#ive been off work a week cause of whooping cough

[dammitkat1e]

aaaaaaaaaaAaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[autisticblueteam]

Appears from the ether again, after months of only being present enough to fill my queue up, with some WIP snippets from the gen:LOCK re-write I mentioned before...

And also finally adressing these tags lmao, sorry @thesouppond I realise these are like 3 months old.

#FUCK IM JUST SEEING THIS NOW???#FUCK YEAH 2024 SEASON OF EVERYONE GETS TO REWRITE GENLOCK CAUSE FUCK S2#Ahem anyway hi genlock moot :)))#I love your writing btw! Ive read your existing GL fics theyre great!#at this point if someone can give me a GL fic i havent already met I will forever be indebted to you i am DYING for GL content

We're really out here trying our best to do better by GL than HBO did huh!! I've been loving Reloaded, it was so nice to see someone else pop up in the gL tag after it was comparatively dead for so long. I've been working on my re-write since just after s2 came out and it was lonely in there for a while there lmao.

So I'm glad you enjoyed the couple of fics I've already done! I'm re-using parts of one of them for the actual re-write since I'm going for the 'keep the basic bones of s2 but aim to fix the execution into something less shit/re-work the worst bits' and I didn't want to write that first nemesis fight over again from total scratch lmao...

I want to finish writing all of the re-write before I post it in full, but that does mean it's taking forever whoops.

I'm still not past the introduction of Sinclair as his portion is so involved and I keep getting distracted by other projects/hobbies, but I did finally get to a point where my take on Sinclair is actually fun to write! I'm keeping his boyfriend because I did at least like that Sinclair was made canonically queer and they're actually cute when I'm just doing my own thing.

So since I feel like posting some WIP bits, here's my favourite Chris/Sinclair stuff I've done so far.

“YEAH! Take that you fucked up tin can!” Sinclair winced. The shout was like an ice pick being driven into his skull, but it was also what finally drove him to lift his head. There ahead of him, wielding a large piece of debris in one hand, was a heavyset Asian man dressed in torn clothes and covered in grime. He reared back, and for a split second Sinclair thought that projectile was for him, until he heard an impact, and the last of the humming died. The man brushed off his hands, pride written on every feature, and in that moment he was the most beautiful thing Sinclair had ever seen. “Coast’s clear!” the stranger called behind him. There was movement, but Sinclair didn’t care to look, his attention caught by the man’s approach. “And we’ve got a live one.” Sinclair’s throat was so dry he broke down coughing twice, in the time it took the stranger to kneel in front of him. “I-I’m not Union. I-I know— with the uniform, and the—” Another violent burst of coughing cut him off. The stranger handed him a canteen and a crooked smile. “Yeah, no shit. You’ve got way too much emotion on your face to be even a defector,” he said, and if Sinclair wasn’t so busy chugging the offered water, he might have mustered a laugh. “That, plus, the lack of helmet, the collapsing, and the drone getting ready to turn you into a novelty cheese grater kinda gave it away.” “Christ, I could kiss you right now,” Sinclair blurted and then regretted in quick succession. Fuck. He’d been in near solitary too long, his filter had worn away to nothing and he was making a damn fool of himself in front of the first sane people he’d seen in weeks. Except the stranger just… laughed, good-naturedly. “Close, the name’s Chris, not Christ. And I’d say buy me dinner first, but it’s a bit hard out here.”

AND then a little later...

