Back in England! The homesick snowman.

It's not as cold as I expected, down 'yere in Darrzet. In fact it's a lovely, sunny day, and the temperature is much more agreeable than it has been in Greece recently. My brother tells me that today is the first decent summer's day. I had a fabulous swim at Bowleaze Cove, Weymouth, and a pint of bitter at The Smugglers, Osmington Mills.

The photo reminds me of a song I once wrote when on a World Bank consultancy assignment in Northern Nigeria, circa 1978. It was a Mass Communication Feasibility Study, I seem to remember. Here are a few verses:

Trying to keep cool in Kano


I've got no sense of direction,
I don't know which path I should choose.
I'm just trying to keep cool in Kano;
Last week I had snow on my shoes.


The roads were all blocked by the blizzards,
I half hoped I might miss the flight;
But as soon as I checked in they grabbed me,
They strapped me in for the night.


So I'm back with the dust and the lizards,
Open drains and gastric despair.
Why did I ever leave Dorset,
Green fields and that smell of sea-air?


I'm deep in the North of Nigeria,
The harmattan's blowing today.
They've never seen a homesick snowman,
They won't mind if I just melt away...