And Back Again

In the morning I forced myself out of bed at 0600 to go for a run. It was simply too hot for running, so I walked one lap, ran two, and then walked a fourth one. After a quick shower and breakfast it was time to sit down to listen to briefings and to watch slide shows. Of course, at some point it was my turn to show and tell what the situation in Samangan and Provincial Office Aybak were looking like. I took notes, which I will have to type out later - otherwise no-one at the PO will be able to understand what was said at the conference. By special permission by the chief of staff, I was excused from the last two meetings of the afternoon, and we could start our return journey a little earlier than expected. We took a shortcut from CNL to the ring road by driving along the riverbank. There is hardly any water in the river now, so the wadi was easy to cross. On the ring road there was unusually heavy traffic, and the drive took longer than expected. On two occasions, our lane was blocked by broken down vehicles. The air conditioning in Lion ran at full power all the way, but my shirt and jacket were soaking wet when we arrived in Aybak.