“What about the refugee railroads?” Chris lowered his beer bottle and wiped his mouth. “Too far.” “Vanguard safe crossings?” “Too far.” “The— fucking Canadian border?” Chris laughed, “Too far. Further than either of the other things. Jesus, dude. You sure you haven’t got a concussion?” “Mostly,” Sinclair said, rubbing his face with his intact hand. “I just— you’re going to die if you stay here. A drone only has to get lucky once.” “And if we go deeper in, we’ll only die faster,” Chris said with a simple shrug. “We already have to pack up and move every few weeks when the line moves. And every time, the Polity border gets a little bit further away. Believe me, man, I want nothing more than to get outta here, but it’s just not happening.” “What if I helped?” The offer fell out before he’d consciously decided to make it, but Sinclair stood by it. Even when Chris looked at him dubiously. “No offence, dude, but you’re just one guy. And two days ago you could barely stand.” “And now I’m fine,” Sinclair insisted. “I’m a soldier. I was decorated for valour after I got my squad out of a run-in with the Union that should’ve killed us all. I was the only one who could even still hold a gun. I swear, I could get you somewhere safe. Are you really telling me you’d rather keep sitting around waiting to die than take a risk?” Chris’s brow furrowed, and he didn’t answer immediately, taking another swig from his scratched up bottle of beer. Sinclair sighed. “Look. I need to get to a Vanguard base one way or another. I don’t want to leave you guys behind if I don’t have to. I owe you my life. And maybe dinner.” Chris almost choked on his drink. “Wow,” he laughed, clearing his throat, “you sure pick your moments, huh?” Sinclair shrugged. “Figure if you’re not actually into it I’ll just blame the concussion.” “That you don’t have.” “Exactly.” Chris rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “Smooth. Smooth operator. Alright, alright, fine, we’ll talk to the others in the morning. It might be a tougher sell when they’re not the ones getting dinner with a hot soldier out of it, but hey, guess we’ll see.” “Are you looking past the just-got-done-being-tortured chic, here, or is that part of the charm?” “Are you kidding? There’s a whole genre focused on how hot soldier guys look after they’ve been through hell.” “Not sure that’s the intended takeaway of action movies.” “Well,” Chris shrugged, starting to pick at a can of food, “it was definitely my takeaway.” Sinclair laughed. Honest-to-god laughed, in a way he was surprised he was even capable of after the last few weeks. The normality of the moment was like a balm on all the aching parts of him, mental and physical alike. For a moment he could almost forget that the reason he looked like shit was because he’d just escaped the worst experience of his life. For a moment it felt like the fight was over.

Now I just have to actually get through the remainder of my Sinclair set-up and then I'll be only one chapter away from finishing the first half of the fic... so close and yet so far lmao.

[swiss-cheeze]

Up || Daniel Webber x reader

Bold = lyrics

Italic = memories

Song - Up from Sing Street

Warnings: talk of physical abuse.

———

It's two o'clock on the edge of the morning

She's running magical circles around my head

I hitch a ride on a dream she's driving

“Stop going so fast love!” Daniel said with a laugh as his hair whipped into his face, the roof of the convertible had gone down ages ago but the pair where on a very clear free way with the speed at 100 and no cars in sight.

“Oh come on Daniel! Let loose!” you yelled to the boy over the wind sloshing across your ears and your hair whipping everywhere above you.

“Not when we’re about to DIE” Daniel said jokingly with a laugh as he gripped the car door, you hit the actors chest and gave him a stern ‘come on pussy’ look, Daniel simply rolled his eyes at you before leaning over to the radio and turned up Kickstart My Heart and pumped his hands into the air with the bass. You yelped and whooped and sang as loud and as high as you could.

She turns to kiss me, I crash back into bed

Daniel awoke with a start, his hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and his sheets stuck to his chest as the rest of him was drenched in sweat, his breathing was heavy and the room was thick and musty; this was not ideal.

Across the street on a grayed out Monday

I see the girl with the eyes I can't describe

And suddenly it's a perfect Sunday

And everything is more real than life

Daniel stood from his bed and rubbed his face as he started getting ready for the day, you had invited him out for breakfast, but what Daniel did not know; you decided to bring your boyfriend, he would've been fine with it had it not have been the boyfriend that frequently abuses you. Daniel had been your best friend since the pair of you where three years old but when high school came around the corner and hormones became an apparent thing in both of your lives, Daniel had a never ending crush on you. Everything about you he loved and he fell in love with you with every moment that passed that he was with you; the funny cat videos you send him, the way you tie your hair back when you’re thinking and making things, the way you have a certain way of doing everything in the morning and your afternoon routine. The poor boy hated seeing you with so many guys that meant nothing to you, and you meant nothing to them. Daniel could always tell if the guy you were dating had a side chick or just wasn't interesting and even though he constantly told you you never listened, and then within the next month Daniel would find you in tears and blabbering ‘sorrys’ from not believing him, of course the actor would bring you in and comfort you with tea and a place to sleep for the night.

