OLE OLE, OLE OLE , FEELING HOT HOT HOT !!!!!!!

Dear all ,

 Manda and I hope you are 'all' well.All makes it sound like thousands of people. Of course it has taken me forever to start writing again. Samuel Pepys I aint, that's for sure.For the majority of you who think we are a bit mad already then I think I can safely assure you that you were right all along.So ,as ever,fasten your seatbelts, grab a bottle of your favourite tipple, put your feet up and relax.Sorry but there is much to tell involving heat, humidity,dogs and cats, our house sale, boat purchase and a seafront cottage.

'But first 'Where are you now?'I hear you ask. The centre of the earth to be precise, well about 200 miles from it. Not in a ball of magma but at 0,0 where the Greenwich Meridian and the Equator cross ,or would if you could mark the spot in the ocean. I think there is a marker buoy but have no desire to find out.

However we might as well be at the centre of the Earth as I can safely say that this is the most humid place we have ever been to. Elmina in Ghana is where we have ended up which is about 3 1/2 hours along the coast from Accra, the capital. It seems that Africa has us in her grip. If you live in Northern climes you will appreciate how cold the wind chill factor can make it feel. Here we have the opposite. Today's weather forecast on a relatively cool day in the rainy season is :


Partly Cloudy Morning Afternoon Evening  Night
Temperature 26 °c 32 °c 31 °c 29 °c
Feels Like 30 °c 40 °c 42 °c 37 °c

MANDA'S NEW HAIRSTYLE AFTER 50+ YEARS

I am getting used to it and Manda is coping reasonably. I have suggested she cuts her hair short but that is like asking the Queen to abdicate or Arsene Wenger to resign.

'My singing isn't that bad'

Manda captures  the building team in natural work pose!!!! 

'So why Ghana?' I hear you ask. Questions, questions!!! Well having had such a protracted trip to Zambia we realised that we needed a longer time in one place to really get into the work and the country and people. Our last hurrah of living abroad? Maybe. Who knows. This open ended job  (minimum one year) came up which not only gives me plenty to do (as ever) but also falls right into Manda's area of expertise. Sabre Charitable Trust - see their website - are a relatively small charity, income under £1m - but growing fast ,who build kindergartens in remote areas and work with the Government and teacher training colleges to improve the level of teaching for 4-6 year olds. The maxim of “Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man (or woman).” certainly has merits. Anyone wishing to dispute this please see Manda. I just press buttons on a calculator.

What happened to this 7 year old?

Oh dear !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As ever we miss friends and family but have been lucky enough to get home for 2 weddings and will be home in June for another wedding and Mum and Monty's Silver Wedding (both on their second). 85 and 92 and doing really well

So before I give you some info about life in Ghana a few domestic issues to clear up. We are selling the house after 22 years and will be living on a Dutch Barge.'Why would you do that?'  Why indeed. After 3 years of hardly living in the house and with the kids pretty much gone, okay Alex has his own place, Ben is currently in Barcelona and a world wanderer and Katya will be forced to live out under the stars but she'll be okay, we realise that we don't actually need the house. Without going into detail (ask us and we can bore for England if you want the detail) we have bought a boat in Holland and it will be refurbished in England and we hope it will be moored in London docklands but probably Windsor first. So here it is:

Name to be changed. Any suggestions?

3 bedrooms so all welcome to stay
, 25.5 m long and 5.5m wide. Engine the same as the old London bus- Ding Ding - move right down please

We hope to sail her a bit. We can apparently get up the Thames to Oxford and also use all the European canal network - France , Germany etc.

But that is for the future. So what is life in Ghana like apart from hot and humid. Well we are in a beautiful spot on the coast and are just about to move out of the charity accommodation and get a small cottage (in London they call it a bijou studio flat) right on the seafront.

A cloudy day but not a bad view from our verandah. Elmina Castle in the distance

Just needs a little bit of work and it will be perfect. Join Manda on Facebook for regular updates

Elmina castle has a dark history. Dutch slavers built them and it was the last view of home for many slaves. These days it is a laid back fishing village with colourful boats going in and out. In fact Ghana is very laid back generally and certainly one of the safer and freer democratic countries in Africa. Unfortunately there is very little tourist infrastructure. We would love to have people come out and visit us and can show you around and have a few lovely days at a beachside resort but can't promise you the animals of East and South Africa.

We seem to keep busy and have various eateries in walking distance or 60p taxi to Cape Coast about 15 minutes away. Food is interesting. As with most of Africa they like a bit of stodge - Fufu, Banku etc which are made from cassava but a lot of chicken and fish too. We go to the Tilapia lady, who strangely enough sells Tilapia, who has a stall a minute away on Ghana's equivalent of the M1 in the UK. A 2 lane coastal road that runs from the Ivory Coast  border through Accra to the Togo border. Just a bit of geography for you. We have also discovered Bisap which is made principally from Hibiscus flowers,ginger,cinammon and fresh pineapple juice which of course doesn't stop us going to the local hotel's happy hour on a Friday night. After a tough week we need some R&R.

We have various house mates coming and going but I should give honourable mention to our resident 'rocket scientist' which alas doesn't help in the house at all as most things of course are not rocket science .

We look after 3 dogs and 2 cats at the moment who live in the charity accommodation. Cue pictures.

Light was fading so a bit of a fuzzy pic. Our furry friends. The cats sensibly stay well clear

They are very cute and very loving and the dogs bark well at strangers. The female follows us everywhere and then tries to jump into our arms when the packs of local dogs who are very territorial start trouble as we pass. Thankfully most of the dog packs are all mouth and trousers.

If we want some entertainment then the places to go to are the petrol stations. No we do not stand and fill up the passing cars. They have bars,DJs ,live music, football on the telly and food as well as mini supermarkets. Oh yes I almost forgot that they also sell petrol. Strange indeed.

For live football its the Elmina Sharks or the Cape Coast Dwarves. Almost Premiership prices. 60p for the standing and 1.00 for the seats. Reminds me of football prices in the 70s. A group of ladies in black and white sang and danced the whole way through. They came direct from a funeral it turns out.

The Sharks in Green with a crowd of about 500. 

We don't have a car at the moment so rely on a 'tro' which is basically a mini bus driven at breakneck speed between towns. Otherwise for local trips it's a shared taxi or if we are feeling 'rich' we get a 'drop' taxi for just the two of us. Taxis are in various states of disrepair but a lot better than Addis where the rust was held together by string and a prayer.

Grumpy old man status was reached by me a number of years back so I would like to add to my list of gripes  the wanton littering which is actually far from just a Ghana thing. Here though plastic bags are used for everything and water is sold in plastic sachets. As an example we sat by the beach at a local bar and the waiter took my finished water sachet and just threw it over the wall onto the beach. Grrrrr.....

Well enough of my eternal rambling. It's bad enough that I prattle on verbally when my sugar levels go all over the place let alone in writing. We promise to do  this a bit sooner next time. I always say that as well.

And finally a few of Manda's photos. And yes the word Rabbi is on the boats!!!!!!!!!!