Relative obscurity

An upturned cockroach was the first thing I encountered when waking up on my birthday morn. However I’d also been given Blip’s ‘200 in a row’ award, which was nice. I’m not about to bemoan reaching a certain age, but 37 is a bit obscure, isn’t it? It’s in the same category as 43 or 54. An unremarkable number that’s a stepping stone to a more significant milestone.

I have long wanted to return to old haunts in Eswatini, and this is the perfect weekend to do it. I had persuaded Luis to join and I waited for him with a nice coffee in a café.

As birthdays are for being tranquil and measured, I shall avoid a rant about car rentals. However, suffice to say that it utterly baffles me how the corporate sector has such an illogical stranglehold over day-to-day life. This should not be the status quo of the world, yet it is. Because I’d reserved on my phone and not on a laptop, I’d succumbed to a low mileage limit, meaning I took the car already knowing I’d be paying a surcharge. The agent and I performed the standard ritual of dancing around the vehicle highlighting every scuff mark, lest someone decide to rinse the other in court the following day. Let’s be honest and say car hire is a complete faff.

This is Shewula Mountain Camp, in the Lubombo hills of eastern Eswatini, with wide views of the various zones that together comprise the Lubombo Conservancy. It’s where I used to bring groups of gap year volunteers to do small community development projects. It’s a tranquil spot at the end of a long unpaved road but remarkably simple to get to from Mozambique. The road to the Camp curls back towards the border so even Mozambican phone networks are available and some Mozambican military officials are plonked at an obscure post a few kilometres away.

It was even more tranquil being here with one friend rather than a horde of volunteers. Most of the staff are still here and have been since it opened in 1999. Lindiwe remembered me from my visits 10+ years ago and I asked about other characters who used to help us make trips function. I hadn’t been here in November, and the land is parched and expectant for the rainy season. Although I’ve had to treat volunteers for severe sunburn before, the wind swirled around and I plunged under the duvet in the rondavel (Afrikaans word used to describe traditional huts) to eat lemon puff biscuits in bed. This is permissible on one’s birthday.

I could pick up some birthday messages. I was telling Erlyn that I was enjoying being back in an old spot. He said to compare how I feel about life now versus back then, which was good advice. In my early career I was always doing things as a means to the next stage, i.e. running the gap year trips (which weren’t sustainable to do for long - £15 pay per day at the start!) to achieve the next goal of getting a more secure job in a related field. It was satisfying to realise my brain isn’t occupied by such thoughts now. I think this must be what one terms being more established in a job or career.