I think I'm back in the dream

I think I'm back on the ceiling

It's such a beautiful feeling

Walking down the street Daniel could hear the bustling of the street next to him, the clicking of the soles of his shoes on the pavement, the screaming child just behind him that wasn't allowed a lollipop; even with his headphones in and at a reasonable volume. Everything seemed so loud but so far away, Daniel wanted to tell you how much he loved you, how much he wanted to hug and hold you, kiss you and make you feel safe and okay and happy; but of course you already had someone before he could ask you.

Going up

“(Y/n)?” Daniel asked as he opened his front door and squinted out to his porch, “doll what the hell are you doing?” the tired man asked as he quickly let you in and sat you down on his couch before making his way to the kitchen and boiling the kettle, he knew what you were doing here, he knew something happened between you and your boyfriend, you normally wouldn't be here if it weren't for that. Daniel came back within five minutes with a two cups of tea and placed them both on the coffee table before retreating again to bring out the family biscuit pack and sat down next to you; the blonde didn't speak for a moment as he let you drink your tea and have a bite of an oval cookie.

“H-he slapped me” you whispered softly against the bite you took off your biscuit. Your voice was shaky and quiet as you let the words sink in, not only into Dan beside you; but to yourself as well, you never believed it would happen, you never thought you did anything bad or something your boyfriend didn't like.

“He...he hit you” Daniel confirmed looking at you with wide eyes. You simply nodded as you kept nibbling at your biscuit, “why?”

“An argument broke out, Damian was asking what i had made for dinner and I told him I hadn't made it yet, then he started to get s-so a-angry….” you mumbled, the end of your sentence trailed off as the fresh memories came back and the red mark on your cheek burnt, “a-and he got so….out of control. I-I couldnt s-stop him” you whimpered softly, tears sprouted in your eyes again and dripped down your cheek and into your tea as you took a generous mouthful.

“(N/n)....” Daniel said in a ‘what-do-i-even-say’ tone.

“J-just don-don't worry” you muttered softly as you dipped your biscuit into your warm tea and bit into the soft mush before it dropped, as you ate you looked to Daniel and took a second glance as he sipped his own tea. Dan looked to you mid bite.

“What?” he asked, a watery smile crept its way onto your face as you looked down.

“You’re only in your underwear” you said softly, Dan looked down with a small ‘what?’.

“Oh. Shit.” he said as he looked at his black jocks , “shit i'm sorry (Y/n)” the actor said as he put down his tea and rubbed his eyes. This made you laugh softly as you finished your tea and biscuit.

She lights me up

She breaks me up

She lifts me up

“Its okay” you said with a laugh as you put down your drink, “we’ve been friends for years, ive seen you naked before” you said with a giggle.

“Oh don't bring up that memory” Daniel said as he buried his head in his hands, “that was so embarrassing” the boy mumbled. When the two of you were in your teens you would go past each others houses and let yourselves in as nobody was really ever home, but today just so happen to be the week Daniel had broken his leg and with no one else home to help him shower; you had to be the one to make the commitment. Even though it was for an actual reason it was still something you liked to joke about every now and then; you had to help undress Daniel and shower him all while keeping your eyes up and off of his junk.

“It really wasn't” you said with a chuckle, “it was for a good reason” you said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, I know, but still. I've grown you know!” Daniel said quickly, before he could register the words his face went red as you burst out into a fit of giggles.

“Oh really?” you asked, “down there?” you pointed to his junk, “or up here?” you patted the blonde head which granted you a fun loving death glare from Daniel as he pushed your hand away from his head.

“You know what I mean” Daniel said with a blush.

“I really dont you know” you said with a laugh.

“UP HERE YOU DORK!” Daniel said with a loud voice and a laugh, this caused you to laugh too as you both shook your head.

