The lizard

There are certain things in life you must not do. Add trying to urge a lizard from your hotel room to that list.



After a couple of beers with Antoine and Seydou, I returned to the Hotel des Conferences to find a small lizard perched precariously near the biscuits I bought earlier in the day. For some reason, and I guess this was in large part due to the ‘Brakina’ beer, I decided that I wasn’t prepared to spend a night with this lizard – I have standards. I tried as many tactics as possible. I threw my shoe at it. I threw water at it (bottled water – strange choice given this actually costs money – but that’s how I roll!). I tried to blow on it (don’t ask why). And I tried to put in it in my trainer so I could throw it outside. Nothing worked. All the lizard did was scurry off with most probably a heartfelt chuckle. At one point, the lizard moved over on the ceiling directly above my bed. I don’t care how good he or she is at climbing walls, I’m not going to sleep with this thing hanging above me. So, I climbed onto the head board behind my bed, only for the lighting in the room to cut out. My guess is the wiring runs through the head board and so now, I’m stuck in this room in the dark, wondering whether to call the hotel manager to get it fixed or simply move to another room. The latter would indeed mean that I get to have a fresh towel.


The lizard still roams free.