I felt good this morning which was lucky considering the day I had ahead of me. My stomach and the rest felt stronger than in the last 7 days but maybe I have a couple more days till full 100% status.
I thrusted myself into rush hour traffic at half 8 and had forgotten momentarily what dust, exhaust fumes and fried engine parts had tasted like. It took around 30 minutes before my eyes developed a film of dirt around them. I wanted to peal it off like the inner skin from a boiled egg but couldn't and I had stupidly packed my glasses away. My glasses tend to hinder peripheral vision anyway so I elected for squinting for protection as you never know where a Tuktuk will pop out from!
As always I found the correct road easy enough. It was the only road out of Khartoum in the South East direction so I just headed that way. (Big thanks to the yellow thing in the sky for that one!) As I got on the road it became apparent I was going to be in for quite a stressful time. The traffic was a lot more manic compared to north of Khartoum and there was only around two feet of tarmac along the edge of the single lane carriageway for myself, Nigel and Beirdre (due to the rate in which Beirdre is growing I feel I need a little more road space)
The road was also not in the best of conditions and in some areas I was forced to stop or bail off the road onto the gravel and dusty section to avoid potholes. The wind was tricky also as it was blowing at right angles across me which meant I would get chucked side to side a little every time a lorry past. The road, the wind and the ridiculous drivers were all ingredients of a meal that led to a few VERY close shaves and if it wasn't for my awareness and bailing off the road on two other occasions, I think there could've been trouble.
To say I didn't enjoy the road is an understatement and I found myself getting very worked up and tired as so much concentration was needed. I put it all down to the coach drivers. On a whole, most of the drivers were ok and the road didn't really help them but the coach drivers showed no respect for anybody else and had no idea about another pedal they could use that actually slowed their vehicle down. Their brake was their horn which left me the option of fighting the cause and getting hit or just dealing with it and getting off the road and stopping. I figured a live, dirty and angry Chris was better than a dead one so just had to accept it.
I stopped for lunch mainly to relax and take a few deep breathes, I wasn't really hungry. I got talking to a man who had alot to say about his country and how bad it was. (I did wonder why he wasn't at work) but anyway he was pretty funny and had a few things that I agreed with and few things I didn't. Two things he told me that I am unsure about turn out to be soft drink related. "Did you know that Fanta stands for foolish adults not take alcohol" "really?" I humoured him as I would've given him Nigel and Beirdre if that were true purely on grammar reasoning but he was so adamant that Pepsi stood for "pay every penny save Israel" it left me pondering. Since then I have looked it up and although it is widespread, its still not true. And as for fanta, well that actually stands for something completely different.
Anyway we had a laugh and a one on one conversation soon attracted a couple more adults. Then as the school next door kicked out a few more gathered and within the space of 20 minutes there was myself and about 20 others (I have photographic proof) I tried hard to get a football match going but the one and only thing you need to play football was still in school and nobody had one on them. I would have to wait for my first African football match it seemed but surprisingly not much longer...
I got back on Nigel at around half 2, conversation was dying and I hoped the roads had quietened down by then. The road quality did improve and there were only a few more coaches so I was able to get some good miles in. I didn't really have a clue where I wanted to stop today. I had written down the names of two villages, a minimum distance and a max distance for the day. In real life though there were no signs and as I was feeling fit I did not stop to ask anybody for directions, I just kept cycling and decided on a wild camp. 4 o'clock was approaching and I wanted to find a place soonish. I had cycled 90miles and I wanted to get off the road before rush hour began again.
As I cycled through a village there was a football match just about to kick off! Jackpot! I thought. I rolled up alongside the pitch which was lined by a trench from somebody's heel I assume. A few kids came up to me but on a whole I was left alone by the locals to enjoy football in Sudan!!!
Firstly, I don't know if I've been away from football for too long or not but the pitch looked about 3 miles by 2 miles. The landscape has changed from desert to dust so the ground was pure brown dusty mud with the odd piece of rubbish. I counted one pair of shin pads and 4 pairs of bare feet between the lot of them. One guy must've had leather soles as he spent more time diving in with his feet then he did walking. Real African football, this is why I'm here! I was loving it!
