Like meeting an old friend who has set off on foot over the sahara

Being used to collect water from the local water hole at Mareja

When I first set eyes on the cream Land Rover in the dusty yard in Pemba I wanted to run up to it and hug and kiss it, my long lost brave friend... but sadly they don't lend themselves to such emotion and the hard edges cannot be softened however hard you try.  But it was a great and uplifting moment seeing it again so far from its home. 

The trials and tribulations since this vehicle had been bought in Wiltshire over 8 months before were immense.  Dominik is a not a natural with paperwork and the process of export here and import there had turned into the most onerous and complex set of hurdles.  The last major hiccup involved the shipment arriving at Pemab (3 month late) but the shippers having lost all documentation and the border police threatened to impound the contents or sell them off unless D could produce the whole paper trail for a second time within a week.  He managed with hours to spare and found all his precious cargo on board with a few new dents but nothing more serious.  (The cargo included solar panels, camp beds and chairs, a useful trunk, 3 cars....and my mattress)

Inside Dominik's house and propped against the wall in the gloaming was my old mattress.  This also deserved a hug and unlike the Cream Dream yielded a little.  It began life with Laura Ashley then to my house in London, then it lived under my bed in Oxford for 8 years until it was whisked out, dusted off and transported on top of the Landrover to the packing yard...it came loose on the A40 and fell off somehow missing any vehicles but lay on the damp verge for another day until a rescue operation could be mounted.  It bears new scars - a rusty lattice pattern and a few holes but on my last day in Mareja it found its new home on a handsome chamfuta (type of mahogany) bed....many many miles from where it began life.

(I heard a Dreams advert suggest you should change your mattress every 7 years, if they mean change location I agree.)