I woke up feeling groggy, I don't get colds in England so how I've got one now is beyond me. It seems my body is breaking down bit by bit after weeks and weeks of torture so I've really got to take a step back and try and get back to normal again.
I spent the morning exploring the town and was expecting a lot of colour, music and pictures of Bob Marley, I was pretty disappointed. Shashemene is an average town that is no more colourful or friendly as the previous ones I've cycled through, previous ones have actually been much more appealing.
I almost witnessed a horrific accident at the beginning of my day. The taxis here are either mini vans or tuk tuks. The tuks tuks are safer as they max out at just 35mph but cost more. The mini vans are crammed with locals, very cheap but zip around the busy streets and I've seen at least 5 upside down in ditches on my travels through Ethiopia alone. As I walked up the hill towards the city centre I watched an elderly lady walking across the road towards me about 30m away. I've mentioned it before either on the blog or in person to Jonas, female Ethiopians are the least vigilant people I have ever experience. They never look where they're walking and they bump into you and look at you as if it was your fault. Today, I was justified with my claim but luckily the lady will live another day. As she blindly jogged across the road after a taxi, another taxi zipped around a tuk tuk but did very very well to swerve and skid just in front of the lady which knocked her handbag out of her hands about 10m down the road. Half a metre difference and I would've been first witness to a fatal accident for sure. Amazingly, the lady had the bare faced cheek to give the driver a look that could kill him! She never once looked both ways and ill say it again, the female headgear restricts their peripheral vision and I'm not surprised if the stats show that women are involved in more accidents.
After my brief disappointing wander I returned back to the hotel for recovery and Internet. Both of these may take time annoyingly as it took me 3 hours to update my blog which would normally take 5 minutes. (Patience is something that I have worked very VERY hard on to obtain) and my health is an ongoing battle.
In the evening, I sat alone for a romantic dinner for one. An Ethiopian couple walked over and asked if they could join me. I spoke to the lady briefly at breakfast and she was planning to go see a Saturday festival with her brother and invited me along. I was up for it but got sidetracked in the end (football was on) and it turned out I didn't miss much. She was also quite disappointed with the hype of what Shashemene offers but doesn't actually provide. Anyway, the two of them sat with me and the brother and I shared BBQ'd sheep that was freshly cut off the bone in front of us. We chatted for a while and then they left after paying for me. They said they didn't like seeing people alone and so that's why they came over to me! I wasn't complaining at all but I also wasn't quite full so I waited until they left and ordered a Spaghetti Bolognese. I didn't want them thinking I was a fatty but at the end of the day we shared a meal that I would normally have as a starter so I ended up the last person in the restaurant as the cleaners swept up around me.
I will stay at the hotel for another night after tonight and see if I'm fit enough to set sail Monday. If not, then its no biggy but I do want to get into Kenya before Christmas preferably!
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