Nice, but weird, feeling

Was out “in the field” yesterday doing fieldwork for my University studies. It basically involved wandering about in the middle of Dorset with a GPS measuring stuff.

More accurately, I was out in the rain, getting soaked, smelling the smell of fresh wet vegetation, surrounded by large trees and lots of mud, wearing clothes that stank of sweat and mud and feeling very tired.

Why was this weird? Because, for whatever reason, it reminded me of being back in Tanzania. OK, in Tanzania, I was in the middle of a tropical forest, pangering my way through dense tropical vegetation. But nevertheless, the feeling was the same. That sense of achievement through intense physical fatigue, being covered in mud and soaked to the skin.

I can’t explain it, really. But it had a profound affect on me. It was a very strange, but ultimately very nice feeling.

Though it made me sad, as I reminisced over the time I spent in Africa.

Maybe sometime soon I’ll be able to go back.