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Sun 20 Feb As I write it's early in the morning; well, early for Khartoum. The sun has just risen from behind the buildings on the near skyline. It seems to take just minutes from beauty to brightness to harsh, but I'm so reluctant to use a curtain to shut out my dear African sun. The dynamics of the Shuhada flat have changed again. It seems very different now from the three months with Neil and Eleanor. Neil left on Boxing Day and Margie joined us early in the New Year. Margie's a 32 year old Canadian, pleasant manner, attractive figure. Formerly an airhostess, she has come to Sudan to do a masters in Development Studies. She had been living here in Khartoum for a month or so before joining us on a teach for rent basis. She and I seem to share the same desire for a tidy kitchen and get along well together; I just have to remember she is also a housemate and a colleague. By the time I got back from El Obied Eleanor had just left for Dilling and the "new girl" Cleo had been here for ages. She has Eleanor's habits regarding tidiness and leaving lights on, she's always up for the nightly ful in the souq, and doesn't do meat or men. The other evening after eating she said she was going to pop into the internet café to chat with some lesbians - it sounded so strange in Sudan - of course I asked if I could watch. Cleo is young and fun and would rather do "youth work" playing at being farm animals with street kids than teaching university students; I like her a lot.
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| Cleo and Tom: a perfect balance |
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Tom is ever partial to shaving his head and sitting around in not much more than a sarong. He's quite photogenic. The other day he donned an England football shirt but didn't take too kindly to being compared with David Beckham. As ever, Tom is planning the rest of his life. One of the many jobs in the UN he turned down last week was for a Public Relations/ Press Officer. Rumour has it that he's got to move out soon as his University are providing accommodation for him elsewhere; poor chap.This evening Margie has gone for an early night. Tom, Cleo and I "sample" some homemade date wine. It is rather strong and goes down rather too easily. It is fun and funny and wonderfully unplanned. Cleo offers to do us a striptease but we decline and settle for seeing how far she can walk with a grapefruit on her head… I can't remember the answer but she went on to glasses of water after that.
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