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Off Ramp to Brave Spaces's avatar

Dean, this was a delightful read. I enjoyed being along for the ride and found myself chuckling at many spots. …not “irritate” the engine was my favorite! The breakfast stretching to noon, also. And i could almost taste the jackfruit. It brought me back to trips I took to visit my friend in Mali. Especially your photos of the guys standing around the cars. lol. Thank you for the share.

Dean M's avatar
7dEdited

mostly welcome. I am very glad you like the story. I usually do not think when I have my Muse, I write straight out of my heart, and then also tiny irony comes with … as for Mali, have not been, but have been at the border, Senegalese side … I know well the terrain …

I have lots of stories from my Africa years … I’ll see to come up with another one soon …

In the meantime you can check this travel series I started:

https://deanpt.substack.com/p/one-how-it-all-begun

the 2nd part is in my archive, it is free to read

itsmichelled_'s avatar

Dean! What an adventure! The hike looked absolutely gorgeous! I guess there was some luck in the car breaking down in the end! Alsooooo, I am sooo curious; what did you work as? As in what brought you there??

Dean M's avatar

Thank you Michelle … I was living in Africa some years, based in Senegal, but engineering projects across the continent… I usually do Front End Engineering, then Supervision, Audits, and that kind of stuff. Power stations, in Uganda we have been building a solar power station for UNHCR …

itsmichelled_'s avatar

Aha okay okay, I think I gathered the living in Africa part a while back, but wow okay sounds like such a cool job! & even better, for a pretty good organisation! You must've had so many more cool adventures other than this!

Dean M's avatar

p.s. just to be fair I was not part of UNHCR in terms of an empolyee, I work as an independent contractor/engineer, and was hired as such … I run my own professional brand, “iM^E” = interim Management & Engineering, where I offer SaaP (Service-as-a-Product), interim and fractal management, and front-end engineering …

itsmichelled_'s avatar

Oh oh oh, I see! So you were essentially offering your services yeah, okay, that makes sense! Still pretty cool, ahaha, as someone who wants to run her own business someday, that's amazing to me!

Dean M's avatar

heh, indeed … a tiny secret for you … my first travel was in 1961 (I was barely walking) to Venice in Italy… of course I do not remember anything but there is a b&w photo somewhere … and since then almost uninterrupted year by year travelled … for whatever reason, schooling somewhere, then work, then private … and yes, stories I have …

btw did you check this travelling series I am starting?

https://deanpt.substack.com/p/one-how-it-all-begun

itsmichelled_'s avatar

Oh wow! Such a cool life you've lived Dean! & aha, I think I missed this! Definitely checking it out, thanks for pointing me to it! (:

Aaliya's avatar

This was quite an adventure I really enjoyed this post you know 😊

Dean M's avatar

Thank you dear Aaliya… I loved being there and actually loved all those kinds of situations, where you can technically plan anything and everything, but it always turns somehow the other funny way…

Off Ramp to Brave Spaces's avatar

I look forward to coming back to this, Dean!

Dean M's avatar

Thank you! It is a bit “loger than the poem” :-) but a true event … one of many I had on my numerous travels …