Despite the cold Sunday was a nice sunny day, so we went on an outing to Vadstena:

Lake Vättern was both frozen and covered in snow and it was pretty cold wandering around.

We started off with Midsummer weekend in Stockholm, enjoying the sunshine and seeing the wildlife at Skansen. We also visited the Vasa museum and saw the changing of the guard at the palace.

We had a lovely morning close to lake Vättern at Omberg, where we also visited the ruins of the monastery at Alvastra. The tops of the ruined walls have been covered and then flowers grown on top.

During the week we also took a trip along the Göta canal from Berg to Borensberg with the M/S Wasa Lejon. It was a very relaxing trip, although we were puzzled about the people queuing an hour before departure.

Eleanor come over to join us for a long weekend, so we spent Saturday and Sunday in Kalmar. For some reason I don’t seem to have taken any pictures with Eleanor in… On the way back on Sunday we visited Vadstena again, although the weather was much better than the last couple of times I’d been there.

Of course on Christmas morning we had to go for a refreshing stroll on the beach:

If was pretty cold and windy, but we soon got back to the house and warmed up ready for a delicious goose dinner.

Mum and Dad came out to visit me for a few days, against all the warnings of my colleagues (the weather is notoriously bad here in November). We were quite lucky with the weather, less lucky with catching tourist attractions open. For example, in Vadstena the main attractions are only open on weekdays during winter.

Here are Mum and Dad outside the Arbetets museum (Museum of Work) in Norrköping:

I also just bought myself a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner:

It should make keeping the many square metres of floor space in my apartment clean.

As you can probably tell from the pictures, it wasn’t very warm at the top, 0°C, windy and snowing slightly.

Wandering around Stirling I’ve noticed a few things. The first is how few people there are on the streets. Outside the main shopping areas you meet few pedestrians, everyone seems to be in cars. Stirling town centre is also full of CCTV cameras.
(that’s Queen Street)

The second thing was how many signs there are. That’s official signs, rather than Nigeria’s profusion of advertising banners and political posters. Signs to warn you of penalties for not cleaning up after your dog, signs to identify lampposts, road traffic instruction signs and directional signs. Road signs in Nigeria are particularly bad, there are standard signs defined but various authorities each use different ones instead.

I spent the weekend visiting my Grandparents down in Norfolk, Eleanor was there as well. We took our usual walk down to Wroxham Broad:

A few things are strange:

1. Getting on a bus (capacity of around 50 passengers) and not only does it leave before it’s full but the whole bus is carrying fewer passengers than the typical Kaduna minibus (10+ people in a Toyota Liteace).
2. Bottled water: this seems ridiculous to me. Why buy bottled water in a country where the tap water is perfectly safe? Just think of the waste in producing, packaging and transporting it.
3. Signs: there are signs everywhere, many telling you what you’re not allowed to do, but also providing useful information like where you are and how to get to other places.
4. Greetings: instead of being expected to enquire about someone’s work, family and how they slept the usual greeting in a shop is a quick “hiya”.

The KLM flight from Abuja to Amsterdam (via Kano) was comfortable enough. They have video on demand in economy on their new A330s, so I could occupy my night by watching films and TV shows. I’d used the online check-in to choose an exit row seat, so I had plenty of legroom.

Mum and Dad were waiting for me at Edinburgh, along with my niece Eve. She was a little bit shy at first, but remembered me from October and was soon chatting away.

I spent the first week in Stirling, at Mum and Dad’s. The pictures of Eve and Joseph are from the day Mum and I took them to a wildlife park. Eve is wearing a hedgehog mask on top of her head and Joseph is very good at serious looks.


During that week I also visited my Mum’s parents in Cambusbarron, they were both suffering from some kind of flu that’s been going around but seemed OK apart from that.

My sister Clare and her husband Iain moved into their new house that week as well. Quite a bit of work had needed to be done on it and some wasn’t quite finished as they moved in. On the day of the move Dad and I took Eve on a West of Scotland railway excursion, starting at Cumbernauld and passing through Whifflet, Glasgow and various other places and including a ferry crossing from Gourock to Helensburgh. Eve loves trains and buses and happily ran around inside the ferry shouting “I LIKE BOATS!” Dad had been plotting the trip for some time and we made good use of an SPT Daytripper ticket (£15 all day for two adults and up to four children).

The second week of my holiday was spent with my other grandparents, down in Norfolk. Mum had added me to the car insurance so we shared the driving down and back. As usual, Granny was on a mission to feed me up, cooked breakfasts every day and lovely lunches and dinners too. It obviously worked because everyone at NTI is commenting on how I’ve gained weight (this is a compliment in Nigeria).

On Friday we drove back up to Stirling, taking the scenic route across the border on the A68. My laptop had returned from repair just in time, but I discovered that IBM had swapped the faulty motherboard for one with an inferior graphics chipset, I’ll now have to try and get this sorted out from Nigeria.

A very early start on Saturday, I was up at 3:15am to finish squeezing everything into my bag (lots of books, some foodstuffs and various other odds and ends). The timing of the Edinburgh-Amsterdam flight is a bit unfortunate, as it means hanging around Schipol for over 5 hours. It’s better than 5 hours hanging around at Heathrow though! The return flight was also comfortable and because it was during the day and I’d chosen a window seat I got to see the Sahara.

Finally, on Sunday, I got back to my little house in Kaduna. I’m always quite glad to get back to my house after a trip away, although on this occasion I immediately had to start sweeping up a collection of dead cockroaches and putting my front door lock back together (it’s old and falls apart occasionally).

