged misdemeanours; maybe, so I am told, when the Police learn how to issue receipts, they could channel that money somewhere else!!

Habari

This week has seen a number of people killed in road traffic accidents. While driving out of town on the main Morogoro road, traffic had come to a complete stand still.

I have spoken to the lads about following distances and introduced them to the two second rule. If you’re not familiar with the two second rule, it basically goes like this.

When following the lead vehicle on a single carriage way, duel carriage way or motorway, when that lead vehicle passes an inanimate object such as a bridge or road sign, say to yourself

“Only a fool breaks the two second rule” if you are still saying this while passing the inanimate object, then you are too close to the lead vehicle, of course, as road and weather condition change, it goes without saying, that the following distance must be increased.

To do this, don’t say to yourself, “only a fool breaks the four second rule” please, it doesn’t work like that, at least ten times the distance will be ok, however, use your common sense and give yourself plenty of room.  

I have also spoken to the lads about the following distance in queuing traffic and have told them about “tyres and tarmac” if you stop and can still see the rear wheels of the vehicle in front and some of the road, then you are just about the right distance from the lead vehicle.

It did raise a smile with the lads when all this was translated into Swahili, however, when any of the boys did get a bit close, to be fair it didn’t happen that often, all I had to say was “two seconds” and they soon pulled back, none of them wanted to be the fool.  

We now had no choice now but to join the queue of traffic, the driver stopped with plenty of room to move away, other motorist were out of their vehicles, talking quite loudly in Swahili to other people, waving their arms, becoming quite animated, I was told there had been an accident further down the road and it was completely blocked in both directions.

I later find out that four priests in a car had been killed, the driver overtook the lead vehicle and crashed head on into a lorry, the lorry driver survive, his injuries were not life threatening.

By the time the lads finished talking to some of the other motorist in Swahili, following traffic had joined the queue, however, the T&T lesson worked well, we managed to turn around and head back.

Peopled died that day, it brought it home to me yet again that life can be switched off in an instance, one mistake and it’s all gone, when you next drive a vehicle, how would you feel if you were held accountable for killing someone just because you were talking or sending a text on a mobile phone, switch the thing off, would the world stop turning if you didn’t make that call “no” exactly

Death is something that has been sitting on my shoulder for years, I think about the pain it brings every day of my life, I truly mean every day.

Losing someone in an accident which could have been prevented is terrible; the memory of losing someone you love; as I did when my sister was killed in a car crash is never far from my thoughts, particularly as I drive down Barnet by pass on my way home from Cricklewood, the very road where she was killed on.

Many people suffer bereavement, our first son Brett, died in 1978 as a result of Cystic Fibrosis he was only thirteen months old. I still remember playing peek a boo with him, I use to hold him in my arms and gently swing back and forth towards a mirror, he giggled so much it was lovely, I still have that mirror it hangs in my hallway, every day I pass it, I say boo into it, I hope he knows we still love him.

Our other son died aged 3 days old, he was born at Watford General Hospital in 1995 the doctors soon discovered that his internal organs had not developed as they should have, they told us he needed to go to Great Ormond Street Hospital straight away, I followed the ambulance and arrived a short time after they got there, my wife had to stay at Watford General, she was quite poorly. Great Ormond Street Hospital is the best of the best, they worked as hard as they possibly could to save Tom but it didn’t work out.

“Two tiny flowers lent not given, too bud on earth and bloom in heaven”

Metroline have a helpline available for all staff covering a wide range of issues, this includes bereavement counselling, if you are suffering bereavement at this moment I am sorry for your loss; but please give the helpline a call, they will be able to help ease your pain.

We do have a son, he was born in 1988 which makes him 23 years old, he’s a great lad and can eat for England and like any self respecting father, he has been brought up a gooner.

When he goes out in his car I always shout out “ A&P son A&P”
(Awareness & planning, he also holds a PCV licence)

I’m sure he’s fed up with me saying it, but I’m going to say it anyway.

Habari

Once all the bus checks had been completed it’s time to head out onto the road. I needed to find out exactly what I was dealing with and the first assessments gave me a clear understanding of the trainee’s needs, so I focused on the weaknesses observed and tailored the lesson plans on an individual basis.

After all, I only had one week with team one and had no time to mess about.

Late awareness and planning, when approaching buses, setting down or picking up passengers, needed to be addressed straight away, as these buses would often stop quickly with total disregard for following traffic.

The buses in Tanzania are called Dala Dala; they are small vehicles with twenty four seats.

