Passport # 2

Hooray! Arrived back from fantastic weekend in Oxfordshire and London for an old school friend's wedding, to find my second new passport of 2006. Now central america is more of a reality and I'm getting those adrenaline stabs of excitement when I think about it. Still, I've got a bit more to organise - as follows:

Rabies - turns out despite registering with the one medical practice in Ayrshire which provides vaccinations, rabies is a tricky one to get hold of, so my course of 3 jabs only starts tomorrow at the Ayrshire hospital in Irvine. I should get the last one just before I leave - rabies is 'essential' for costa rica / nicaragua so I'm relieved I've managed to get this sorted out at last.

Insurance - must organise extra insurance for pre-raleigh week that I'm going to be sunning myself on the beach at Manuel Antonio national park, and the 3 weeks post raleigh when Hugo and I are going to explore nicaragua and hopefully cross over to the Corn Islands in the Carribean for a bit of hammock swinging and cocktail sipping over the transluscent fish filled waters.

Kit - I still need a head torch, stuff sacks, a solar panelled ipod charger (oh yes), a solar panelled shower bag (maybe), karribiners and those balls that you put in your washing machine which fluff up your clothes. Apparently to wash clothes we put them in the waterproof rucksack liner with washing liquid/powder and add these balls, shake em around a bit and voila! Lovely clean clothes. I found a hoodie fleece in Primark for £4!! Tesco also sell fleeces for £4. Primark also sells things like combat trousers, long sleeved t-shirts etc, all for between £4 and £8 which is useful, given I'm going to have to throw most of these things away at the end of the trip.

Music - I am going to devote Christmas time to downloading all the music I possibly can onto my ipod. I considered going with just a walkman, but the space that tapes take up would mean leaving something else behind. So, my little ipod it is :-)

As for the wedding, what an experience! I cried as the bride walked down the aisle, I cried when they exchanged vows, and I then had to deal with a sniffy nose as I stood at the lectern giving my reading (in front of 190 people, scary mary) A poem adapted by Steven T Fader / F'der etc etc. Very difficult not to laugh as my brother and his fiance acted out all the sections of the poem in front of me, but all done and dusted without having my legs collapse beneath me, or a massive sneezing fit, and that's the main thing.