22.09.09: I returned to the Angolan embassy, fingers and toes crossed. I hung about for an hour or so before somebody came to help me. I was taken into the back room again and – miracle of miracles – was given my passport back with a shiny new ANGOLAN VISA IN IT. Woooooooooooo!!! It was only a transit visa, and I had only been given five days, but my word THEY SAID IT COULDN’T BE DONE. But someone up there likes me. I headed back over to MSF HQ waving my golden ticket around like Charlie Bucket. I’m sure everybody was duly impressed. The bus to the border leaves very early, so I missed the one for that day. No worries - Alex, Michael and I headed out for a meal (we found a great little Chinese restaurant – mmm... I haven’t had Chinese food for…

20.09.09: Today was another DVD-fest, a Hitchcock triple-bill (The Trouble With Harry (Crap), Topaz (Good) and Marnie (Okay)) culminating in Michael and I watching James Dean chew the scenery like a starving billy-goat in East of Eden, which is nicely shot (mmm... Dutch Tilts) but is, quite frankly, as boring as hell. I think we both fell asleep at various points. Gimme Bruno any day. Something got me thinking about the most idiotic character in the Star Wars universe; no, it’s not Jar Jar, it’s that little bongo-brain, Jedi Master Yoda. From the word go, that grammatically-challenged frog is a Class-A fool. First up, he separates some powerful Jedi kid from his mum, and then leaves her IN SLAVERY for ten years. What? Why? Then he decides that space wizards aren’t allowed to get it on with the opposite sex. Even though (it would appear) that…

19.09.09: A great lie-in was interrupted by my desire to watch as many of Alex’s DVDs as possible before I had to leave. So I camped on the couch and watched about seven films back to back. Ah, what bliss. Sorry Kinshasa, but you just ain’t got nothing I really want to see. That night, I was invited out to a house party with Alex and Laure. Michael had a business dinner he had to attend, so it all worked out quite well. We sat out in the garden of Alex’s friend’s house talking, drinking and eating (there was a great spread!) until the wee small hours. On our way back to Alex and Laure’s at the MSF compound, we stopped off at another friend’s house and promptly indulged in a bit of why-not-drunkenly-throw-yourself-in-the-pool shenanigans. It was FREEZING, but fun. I slept the night on Alex…

18.09.09: So…after two days, I finally got to the Angolan Embassy and found out that there was a chance - an outside chance - that I could get a new visa, since I already had one issued in London. But I’d have to return on the Monday. Well, you didn’t think it would be easy, now did you? I hate it when people (idiots, mostly) say that the visa requirements in Africa are reciprocal for the difficulties an African faces in getting a visa for Europe. Don’t be so bloody stupid. Europeans don’t need to get an advance visa for anywhere in the Western Hemisphere – and is Bolivia currently flooded with economic migrants from the UK? I don’t think so. Pretty much everyone that I meet in Africa is desperate to get the hell out of this infernal place (understandably). What would happen if we…

17.09.09: Today is Angolan Heroes Day, so the Embassy was closed. Looks like I’m going to be here for the weekend... Not that I’m complaining. I need a few days of R&R after last week’s shenanigans. So today I watched a disgraceful number of DVDs and then went for a stroll around Kinshasa. I found a little old brick church and sat for a while, enjoying the cool silence. I’m so fed up of Africa, it’s almost funny. I’m fed up of the smell, the litter, the hassle, the open sewers, the poverty, the horrific state of the roads, the awful, over-amplified music, the terrible food and (most of all) the constant state of paranoia that I’ll get arrested again for no reason. It’s no fun. Later on, Michael and I went for a beer. DR Congo is jaw-droppingly expensive – you’d be lucky to get…