So overall a really nice little break, it’s always good to see my family (especially my grandparents and Eve and Joseph) and I think it has refreshed me, ready for the work of handing over to my colleagues at NTI before I leave for good in September.

I arrived into Abuja at around 8pm but the heat was still almost overpowering as I stepped out of the horribly air-conditioned plane.  The immigration desk officials were efficient and very friendly (thank god the Americans haven’t been training them!) and I was soon collecting my luggage and meeting Kevin.

As it was dark I could not see much as we drove into Abuja and to Radio House where we would be staying with Marebec for the night.  I met Marebec and Russell before gratefully heading to bed although 5am alarm call had been set!

Monday 20th March

Up very early and off the Jabi motor park (which is actually called some other name which no one actually calls it) to get a car to Kaduna where Kevin now lives.  My mum and dad had prepared me for the state of the cars and I think being half asleep made me distinctly relaxed about the safety of these vehicles.  We got a car quickly and were soon heading off.

We headed to NTI when we reached Kaduna and greeted the many security guards before dropping off the rucksacks in Kevin’s room before a greeting tour of all the staff in NTI, many who appeared to be asleep.  We then went into Kaduna for a look around the market and the city itself.  It was overwhemingly busy with people and traffic everywhere in no apparent order, not at all like British cities.

That evening we met some of the other VSO’s in the Air Force Club for a few beers and then for some dinner in the form of suya, which was unbelievably spicy, so much so it brought tears to my eyes!  It was then a white knuckle ride on the motorbikes to get a car back to NTI.

Tuesday 21st March

Kano, an old Hausa city, was next on the tour.  Once we got into the city centre by means of a taxi, which broke down about every 100m, we found a hotel in the Christian area.  We then visited the museum, where my torch came in handy as the NEPA was off, the dye pits and a general wander around the old city.  Apart from the usual calls of oyinbo quite a few people seem to think we were international observers in Kano to monitor the upcoming census even though we did not have matching t-shirts and caps.

Wednesday 22nd March

Before we travelled back to Kaduna we visited the Dala Hill where you could see the full city although the Harmattan meant it was quite hazy.  From here you could see just what a large city it was and realised why Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation.

The journey back to Kaduna was particularly uncomfortable, due to the forthcoming census travel restrictions very few cars were leaving, so both of us were in the front passenger seat for the three hour journey.  After we folded out of the car at NTI a relaxing afternoon was required and a shower!

Thursday 23rd to Sunday 24th March

As there was going to be a travel ban on the Friday and Saturday Kevin had decided that we should travel to Kabba and stay with Fathers’ Noel and Leo.  We got there in the late afternoon and were promptly counted by the census officials of whom one was writing and four were watching and providing advice.  Tammie and Kim, two other VSO census refugees, were already there and a relaxing evening of good food, good drink (isn’t it always!) and great company ensued.

We spent the next couple of days relaxing in the lovely surroundings, watching a strangely addictive American soap, taking walks and drinking courtesy of our very kind hosts.

Sunday 26th March

Travel was again possible so we all headed off in our respective directions.  Kevin and I were travelling to Oshogbo where we were met by Laide who drove us to Shuah’s house where we had kindly been invited to stay.  That evening we ate in the Nigerian equivalent of McDonalds which despite a extensive menu only had about three dishes.  Despite this what we had was considerably nicer than McDonalds fare.

Monday 27th March

Oshogbo appeared to be quite a small city compared to the others I had visited.  It has a very impressive mosque and not quite so impressive palace and also the Sacred Forest.  The Forest contains a shrine and a multitude of carved sculptures where were very beautiful.  It was very peaceful as there was not another soul to be seen.

In the afternoon, Laide drove us out into the country to visit a waterfall after a delicious lunch at an African kitchen.  That evening we enjoyed dinner at a chop house on the main street watching the small children disciplining the babies in their charge by means of a good smack.  I don’t think the Nigerians would think much of the Scottish Executive’s smacking ban!

Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th March

Due to the census Kevin’s original itinerary including Calabar had to be amended due to lack of time and therefore we went to Jos instead.  It was a slightly trying journey, and in fact downright terrifying, but the cooler air was a welcome relief after being in stuffy cars all day.  We had been recommended to stay at the Christian guest houses which are numerous, however, there was sadly no room at the inn.  We soon found a hotel and headed out for dinner.

The next day, after a particularly cold bucket shower (the cooler night time temperatures being to blame), we visited the museum which was very interesting apart from the slightly strange anti-drugs exhibition which appeared to have been put together by young children.  Outside the museum there were lots of tall trees absolutely laden with bats – this did make me slightly uneasy as I tend to associate bats with rabies!

That evening we enjoyed a lovely dinner at a Lebanese restaurant which made a welcome change from the spicy Nigerian food.  Back at the hotel there was no light so we were presented with a candle as we arrived and were soon in bed.  However, at around midnight what Kevin thought was a mosquito was heard and prompt mosquito net hanging was taking place after which I realised the ‘mosquito’ was in fact Celine Dion from the next room!

Thursday 30th March

On my final day we travelled back to Abuja to get my flight in the evening.  I had thought we had been lucky not to have any of the old wrecks that we had been in break down and indeed it was.  A few cars later we arrived at Radio House to have a shower and get ready to go to the airport.

Friday 31st March

Arrive back at Edinburgh airport to sideways rain and 5°C and wish I was back in Nigeria.  I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and especially appreciated the friendliness of the Nigerian people.  Although running water, reliable electricity, hot showers and hair straighteners were most welcome I would love to return to Africa.