You find a mystery bound in perfection

You've got to read, but you don't want to reach the end

As Daniel reached the cafe he pulled the headphones from his ears and stuffed them in his pocket with his phone. He could see you from the window already, Damian had a protective arm wrapped around your shoulders as you searched the cafe for Daniel; you almost looked frantic, you wanted to get away from Damien, which is probably the reason you have squished yourself against the window to get as far away from the man as you physically could. Of course that hasn't worked as you got pulled back into Damiens side.

Cause what if everything beautiful's fiction

And this reality's just pretend?

As Daniel walked into the cafe and the door let off a bell sounding out someone was here, a bright smile lit up your face like christmas night as Daniel finally reached the booth. By now you had FORCED Damian from the booth so you could hug your best friend.

“Hey Dan” you said into his neck softly as you squeezed the actor, him returning with the same force.

“Missed you” Daniel said softly into your hair as he nuzzled into your neck; but this moment was short lived as a rather loud and obnoxious cough interrupted you two. You separated from Daniel quickly and smiled before motioning for Daniel to sit down as you went back to your previous seat and Damien was quick to move in next to you; efficiently trapping you.

“So Dan” Damien said with a tight and annoyed smile, “what’ve you been up to recently that has made you stay away from us for so long?” the man asked. Daniel had to fit the urge to roll his eyes at the fakely covered sarcasm.

“Uh, i've been filming down in uh, SA actually. Adelaide; for the new movie with the other Daniel” Dan said with a chuckle. You leant forward in your seat and placed your arms on the table as a sign for Daniel to keep talking; that you were listening with the giant smile on your face. Daniel coughed and chuckled softly as he looked to you with a grin, “it’s called Escape from Pretoria, it's about these two men who break out from a South african prison with help from other people and it's just about their journey of survival really and how they got by; it's based on a book from one of the real escapees, Time Jenkin, Radcliffe is the one who got that role and i got the other guy” Daniel said with such happiness; he loved talking about his job but he loved it when you listen to his stories and things he does with the job. You get as excited as Daniel himself does, it's a nice thing to know.

And then I'm back in the dream

I'm looking up at the ceiling

It's such a beautiful feeling

As time passed and stories got told, Damien had excused himself from the table to go to the bathroom and as soon as he was out of sight Daniel got on topic.

“Has he hurt you recently?” the actor asked as he bent over the table slightly and leant in closer so no one else could hear. You looked to Dan with a scared face before doing the same and leaning in.

“Y-yeah he has” you said softly, “im so sorry” you say as you wipe your eyes from the tears that threatened to fall, “he takes my phone and locks the house and puts my keys somewhere i can't find them” you whimper out softly. Dan quickly gets up from the table and walks around to sit next to you, as he sat his arm wrapped around your shoulders and slowly brought you into his chest for a hug; you wrapped your arms around Dans shoulders and tried to stifle your crying.

“It’s okay babe” Dan said, he didn't even try to stop the nickname falling from his mouth as it felt so nice to say and sounded like the right time to say it.

“N-no it's not!” you whimper softly, “I don't want to be with Damien anymore. I hate him, h-he's so rude! And arrogant. He doesn't like any of the things I do, we disagree on everything all the way down to what to watch on TV!” you exclaimed, your voice wasn't loud enough state for everyone else to hear but Daniel knew what you were doing. Daniel nodded in an understanding of where you were coming from and thought for a moment.

Going up

“Then leave him” Daniel said, “we’ll leave right now,” he exclaimed with wide arms, “we-we pick up your stuff from your house and we head back to mine. You can bunk with me until we find a better place for you to live without him there” Dan said, you giggled softly at his awkwardness but nodded quickly.

“Please, I want to get away from him” you said with a sniffle. Dan nodded as well and clapped.

“Right! Come on, let's get away from here” Dan said as he started to drink the rest of his drink and took the last bite from his food as you started to bring money out from your purse, “what are you doing?” Daniel asked with a concerned look, “you aren't paying,” he said.

