So, as every year, comes the day before my birthday.

And, as so many times before, I am in a distant place, where the people I spend my days with aren’t the people who actually care about and know me. I don’t generally take birthdays and anniversaries very seriously, but they do awake some sort of nostalgia that makes me give an extra thought to people that I would like to spend my days with and that I miss for various reasons. I have spent birthdays in many different parts of the world, with new friends and strangers that many times have given me a great time full of laughter and dancing. This year I have only been around here for about a week and I will be crossing the border to South Africa tomorrow to buy groceries and get some passports stamped which naturally isn’t very exciting. It will probably be nice to be able to buy something that is not ridiculously overpriced and to extend my very limited wardrobe when I have the chance, maybe spend some hours by a hostel pool. I might go dancing with friendly strangers tonight as there is some sort of carnival here in Maputo but the party usually starts at 24 in the night, and I need to be on a bus at 7.20 tomorrow morning. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that we will stay in the little town named Nelspruit until Sunday morning, and I probably won’t have wifi all day, so no calling or hugging tomorrow, my darlings – I’m sorry, you are all truly missed.