The Rats of Janzoor

Now that it is a little cooler, I have recently begun running twice a week with a couple of friends. We run on the roads just near by my house and do a 3.5km loop - a similar distance to my old running track around Lake Monger in Perth. The route is not quite as scenic, but does have some highlights that I would like to share with you!!

Here is where we meet and start:

Rumour has it that this path is one day going to be a railway track. At the moment it just joins up a couple of roads, which we also run along. There is no universal garbage collection system, and it is quite common for there to be piles of rubbish on the side of the road. Sometimes, it is burnt and the smouldering remains left to slowly die out.

But the real joy of running is dodging the road kill:

By far, the most common of the dead animals is our old friend the rat. Golden running rule No 1 is always to watch your feet! But this one is quite gory, you will be pleased to know that after a few days/weeks/months, the carcasses dehydrate and squash down so that they don't really look real anymore and the only identifying feature is a tail or foot poking out:

What concerns me that these are just a few of the sqashed ones on the road (I have more in my photo gallery!!!) What about all the ones that are still alive!!

This posting has been inspired by a book I saw in Australia once which showed you how to identify animals on the side of the road (or under your tyre) and squashed insects on your windscreen. Do you think that there is a market for a book on the Dead Rats of Janzoor?

I hope that this hasn't been too repulsive - I think the point that I am trying to make here is that after a while you get used to all this, that it begins to feel normal. When we first got here, I was shocked by much of what I was seeing but now things often doesn't even register. Humour can get a bit dark as you try to make sense of what you are seeing.

Anyway, I am off to Malta at the end of the week and the Desert Rat to Miami and the Dominican Republic - watch this space for some postings from our travels abroad!

Sahara Girl