The fitness of these men was incredible as despite it being half 4 KO it was still around mid 20's. The majority of them looked like they could run 100m in 10 seconds aswell but that mayve been the affect of the dust flicking up behind them giving me that illusion! The ball seemed to be made from helium and the hard ground meant it was up in the air quite alot of the time although the first touch on these boys was excellent and I was very impressed with some of the play. They made controlling the ball on a hard, part sand part mud pitch look very easy and I'm sure I would've been turned inside out and absolutely knackered even after one half! I would've chosen to play in goals anyway, it looked like a half size goal and with a pitch that big there was no way I would play outfield!
At half time two men came and stood beside me and we had a little chat. They were both called Aimon and one was slightly better at English but the other quieter one was asking all the questions. After 10minutes the quiet one asked if I wanted to stay at his house. As always I've been going on my feelings when making my decisions and normally I get offers from quite outgoing and confident people. (Like Salem in Egypt) I was unsure today and i didn't know why. His shyness was maybe coming off as shifty but I said I would wait till the end of the match and tell him. I didn't want to go against what I've been trying to preach and keep myself to myself because a mans shyness was putting me off but then I didn't want to go against my initial gut feeling and possibly get into a sticky situation.
I observed how he was with the others. He was smiling shook all their hands etc and I said to myself come on, just keep on your toes at first and it'll be all good. The match ended and I took him up on his offer. I think my hesitancy was down to me not really understanding much about him or his family because he couldn't tell me much in English. The other Aimon came as well so that was better and he translated very well.
The house was two minutes from the football pitch. The plot of land was walled and then inside the walls were 3 small buildings and a chicken coop. In one corner was the shower and toilet building, one corner was the kitchen and the opposite corner to that was a larger building with Aimon and his brother's bedroom and his mother and three sister's bedroom.
In Aimon's room there were 3 beds and a TV with satellite. Aimon was the oldest at 28, his brother was away at university and I didn't see all the sisters, just one of them who was just 2 years old. There was no sign of dad and Aimon had no job, he said he just watched movies all day. They had very very little and I don't know how they lived with electricity and satellite but they did.
Despite them having very very little I was still fed chicken and bread with milk, some chicken soup, some fruit juice that they went out to buy (despite me telling them not too) and some sugary sticks for pudding. I was offered a shower and given a blanket and within minutes I felt like a mate of both Aimon's who was just chilling out watching a movie in his room.
We watched the movies in English but the lads had subtitles and I would help with their English as they wanted to learn. Two of the three movies on the movie max channel were very apt I thought and made me chuckle. Up last was "The last king of Scotland" I ended up falling asleep to this movie but first was a film called "Stranger than Fiction" they both asked what the title meant and in one line I could've summed it up by saying, "my life" Instead I think I confused them even more but watching the film made me take in where I was again.
I was so pleased I had agreed to Aimon's offer. He wasn't shifty at all he was just unsure of how to put things in English and really quite shy. Despite his shyness, despite his family having nothing, he still housed and fed me. Incidentally Aimon didn't eat any of the chicken. I couldn't force it down him. I think that was him making sure i got everything i needed and completely selflessly ensuring i was happy. He began to open up more throughout the night and I found out he used to work in Saudi Arabia but things didn't work out and was looking to go to Europe but as always...couldn't.
Nothing I could say could help, I'm not in the business of finding work for good Sudanese people unfortunately so I said what I live by and what I've said to everyone so far, "breathe and believe"
The old footballing cliche of a game of two halves can be directly related to my day today. Before my lunch stop I was annoyed, angry and not exactly enjoying life on the road from hell. I ended the day so happy and comfortable in the most unexpected of places. On top of all of it, I managed to get some football in as well and I can not wait to get to the organisation in Addis and get my hands dirty if I can. No slide tackles from me though, its bad enough on grass, let alone dust and stones!!!!
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