How I miss my thrice yearly visits to Tunisia!  Over a year has gone by since I last rode Zeydoun in the Sahara, enjoying the camaraderie of the Bedouin.  But I call Adel two or three times a month, and am thankful to say that he, his wife and three children are all well,  Inshallah, and my camel too who I gather is happy with the new corral that Adel has made for him.   So far, Sabria has avoided the virus, but according to my wonderful driver friend Belgacem who I spoke to last weekend, there are cases in nearby El Faouar, Kebili and Douz.

I would love to have spent this Christmas in Tunisia, and if that proved impossible, then a trip in February for my birthday.  Both ideas are of course non-starters, and it may well be late spring or even early autumn 2021 before I am reunited with my very dear dromedary, by which time we will both be even more ancient than we are right now! 

But the two of us are putting these long days to good use:  Zeydoun is introducing the village children to the joys of camel riding (under supervision!) and I am cracking on with self-publishing my book, Great Aunt Alice and the Black Camel, which, with the inspirational input of the publishing company Salamander Street and illustrator Mia Buckton, should be in print by the beginning of January – now that really will be a dream come true!