To Take or not to Take ........ we ponder.

Getting away from much of the 'stuff' we have amassed over our married life, presents a great attraction to us. This does not included our five wonderful children and two grandchildren, but does include the 'useful artefacts' that fill our lives. Discovering that our luggage was limited to 30kgs each plus a further 7kgs hand baggage offered a clue that we would only be able to take essential equipment and little clothing. A dilemma exists in that we will be arriving in Kathmandu during the hot sticky monsoon, which officially started on the 24th June, and we move on to Jumla in mid-August where the temperature will slowly fall to -15c during the long, dry, winter months. All this without prospect of heating in our accommodation. Those who know have advised us that we can buy anything in Kathmandu and take it with us to Jumla. There lies the real problem!! Buying lots more things and shipping them up on two local flights, seems far from right. I also have a vision of my very dear, late friend Bob, who was a fantastic cook and seemed to be able to perform wonders with his kitchen utensils; a single aluminium pan, a razor sharp bone handled table knife, and a glass milk bottle for rolling out chapatis. 

What is our solution I hear you asking? Well, in part I must admit, that it has been to buy more 'stuff' here in the UK. In defence we have invested in some decent, discreet, warm clothing, solar powered lighting, small second hand camcorder, a couple of Gerber multi tool knives, water filter (donated by Bfit, Beaminster), and some First Aid supplies, to name some examples. We have ignored others who said we must take enough sterile wipes to clean hands after handling money!! Sorry Diane. The prospect of filling our bags with cleaning equipment and toilet rolls is less than appealing.

Joking apart, we are taking those essentials to make life liveable without presenting a huge barrier to integrating with our community. We want to be able to record some aspects of our changed lives and the work we will be doing, be able to make interesting posts on our blog, and maybe use video clips for training. Again following advice from previous volunteers, thanks Alison, we are going to leave our large suitcases behind and pack much of our kit into two recycled plastic containers that will double up as rodent proof storage when we reach our final destination.

If in doubt leave it out.
 

The e-flight tickets have arrived and BBC Somerset wants an interview. More of that next time.