“What? No. im giving a tip” you said with a light chuckle as the waitress came over, she asked if the two of you were finished and you both nodded before telling her your ‘friend’ was in the toilet and was going to pay for the food anyway. You handed the woman a fair tip before dashing out of the cafe with the giggles and making quick work of getting to Daniels car before Damien came back.

She lights me up

She breaks me up

She lifts me up

After a quick rush to your ‘previous’ house (as Daniel had now dubbed it) to grab your things the two of you left a little note for Damien, basically saying you where going to change your phone number, that you had run off with someone and your things and that you never wanted to see him again. With To Young to Fall in Love blasting on the radio and the car going down the street at reasonable speed you got to Daniels house in record time; with enough daylight to still make a whole new room just for you in his house (seeing as it was a two bedroom). Daniel helped you set out your room as you wanted before the pair of you flopped onto the living room couch in a fit of giggles with some cool jazz playing in the background.

“I didn't actually think you’d agree with me,” Daniel said, “about moving in with me”

“Of course i would. Anything to get away from that prick” you said with a sigh and a roll of your eyes. You hated Damien since you first met him but he had somehow conditioned you into thinking you loved him and he loved you back, “I actually found out last week he's been cheating on me since before me and him got together” you paused, “I guess that’d make me the cheatee?” you questioned before shrugging, “I don't know what happened with the other girl. Maybe he’ll go back with her” you said with a sigh.

“Don't think about it hun” Daniel said as he sat up alongside you, he nudged your shoulder softly with a blush as he bit his lip, “you know there's always someone out there for you” Daniel said, biting the bullet. You shrugged.

“Maybe there isn't” you mumbled, before looking to the lounge room carpet and picking at the fraying ends.

Up to the stars she shows me

Daniel took a second look at you before scoffing slightly, “‘maybe there isn't’?” Daniel repeated.

“Well, yeah. Maybe i'm just meant to be alone!” you exaggerated.

“Why the hell would you say something like that?” Daniel said with a slight edge to his voice, “(Y/n) you're so beautiful, you're so talented. You send me cat videos almost every day at the same time, you tie your hair up and out of your face” Daniel scoffed as he fell back onto the cough with a huff, “hell, every night before you go to bed you turn the TV off, you got to the kitchen to make sure the kettle is off before you walk up the stairs, TWO AT A TIME, and put on long fluffy socks for the night if its cold before cuddling into the blanket in the fetal position” Daniel said; his face had turned red and was almost in tears.

Dame Street, George's Street, miles below me

Up where the world won't let us down

(Na, na, na, na)

“Daniel…” you muttered softly as you sat next to the actor on the couch as he wiped his eyes.

“(Y/n) im in love with you, and i have been my entire life. Ever since you first came to me from your first boyfriend breaking up with you, with tears streaming down your face and ice cream around your mouth you always looked so beautiful to me. The day we had our highschool formal and you were in that beautiful dress? That was the moment i knew i had fallen for you, i had been discarding my feelings and putting them off thinking it was just stupid teenage hormones; but seeing you walk down those stairs and into the lounge room where i was waiting with your parents and that stupid boyfriend of yous-”

“Braydon” you cut in with a watery smile.

“Yeah! Him. I always hated him” Daniel muttered absently, “ever since then ive been in love with you, and i've fallen more and more in love with you with every day that has passed. I find new things about you almost every day” Daniel said before taking a breath and letting out a small chuckle as he sniffled and wiped his eyes.

Going up

(It's two o'clock on the edge of the morning)

“Daniel…” you said softly, “why didn't you tell me sooner?” you asked as you scooted closer to the actor.

“I didn't want to ruin what we had” Daniel muttered softly as you wrapped your arms around him.

She lights me up

(She's running magical circles around my head)

“I wouldn't have minded you know” you said softly as you turned Daniels head to look at you. You sighed softly at the tears that streamed down his face and wiped away the tracks they had left and cupped Dans cheeks; rubbing your thumb over his cheekbone before letting your gaze drop to his lips.

