Sleep

I have just woken up after a lovely long night's sleep in my 'own' bed. I was undoubtedly tired after an overnight flight the night before but there are other reasons I sleep better in the UK than I do when I'm in Africa.

1. It's cool. In N'Djamena at the moment the night time temperature doesn't get below about 25C and at the hotter times of year it probably doesn't get much below 30C.

2. It's quiet. To try and keep cool in Chad I sleep with a fan on. It's always a bit of a dilemma - am I kept awake by the heat or by the noise of the fan? Even with the fan on you can still hear all the other sounds of the African night - the frogs, crickets and dogs keep up a constant chorus throughout the night and then there is the early morning cacophony of the call to prayer, the cockerels and the goats.

3. It's dark. For security reasons our compound in N'Djamena has outside lights and although that makes us all feel a bit safer it does mean it is never really dark. The availability of thick material to make curtains is also pretty limited so it's hard to block out the light.

4. It's comfortable. When you do short-term assignments you tend to get the 'spare' bed and inevitably they have seen better days...

I am going to make the most of the next 17 nights in the UK!