25/01/2007

driving up to the capital, abuja.
harmattan winds blowing down strong from the sahara; sunlight is filtered is through the dust giving everything a dream-like haze (or a dull nightmarish glare, depending which way you're looking at it...). i've negotiated my way through long horn cattle, corrupt policemen (weilding kalishnikovs, spun out on cocaine and palm wine) and a massive bushfire that looms ever closer to the road...expecting the unexpected is something that goes with the territory....

28/01/2007

driving up to the plateau in the middle of nigeria to jos, (where i grew up).
as we climb it's getting cooler and my ears are popping from the change in altitude. i see the flat heads of extinct volcanos standing like a long line of historic martyrs and loads of eucalyptus, frangipani and mango trees. f'in beautiful... yet more bush fires... the air is so dry in this part of the country that last night i watched the static electricity sparkle like some strange luminescent ghost on the bedsheets.

30/01/2007

lagos airport waiting for flight home so one more traveltext to kill time...:)
big adrenaline rush driving 170kph across the massive mainland bridge yesterday in the dead of night. it's armed robber's land after 10pm. no street lamps and very few cars; the ones that risk it travel in packs 4 the extra security. pedal to the metal until u reach the relative safety of vicoria island... ''journey mercies'' -it's an expression nigerians wish well upon the traveller; such is life... the hope for safe passage... what more could one ask for?