She breaks me up

(I hitch a ride on a dream she's driving)

“Are you saying i could have asked you out this entire time?” Daniel asked with a chuckle, you nodded with a grin that spread to your eyes.

“I've been in love with you since you first broke your leg” you said before pausing, “wait”

“So you love me for my junk is that it?” Daniel asked with a laugh.

“What no! Of course not you dork!” you said as you pushed Daniel, the boy laughed wholeheartedly as he let himself fall onto his side on the couch before twisting himself onto his back as you came up and placed your knees either side of his hips; neither of you thought of it being sexual, nor did you even want it to be sexual.

“Why then?” Daniel asked, “hmm?”

“Because you trusted me enough to help you in some of your most desperate times without anyone else being there” you said thoughtfully. Daniel leant up on his elbows with a soft smile, “and ive fallen more and more in love with you with each day that passes” you said softly.

She lifts me up

Daniel chuckled softly before you leant in and connected your lips with his; a passionate, searing kiss mixed with every emotion of love, want, distance and everything in between. Your arms wrapped around Daniels shoulders and tangled into his hair as his came around your waist and his hands connected with the skin of your back; you shirt had ridden up from straddling Daniel, but neither of you cared enough to stop.

[jjvinnicombe]

Things that have happened

First of all I have left Kilimatinde! As I write this I am sitting on a bus to Arusha in the North. Not that the last 6 weeks has been hard work but now begins the holiday part of my trip; 9 days of safari and Zanzibar with Ro and then 5 days in Uganda seeing all my friends on a whistle-stop tour! In the last few weeks a fair few notable things have happened so I'll just flesh a few of them out here... One morning Ollie and I went in to do the paediatric ward round and found Mwaja (one of the Clinical Officers in the middle of a medicine degree) ready to do some minor surgery on a poor ten year old girl. Basically she'd managed to get a bit of wood buried in her leg and it needed to come out. Anyway, Mwaja being the top lad that he is got Ollie and I involved. I got a pair of sterile gloves and Ollie was in charge of shining the torch and dousing the wound with saline. Mwaja topped her leg up the brim with local anaesthetic and then I had a poke around inside with the forceps. However after a good poke I couldn't find any wood in there so Mwaja had a go. He found a couple of bits about the length of a match and four times as thick and when he drew them out the poor girl was hating it. But it wasn't over, Mwaja said that she could feel something right at the back of the leg too (the wound was next to the shin) and he thought he could feel something else with the forceps (but we couldn't see it). So he's probing away, manages to grab something fairly wide about 3 cm inside and starts to pull. Now this girl is fully crying and her mum comes over to, at first, comfort her, but then restrain her as Mwaja starts to pull harder. He's pulling and pulling and the girl is screaming now. I say "Mwaja, are you sure you're not pulling bone?". "Yes, the X-ray showed no fracture" he says as he pulls harder. And then suddenly, and this is no joke, a piece of wood about 1.5cm wide and 10cm long is being held in midair by Mwaja's forceps (I will upload a photo). Ollie looked like he was going to be sick and actually turned away and my forehead was covered in sweat. This little girls leg wasn't even 10cm in diameter, the piece of wood had travelled obliquely or it would have punched out the other side. Anyway Mwaja cleaned the wound out with saline and gauze, we packed it with iodine soaked gauze and that was that. (Well I say that was that, but we had to clean that wound and pack it with gauze everyday and fair enough she hated it everytime)  Something sad happened. Earlier that week Ollie and I were doing the paediatric ward round and then we heard a sound which triggers a running-to-have-a-look reflex in all humans but 1000x more in healthcare professionals. It was the sound of stridor - the sound you get when you are trying to inhale but your throat is too closed up to get a proper breath in. We rounded the corner and it was two kids, one baby and one two year old. In the UK this would be a proper emergency - at least 5 doctors would be working on each. These kids just had Ollie and I and a copy of the Oxford Clinical Handbook on Tropical Medicine. Top causes of stridor: something is pressing on the trachea (like a tumour) but unlikely in children; something is stuck in the trachea (like a piece of food) which is very likely in children but not two separate children at the same time; or a serious infection has caused the tissue around the trachea to swell up and close off the airway. This had been going on for a week, they hadn't swallowed anything, it had to be an infection. A mixed blessing because at least it was something we could do something about, but we had no way of working out which infection it was.  