The driver rents the Dala Dala from a local dealer, they are then responsible for the running costs, such as fuel and minor repairs; over sixty percent of Dala Dala drivers have no formal training what so ever.

The Dala Dala driver chooses the route he would like to operate, he contacts the local authorities and if there are not too many Dala Dala already serving that particular route, he is added to the list.

Journey times vary enormously, roughly speaking though, if a route at home was timed for forty minutes, that route here would regularly take two hours. Traffic jams are common place, the term “to allow traffic flow” is something most motorists in Tanzania don’t even think about.

The Dala Dala drivers are self employed, they also have to pay for the services of a conductor, although there are only twenty four seats in the Dala Dala, they cram in as many passengers as they can.

A typical fare is around twenty pence; yes twenty pence that’s not a typo and with fuel at around 80p a litre, you can understand why they need as many people on the vehicle as they can possibly get.

I’m was told by a trainee, some Dala Dala drivers inform passengers they are only going half way on that particular trip, when they get to the half way point, all the passengers alight, then moments later the driver changes his mind and says he’s now going the full distance, so passengers get back on and pay another 20p each. It’s against the rules but I’m told it happens.

As I get into the lessons, the lads awareness and planning improves quite nicely and they all began to understand, they need to Look, Assess, Decide and Act on what they observe and they do this with little prompting.

On two lane roads, Tanzanian drivers have a tendency to sit in the offside lane even if the nearside lane is clear, this is because they know at some point they will approach a Dala Dala driver setting down or picking up and it will save them the hassle of moving out and overtaking.

In the main the boys avoided doing this; however, it did pop up occasionally and a quick prompt given, sorted that out.

Now, here is your starter for ten “Unnecessarily using the offside lane, when the nearside is clear” results in:

(A) Other vehicles dangerously undertaking

(B) Other vehicles dangerously undertaking

                                or

(C) Other vehicles dangerously undertaking

 Answers on postcard please:

I am relying on the lads to navigate around town as I have no way of knowing which are the best roads to train on, I ask them to keep away from the town centre as congestion is at its highest there, they are happy to oblige.

They are a great bunch of lads and are very keen to learn, they have all told me how grateful they are to Metroline for allowing me to be out here training.

I get on even better with them, when I discover two of the lads are Arsenal supporters, the other lad supports Barcelona, who ever they are.

When traffic comes to a complete standstill and it often does, weaving in and out of the stationary traffic are street vendors, theses guys will sell a wide range of items from cold water, juices, clothes, fruit, toys, food, you name it and you can buy it from one of them.

Having thought about it, if this system was employed on my way home from Cricklewood, it would at least save me the weekly grind of going around Tescos or Morrison’s (other stores are available)

I was slightly concern though when I saw a young lad selling machetes, these things were over a foot long, honest, I am not exaggerating, they are shown around to the motorists to inspect and if they like what they see they buy them.

I have a quick chat with one of the lads about street crime and car jacking and why anyone would want to carry such a weapon, I got the feeling its more about the fear of crime, than crime itself.

Tanzanian people are great people; they are polite, courteous and appreciate the support given by companies like Metroline and others from all around the world who are willing to help and support their country.

I have already promised Neil Rettie, when my numbers come up on the euro lottery, I will donate a fully equipped and staffed training vehicle to the NIT to compliment the great work he and other members of Transaid do for the people of Tanzania.

Habari

The bus checking lessons go extremely well; my team are now well versed in demonstrating, conducting and teaching this exercise.

I’m confident that the team will be able to relay this lesson to their own trainee’s; Michael told me that there are many accidents on the roads and defective vehicles contribute towards them.

We all agreed that this lesson plan will go a long way in making drivers more aware of their vehicle checks.

The compound at the institute is not a large area; it’s dusty and littered with potholes it could certainly do with resurfacing. I want to get the team to practice the lesson plan on reversing.

There is not enough room for a reversing area similar to the one at Metroline; however, there is enough room for a right-lock reverse. I asked the lads to complete a reverse while I stood back and watched.

While one of the guys did the drive another walked behind the vehicle to make sure nobody got in the way, there are many students at the institute meandering around so this rear check is important.

Once the reverse was completed I asked the guys if they were happy with the manoeuvre and they all agreed it was ok. “Oh dear” I said, “lets start again and I will show you how to do it properly”

I then explained how I wanted them to complete the lesson and ultimately teach their own trainee’s as well. I signalled to the driver to bring the coach forward to the start positions, while one of the guys supervised the rear of the vehicle, I got another to stand with me and watch.

