Met an interesting guy today who doesn't believe that all rugby crowds are thieves. He is the founder and chief coach of a team with a very interesting story of how they came to be champions of North Antananarivo in 4 years. His team are all from a village 19km north of Tana. It is a village where every man was a soldier and son of a soldier. All the other villages around were terrified of these villagers who lived without any electricity because no-one would go...

Presumably I must be doing something right. I have been asked to go from two sessions a week to 5 sessions a week. They want me to keep my current elite group going and start another 3 basic level groups at one session each per week. I assume basic means able to say 'Hello'; we will see. Even more amusing they want me to start a group for local youths starting in October and want to drum up local talent by………….wait for it……….. appearing in a TV ad! ...

Woken at 3.20 a.m. your time by the second mozzie of the night. Not bitten just that really annoying drone. Score remains BEER 4 v 0 BITES, There is a gecko/lizard outside my window who keeps up a pretty constant 'Chip, ribble, ribble, ribble.' but the mozzies must have got past him. The reason I decided to write at this ridiculous hour is that I suddenly realised what I was missing, The call to prayer. Been here over two weeks and haven't heard it once. I know...

Did Geography today in the form of a personalised Guide Book to Madagascar. That of course would be a series of articles written by them for my exclusive use as a planning tool including the 10 best things to eat and drink, the 10 most useful Mlagasy phrases and the 10 most interesting places to visit in Madagascar. After 15 minutes discussion they wrote for most of the 90 minutes. At the end a knackered Navindra said "Can you bring chocolate again on Tuesda...

Having cooked for myself for the last 3 nights I decide to eat out at a local restaurant that the patron had recommended as being not too expensive. I thought it was slightly over the odds but then you think: I had a large pression of THB, my favourite, which came with a small bowl of olives and a plate of mixed nuts. Wanting to get over duck scratchings I went safe with half a chicken cooked over a wood fire with green beans and boiled then fried small potatoes....