So we examined them as best we could but even this is fraught with difficulties because if you upset the child and they start crying then that can completely occlude the airway and that's death basically. In between coughing and gasping for air the two year old wasn't too bad, he was sitting up and eating rice and his vital signs weren't terrible. But the baby wasn't good at all, didn't have much of a stridor but that's a bad thing because it means they aren't able to take decent breaths anymore. Also the mum said they hadn't been able to breastfeed in a couple of days. We still didn't know and would have no way of finding out the cause. We had no ability to do bacterial cultures and some causes of this presentation are viral anyway. So we started broad spectrum IV antibiotics, gave them steroids to try and reduce the swelling in their throats and help them to breathe. Because the little one was so dehydrated they got fluids too. We came in the next morning and the baby had died overnight. And now two more children from the same household had arrived with the same condition. Their arrival was at least a little bit helpful because with them the underlying disease was easier to identify. Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, loud inspiratory stridor. It was whooping cough. So we checked over the new kids and got all three of them started on erythromycin - there is no cure for whooping cough but that is the best we've got. There is a vaccine for whooping cough, it's the P in DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis) and they have it out here too - I've been making babies cry with it for weeks now. But unfortunately this family live deep in the Rift Valley and hadn't managed to immunise their children. (As I left this morning all remaining children were alive and improving) Okay I'll end on something a bit, well alot lighter, but forgive me if it's just too an awkward juxtaposition to the above stuff. The boys from Leicester left me last week so I've been hanging out with the Germans girls every couple of days since then. On Saturday we went to find the centre of Tanzania! Sounds like it would be an epic journey from the 1800's but actually it was just ten minutes drive down the road. But it was more than that haha. Because the point that marks it is a stone marker on top of a massive rock on top of a hill covered in forest. So it ended up being another waterfall style trek; fighting our way through trees and undergrowth, scrambling up huge boulders and finding out own way. At one stage we lost sight of the marker for ages and so scrambled up another huge boulder to look for it and have lunch. This boulder had a full thickness crack along one side and what should we find living down there but hundreds of bats! Bats again I know, I'm obsessed with bats, but it was really cool seeing them in the daytime and so many of them! Anyway we saw where we had to go and with another half an hour of trying a couple of routes we finally made our way to the rock with the marker on top! Unfortunately there was no actual way to climb that huge rock, just to sheer and smooth. And so in the end we had to settle with being next to the centre of Tanzania (I mean it's pretty convenient the centre of Tanzania is on top of a rock and not say just in someone's mud hut, so who's to say we weren't on the centre).  Also Monday 1st May was a bank holiday here too. So to celebrate yet another day off I went to the village party at the local secondary school. Normally these events are incredibly dull. There is always a special guest, there is always the same formality of a dozen long speeches and lunch is always served really late when you're bored and starving. Luckily Monday was an exception, there was a special guest sure and lunch was late but the speeches were few and short in length and the morning was very interesting! It basically ended up being some sort of bizarre adult sports day with workers from the hospital versus the school staff versus the villagers. My first event was downing a beer which, as anyone who has seen me try, is something I cannot do. I was 5th out of five for that one. I also jumped on the hospital team for tug of war, finally an event I've been winning since Year Four. We lost that one too. Other notable events I didn't join in with were: chasing a chicken (felt bad for the kuku but the video is hilarious) and a race where you run the length of a football pitch, thread a needle and run back again (love the imagination with that one). I also had a laugh when the special guest arrived, they were just a representative from the local district authority. The workers wrote signs in swahili - "Welcome to Kilimatinde", "You are very welcome", etc. And then at the end - "When will employers stand up for workers rights?" Haha! Preach it brother! I'm planning to write another blog post called "Realities" but if you can't face another quite frankly fairly depressing entry then someone let me know.