10. Not Out Of Africa

The Obsessive Diary · Sep 5, 2025 · 2m

Of course I had the outfit. What fool would go to Africa without a long swishing skirt and cowboy boots? I believed I was all set. During the week I stood before thirty children and tried to teach them things I thought I knew; the alphabet, how to spell “definitely”. In my hut I learnt to make dinner with one pot, a relentless vegetable stew that Willy eschewed for beer at the pub with the friends he’d made and I hadn’t. I marked workbooks with the pen that never had to write upside down. I listened to Simon & Garfunkel sing, ‘Homeward Bound’ and the tap dance of lizards on the roof. At…