Football, futbol, soccer...

Travel In Depth Fantasy Football league now set up (Fantasy Premier League).

Some personal teams in there but also a Travel In Depth team made up of players from our destination countries.    I bet they're top by the end of the season (well, at least above my own team).

Let us know if you want to join......

Guyanese or Welsh? (I know what I'd pick)

In sporting news, great news for Guyana is terrible news for Wales.

According to FIFA, the Guyana National Football Team are now the 114th best team in the world, compared to the Welsh, who have dropped 5 places to lie in a lowly 117th (the teams separated by North Korea and Haiti).

Guyana have never made it to a World Cup or CONCACAF Gold Cup (The North American and Caribbean Championships), and have a best ever record of finishing 4th in the Caribbean Cup in 1991, competing against football heavy weights such as Antigua and The Netherlands Antilles.

They boast players from teams such as England's Croydon Athletic and Cray Wanderers (.. me neither.. ) and Guyana's own Buxton United!

Compared to players such as Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey (Spurs and Arsenal respectively), Guyana shouldn't, on paper, compare, but according to the folks who run football, they not only compare, but are better!

Iechyd da!

You can't go wrong with rum and coke on the menu

Last Wednesday saw the annual, always-a-pleasure, Wilderness Explorers organised, Guyanese Evening, this year held at the University Women's Club in Mayfair (a lovely venue it was too).  And if the Guyanese rum flavoured beverages weren't enough to remind you of why Guyana gets under your skin, there was plenty of Guyana-themed chat to be had, not least in the form of a handful of entertaining and inspiring talks given by the guest speakers - two of which were Donald Greig of Bradt Travel Guides and writer John Gimlette, whose latest excellent publication "Wild Coast: Travels on South America's Untamed Edge" is a must-read for anyone with even the slightest hint of interest in that part of the world and I'd argue even for anyone with an as yet unknown interest in the area.

After the informal formalities and after-talk chit chat came to an end, or rather after the rum came to an end, there was just enough time for the tail-enders to head to the pub for a nightcap before the evening drew to a close.  I left the usual suspects with glasses still not empty and headed for home, home for me for the night being an airbed at the Florin Court Hostel, which was much appreciated albeit a little surreal, being there by myself.

Big thanks to Claire and Tony for once again organising such an informative and fun evening, the event and the company was delightful as always. Roll on next year's do!

On a lighter, and smellier note...

Have you heard the one about smelly, worn socks saving hundreds of thousands of lives every year? Well it looks like it could happen!

Malarial carrying mosquitos appear to be attracted to smelly socks and in Tanzania they've been using smelly socks to lure mosquitos into an insecticide laced trap that then kills said mosquitos.

How simple is that?! And how simply ace would it be if it can be turned into an effective and commonplace method of reducing the occurrences of malarial related deaths?

This is just one of many articles on the web reporting the ongoing research......