Hi guys,

Glad to hear all going well and you're about to make it to addis??!  We flew home from Cairo on 16th Sept and am now up at Edinburgh - very very strange to be here!  and we're all incredibly jealous of where you are!

We saw what you meant about the Egyptians... complete nightmare!  Managed to have my camera stolen on the Wadi Halfa ferry out of our bag while we were sleeping (we got the good spots under the lifeboats upstairs).  Luckily only lost a day or two of photos, but annoyingly that included the one of you two with the union jack by the disco...

Hope you're flying the flag with pride though - people love it.

Good luck with everything - and enjoy Kenya (especially if you qualify for the £30,000 and above club!).  And the Moyale to Marsabit stretch is a piece of cake by the looks of things!

Do get in touch with Chico, my cousin in Addis.  I think I gave you his number? +251911486068 (mobile) - I'll let him know you're coming ([email protected])

 Rob, Xander and Charlie!

We are both fascinated by your remarkable travels.  Well done indeed.  I was last in Khartoum and Wadi Halfa in 1956 and feel sure things will have changed dramatically.  You will be seeing some of our housemartins who are very late in leaving here this summer - they think it is warmer here then wth you!

We both send very best wishes and affectionate greetings.

David and Joanna

Had a great day with Donna and Kate yesterday. The house is practically empty now kate has removed all her kit!! Had a laugh at your grandmothers attempts to put a message on the board. Cant think what her problem is this computer lark is so easy! were you fleased or fleeced? Ithought my spelling was bad!

 One for Henry perhaps?

A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the
other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.

He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not
from the original manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the head abbot to
question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in
the first copy, it would never be picked up. In fact, that error would
be continued in all of the subsequent copies.

The head monk, says, "We have been copying from the copies for
centuries, but you make a good point, my son." So, he goes down into
the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are
held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't been opened for hundreds of
years.

Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot. So, the young monk gets
worried and goes down to look for him. He sees him banging his head
against the wall and wailing, "We missed the "R", we missed the "R"."

His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably.

The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?" With a
choking voice, the old abbot replies, "After all these years..... the word was "Celebrate""

Great to hear from you again! Had spoken to Off Exploring yesterday as Dolly had asked me to update your "light bulb" (replacing the red dot!) and couldn't see how to do it in the new all singing all dancing format! Gave the guy a hard time but he said it is "much better" as you can now see where you have been and not just where you are - very useful for you 2 I'm sure!!! Anyway, you now update your position by going into the postcard bit of the site. He said you can update position by editing an earlier card, but that doesn't work, plus it will probably move the original light bulb to the new position!! So I posted a small PC to get you at Lake Tana and will now do same for Bahir Dar - therefore very useful whenever you clock in to give the place name (cortectly spelled!) and then the system will pin point you!

Kate and Donna coming for lunch today. Big bit of beef rib on the bone from Mark - not that you will be jealous or anything!!!!!

St Mirren 0 Killie 1 (own goal) - that's us up to 4th!

Talk soon!

you absolute b******s for making it into Ethiopia. I was hoping you would be b*****ed and would have to return to Khartoum for more take away pizza and ice cream etc. too bad. your loss i say, the ice cream here is like nowhere else.

You left a tub of washing powder on top of the washing machine here so i hope your clothes don't get too filthy too quickly.

 I have embraced the way of non alcoholic beer and am a born again tee totaller so none of your taunts on boozy addis will hurt me. In your face boyos.

 Hope the car is bouncing along nicely, was SO good to see you, and have an amazing onward journey (oh and i have had more spit roast jokes from the other staff. Legend). Lots of love Sally xx

Greetings all.

In Offexploring's wisdom they have updated our website to such an all singing all dancing degree to make the experience more enjoyable for you our loyal followers, that it is now damned impossible to get the thing to work on third world internet. Thus the postcard will have to wait till Addis.

Anyway we are doing well. We are presently shacked up in Bahir Dar at the southern tip of Lake Tana and have spent the day on the lake visiting monestaries on the islands and now feel distinctly pious if slightly fleased as paying to go into God's house seems to be a requirement here. We are leaving tomorrow for Lalibella to see the 12th century churches carved into the rocks. After that we will be arriving in Addis on the 19th fingers crossed. I hope the springs are there to greet us otherwise the trip through Northern Kenya will be fun!

I appreciate some of your concern about my weight and you will therefore be pleased to hear that Henry has me on a strict diet of fruit and yogurt for brekky and dried biscuits for lunch followed by some tasty bbq meat in the evening. The pounds aren't exactly falling off but my shorts are feeling loose.

Thank you sis for your kind updates, you will be pleased to hear that the facial hair is doing well. Henry is now officially a Rabi and I have gone down the route of my godfathers and are sporting a rather smart moustache. I think it does slightly resemble my Scottish Godfather's and hope to put photos up in Addis. 'Ze Germans' as you so tactfully call them will appreciate your comment when they check the website with the address we gave them in Wadi Halfa, so Eicke I apologise for my sister's indiscretion and know you will take is as that funny British humour! (Sis don't worry, you have been a star and they will probably be in too much of a hurry to check it anyway!)

Ok I better sign off, but check back soon as we hope to do a proper job in Addis. Keep the comments coming in, they are always welcome even if I do appear to be taking a bit of a bashing!

Take care and we will try to do the same.

Over and out

Ali and Henry 

Greetings from Greenwich, Henry.  Love seeing the photos, keep well, Simon & Juliet

The FEDEX magic system seems to work.  Your suspension springs appear to have reached Frankfurt (in transit for next cargo flight). Sorry, but more germans involved again!!!  Take care and MIND THE BUMPS!  All love Mum

Hello Asda,

I would love to keep up with your progress.  What a great adventure!  You are a star.  The weather here in Atlanta has finally cooled off.  I lived too long in the UK to cope with 101 degree temperatures and the humidity.

Miss ya, LOL, Madge

Hello Girls,

Just a quick update for you all especially our newest overseas member, little Baazy. The good news is that Tracey has managed to loose 12 grammes, over the last week, since she cut down her doughnut weekly intake from 24 to 22.  The other significant news is that Sharon is now down to 18 stone which is not bad for a cute 5ft 6" babe, and all this has been achieved by just being slightly restrained on the old Cripple c*** cider intake! That is all for now girls.  Look forward to seeing you all at next the weight in at the Memorial Hall. Remember that all takes is a little will power to get results and careful shopping at Tesco (hint, hint, Baazy) .   

Yours floating by  

Big Marge