“Bosnia is still a desperately poor and unhappy place” BBC report December 2005.

Just finished reading Andy McNab’s ‘Deep Black’ most of which is set in Iraq and Bosnia and it got me thinking about Bosnia again. It’s now 5 years since me and Mark went and Sarajevo has probably changed from being a burnt-out, bullet-ridden, wrecked city utterly devoid of tourists to somewhere that vaguely resembles normality. There are now backpacker hostels and within a few years it is supposedly going to become an ‘in’ place to visit. In 2001 I promised myself that I’d come back one day...

A slightly odd website, which is called ‘the Sarajevo survival guide’ and is about the more mundane but problematic issues of living through a war – dealing with an erratic water/electricity supply, ‘moving house’, how to make UN-food parcels last lomger and where people go out to socialise etc.
http://www.friends-partners.org/bosnia/surintro.html

My passport has arrived (within the week!) so at least Bratislava is now confirmed. After doing a few sums and working out the total potential cost of Belfast, I’ve pretty much ruled it out. As for the summer – it’d be nice to have a week or two with some of the BRFC crowd, though where to go hasn’t been decided. Norway, Portugal and Croatia have been suggested and sound good. I don’t think I’ll be able to sell Armenia though.

It seems like I’ll have to sign up for the Manchester run, though this is going to require some training. My only target would be to complete it within the hour mark.