If anybody reading this (if there is anybody) knows how a reverse exercise is carried out at Metroline that is exactly the way I demonstrate this lesson to the lads. For those that don’t know; a vehicle being reversed should be under full control with effective observation (how a driver manages to hit something while reversing, is just plain incompetence)

I also instruct the driver to hit the horn three times before starting, this is not common practice (until now) it’s something I insist on and with the vehicle having no reverse bleeper, this becomes very important.

I rotate the lads in turn, each having the opportunity to drive, supervise at the rear and take the lead at the front. It doesn’t take too many goes before they are all up to speed and this lesson is boxed off, job done.

Habari

Now that I had arrived safely, the first thing I needed to do was unpack, I had a lot of training material which had taken up the vast majority of the space in my suitcases.

I had arranged a meeting with Neil over lunch, where we would discuss my input, therefore I had to crack on to get organised.

I had decided to divide all the training material evenly between the three suitcases, just in case one went walkabout, it’s never happened to me before, but there was always a first time, so all this material needed to be sorted out and arranged into packs.

Once everything had been unpacked and I was sorted in the room, I found the ATM located in the hotel lobby and withdrew a couple of hundred thousand Tanzania Shillings, that’s about £80 I completed a quick recon of my new home for two weeks and located the restaurant and bar area, just in case I fancied a cold beer at some point, who knows. I also manage to get a complementary security box from reception so I could stash my passport and other travel documents.

Neil arrived in a taxi and the taxi driver Adam took us to an area called Slipway, a short distance from my hotel. Slipway is more of a tourist area than where I am staying, a few shops a supermarket and of course the restaurant, which had a beach front location, over a cold beer and some grilled chicken we carried out our meeting and discussed plans for the next couple of weeks. We picked a table in the shade as it was a very hot day, have I mention the weather yet, sorry slipped my mind, well it’s hot.

The following day I went to the Institute to start work; I had prepared a short power point presentation and would use it to introduce myself and Metroline to all attendee’s.

The trainees introduced themselves: William, Daniel and Michael, in Tanzania, you can either call someone by their first or last name, I preferred to use first names and everybody was more than happy with that.

I handed out all the training material and each trainee received a Metroline high visibility vest, bearing the safety message, “Never cut corners with safety”

Following the presentation and all introductions we located the sixty seat Scania coach in the compound and we began to discuss the importance of vehicle checks.

The lads had a fairly good understanding of vehicle checks, not to Metroline’s standard, but that would soon change, they started by checking levels that needed to be completed with the engine off.

I had prepared laminated copies of the bus checking sheet for the trainee’s to use, it has been slightly adjusted from the Metroline sheet I use at work.

I stressed the point that pre-driving checks are an important part of a bus driver’s job and cannot be under estimated. At Metroline all drivers have comprehensive training on bus checking and this was the high standard I would teach my team.

I explained to my team, before a driver enters service with Metroline, they will need to pass this test, which is conducted by me or another driving examiner. The test falls into three main areas, the cab drill, saloon checks and external checks, trainees will need to explain and demonstrate the safety checks that are required and these checks must be carried out before the bus enters service.

I explained to my team, it is the driver’s responsibility to make sure everything is as it should be; driving an unfit bus will compromise the safety and comfort of passengers and other road users; my trainee’s all agree.

This lesson will work well in this environment, as these instructors may be teaching in excess of 30 trainees at any one time, they would be able to fire question to any of their trainee’s who must be able to respond with the correct answer, therefore, each one would need to revise for this exercise.

We practiced this many times and with the aide of the laminated tick sheet and dry wipe pens Metroline provided (all the lads all agreed this was extremely helpful) I soon had them up to speed and each one in turned took the lead and conducted the lesson on the others, they used Swahili to do the lesson and this was fine by me, I interject regularly for an English answer, which they gave.

Michael is involved with transport initiatives and I will email him a copy which he will translate into Swahili and present to his colleagues. He explained that many drivers simply check fluid levels and are not concerned about other checks; Michael would like to see Metroline’s system used on a wider basis.

Habari

The Boeing 767 which was operated by British Airways, took off on time and the duration of the flight was approximately ten hours. I’m happy to say that the flight was uneventful, the take off and landing was extremely smooth and there was virtually no turbulence, if you travel by plane that’s exactly what you want.

Flying has never really caused me a concerned and this flight hasn’t altered my view. The in flight meal was ok and there was plenty of films to choose from, I could also view the flight path and current location of the plane on the screen which was located on the back of the forward seat, it’s also gave me the altitude of 37000 feet and a land speed of 524 mph, if you fancied stepping out for a bit of wing walking, take a coat, because it was minus 58 degrees outside.

