It was announced a week ago that the Dakar Rally of 2008 has been cancelled. I, for one, needed the full week to come to terms with this tragic news.

There’s something that all those out there in blogland don’t know about me. In fact, not many know this piece of personal information. My father was the first to hesitantly suggest a diagnosis (perhaps it could be genetic?) because…

I’m totally into the Dakar Rally. I don’t follow any other motorsports and would be one of the first to feel sensitive about the cultural, environmental and political issues of an off-road rally of that scope – but put me in front of a Dakar television broadcast in January and I’ll contentedly sit there for hours and dream (this is rendered as further remarkable by my irritation at television in general and inability to sit still for the duration of a film, due to many years’ overdose from working in a video store).

I’ve often said that if I announce my intention to learn to ride a motorbike, watch out, for Dakar would be the next logical step. This is all because I saw a Japanese woman race one year on a bike. I’m not Japanese, I can’t ride a motorbike… but I am a woman – so I figured that one out of three isn’t bad!

(Otherwise, would it be possible to hitch a ride in a Kamaz*?)

But looks like I won’t be able to get my fix this year, as the bikes, cars and trucks won’t be racing from Lisbon to the Senegalese capital from January 5th-20th due to the security concerns in Mauritania, all under the guise of the “big T”… terrorism. This should have been the 30th year of the race, which was originally known as the Paris-Dakar until the course was changed in 1995.

Ah well – there’s always next year… I just hope they don’t cancel Eurovision as well, or 2008 will be a very bleak year for me!

* An archetypal Soviet/Russian truck, it’s said that both Kamaz and driver will have seen better days, but it’s a guaranteed ride for any hitchhiker…