Stet » Leaving this place

A very Dutch death

Ria — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:38:48 +0000

The new year had barely begun when I learned of the death of a colleague who worked in the office opposite mine. A very Dutch death, he was out cycling on New Year’s Eve, probably going home to celebrate with his wife and four kids, when he had a heart attack and ended up in

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100% accurate weather forecasting

Ria — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:38:49 +0000

100% accurate!

Destination Beaufort, Hérault. So laid back the weather forecast is for last week.

Verse-moi encore du Ricard, il fait beau, fin d’histoire !

There’s no Internet connection in the rental villa, so I’m also looking forward to reading a lot, with a tall glass of chilled wine and the sound of

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Stranded on Tin Can Island

Ria — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:35:49 +0000

Our household goods and car are enjoying their last night on Tin Can Island, a tropical paradise for 40-foot containers off the coast of Lagos.

Our goods should have arrived in Rotterdam last week, but as a result of congestion at the port, they had a bonus ten days of cocktails and afrobeat

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Leaving this place

Ria — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:35:31 +0000

I’m not profligate with my categories (nor with my posts). So when I see that I have 22 posts in the category “Leaving this place”, I know that I’ve been leaving more than I’ve been staying these last few years.

And on a night like this, at 1:13 am, with the cold Harmattan wind whipping

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I feel like Donald Trump

Ria — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:30:22 +0000

My cellphone runs flat each day. The battery is fine; it wears out because I spend most of my waking hours with the phone pressed close to my ear. Callers always seem to be surrounded by fighting couples with screaming children, stuck in heavy traffic outside a mosque with a new 5000W PA from the

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Not Cuba

Ria — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:54:28 +0000

Just finished Skypeing with a prospective landlady ahead of our move in four days. It wasn’t the most coherent of conversations as she kept breaking off and shouting in W_____ (local language) at the noisy mob of women surrounding her. She ended every phrase with, “Inch’allah!” — not sure if this is a positive sign.

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On the road again, again

Ria — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:40:03 +0000

Diptheria, tetanus & polio booster? — check! Hepatitus A & B? — check! Meningitis ACWY? — check! Rabies I, II & III? — check! Typhus fever? — check! Mantoux test? — check! TB — check! Yellow fever? — check! Malaria tablets? — check!

We feel like a family of pincushions after all the vaccinations we’ve

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Ras le bol

Ria — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:43:38 +0000

Ria Bacon has left the island.

Related posts: Stranded on Tin Can Island Sans everything Your partner in meat

Up where the air is clean

Ria — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 15:20:44 +0000

Sunday morning found us itching to get out of town and away from the smoke and smell of the still burning landfill (see previously).

So we headed for the hills.

We looked down across the Liguanea (say: Li-ga-nee) Plain; a blueblack cloud covered the city and sealed in the noxious smoke.

At over 4,500 feet

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Perry Henzell — Fire in the belly

Ria — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:06:04 +0000

I’ve just heard that Perry Henzell died this morning. I spoke to his wife, Sally, only a few days ago when we were staying at her hotel, Jake’s, in St Elizabeth. I asked her where Perry was and she pointed over her shoulder, “He’s up there in the house right on top of the hill.”

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