I did manage to get some sleep and a good investment I made before the flight was paying 53p in Tescos for some eyeshades, I prefer to sleep in total darkness and these did the job.

 
I arrived in Dar es Salaam about 7am local time and passing through customs wasn’t a problem, all I needed to do was complete a simple entry form and have my finger prints scanned and that was that. When I got to the luggage carousel all three of my suitcases put in an appearance, what more could I ask.
 
I was met at the airport by Neil, the Project Manager for Transaid (who I had met before in London during my pre-brief regarding the trip) for the short taxi ride to the hotel. On the way to the hotel we passed a road traffic accident on the other carriage, nothing too serious, a fender bender with a couple of cars. The police were already in situ with their tape measures; there was quite a lot of traffic, all at a standstill. I was told by Neil that traffic jams are common place.
 

The hotel is called the Blue Pearl and is situated on a busy road not far from The Institute of Training, where I would meet the trainees and start my day from. The room is clean; there is a kitchen area with a table and chairs, a coffee table and a two seat sofa, so no complaints there. I even have sky sports on tap.

I’m in room 1304, I was given room 1305 at first, but when I entered the room for the first time, I was immediately confronted with a pool of water on the floor, looking up, there was a hole in the suspended ceiling the size of a dart board and the offending water dripping to the floor, the suspended ceiling conceals all the air condition ducts, a few words to the porter in Swahili from Neil, soon produced the key for the room I have now.

The room number as I said is 1304, that’s room number four on the thirteenth floor (not rocket science really is it?)  Neil booked this floor as it tops an adjacent building and gives me a better view over the landscape, access to the room is by an open walk way, where a member of staff sits all day making sure that the gym next to me and the infinity roof top swimming pool are only used by guests. The hotel is also used for conferences and exhibition, there was a lot of activity from staff when I arrived, who were very busy erecting stands for this week’s exhibition, promoting Tanzania and environmental issues, many delegates wore traditional African attire and I can tell you they all looked fantastic.

Outward bound

Saturday 19^th Nov 2011 Outward Bound

Well, the day has arrived for the first leg of my trip to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Over the last few weeks I have developed my plan of action and have a clear objective of what I want to achieve, but like all plans there will be a need for flexibility, when I get out there and assess the guys I will be working with, I will have a better understanding of their needs, so my plans have the scope for that flexibility.

Prior to the trip I have had a host of inoculations and to be honest it knocked me for six and made me feel quite ill, with flu like symptoms, no not man flu I hear you say, this really was quite discombobulating, Friday was the first day I started to feel better and am glad to say that it continues in that vain.

As I type this I am in the cab on the way to the Heathrow. I’ve decided to sit in a back seat for a few reasons, one being and if you’re honest you have done this yourself, we try and strike up a conversation; usually by posing the same questions to the driver: You working late? Normally followed by: Have you been busy? To which they usually retort “yes and not too bad” you soon get the feeling they are not really bothered about chit chat and end up in a stony silence for the rest of the ride.

It gets worse for me though, I then sit there for the rest of the trip marvelling how they attempt to get from A to B as fast as they can, breaking more rules than you can shake a stick at. The main reasons though for sitting in the back is, I can you use the time to start my blog.

I’ve never even followed a blog before, let alone write one so it’s all new to me, I think it’s like my version of trip adviser and with that in mind I should make the point of saying, that anything contained in my blog, is only my observations and doesn’t represent the views, opinions or policies of Metroline and for that matter Transaid or anybody working within these organisation, it’s just my view, views of an Englishman abroad.

 

Ah, I can see the turn off for Heathrow and the driver is planning his decent into terminal five, it always raises a rye smile with me, as to why they call airports “terminal” anyway, I'm getting there in one piece' that’s an encouraging start.

So here I am, Heathrow Airport terminal 5, I have arrived in plenty of time, I hate getting any where late, I’d sooner arrive somewhere early and kick my heals for while, rather than stress myself out running late. There are scores of self check in kiosks, I have printed off my boarding pass and been allocated a window seat, not a lot to see really as it will be dark before take off. The plane I am flying on is a mid range Boeing 767.

Security was fairly painless, but the security people do have a way of looking at you don’t they. I once went on a training course and got chatting to a guy there, who was once a passenger profiler at Heathrow, they can tell quite a lot from the answers you give, to the most simplest of questions, anyway they let me through. Just got a text from NC wishing me a good trip, nice touch. Just checked the information boards, I can go to the departure gate now, so better be off, the last thing I want is to miss the flight.