NEWS FLASH ...
For those of you who know what a wild driver I am,whilst driving at a relatively sedate pace I was stopped by the police for 'speeding'. I was supposedly driving at about 45mph in a built up area. The fact that there were no speed limit signs or indeed built up area (well 3 houses) seems to have made no difference. So what do you do in that position when you know there was no way they actually clocked your speed? Simple.You do what everyone else here does. You dash (bribe) them. So 2cedis ie 40p later I was on my way. That is the way the police work here.
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| A Ghana policeman's idea of a built up area |
Also I almost got my nose bitten off by an over excitable puppy, one of four, who we give leftovers to on our way to work. They do jump high. Takes me back 45 years to my very old friend Mark's barmitzvah when his dog Daniel the Spaniel almost playfully bit Mark's nose off.
Manda catches the moment. Tiny scratch but nice lot of blood!
After the first few months of stifling humidity apparently Ghana does have a very nice period where the weather is relatively cool 24/25C and I can work with just a fan and without the brand new air conditioning unit acquired for my office (I never thought I would be writing that!) . Of course it will end at some point and I will have the lengthy discussions/ minor arguments with Manda that in my humble opinion the length of her hair makes her hot. Can't wait. In fact having just read out to her the last paragraph has already had a go at me. Oh what fun.
Well for those of you who forgot to send us a card, which was everybody, we have just celebrated the third anniversary of our departure from the white cliffs of Dover for sub Saharan shores. Yes of course we have been back to the UK a number of times but Africa has been our home really in that period despite us moving about from South Africa,Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and now Ghana.
We are committed to a minimum of a year here and in the past month or so have settled into a very relaxed and pleasant lifestyle. We lived in the volunteer house for several months but had agreed to move out when we found somewhere and finally we have what can only be described as a beach front chalet. Actually rocks front but you know what I mean.For those of you who are not mine or Manda's Facebook friends (there are no secrets anymore with Facebook!) here are some pictures of our seaside idyll which is a 10 minute walk to work. Transformed from the pictures shown previously.
If a Butlins holiday camp went to rack and ruin it would look like where we live. Water and electricity were reasonably constant which for Africa means only one or the other is off at any one time in the day. We are away from the loud speakers of bars and churches ( is there some sort of secret competition going on here between God and mammon as to who can be the loudest?) so just the sound of the waves to lull us to sleep.
Okay time for Mr Angry/ grumpy 'not so old' man to make his regular appearance. In the last six weeks we have had no running water having gone 5 weeks with a regular dribble. Having worked for WaterAid and seen people walk miles for water you would have thought we would know better than to moan. However to cut a long story very short (which as you all know I can generally bore for England) one of our landlord has decided that due to a number of tenants not paying their share each month the money he collects for water and electricity will go towards electricity so he can sit around all day watching his television. He can send his kids to the well to collect water. A meeting between landlords and tenants was arranged and in a diabetes fuelled rant I made my views clear but obviously a complete waste of time. Manda did tell me to shut up which I eventually did. So no water but at least we now will get a bin for rubbish and the rubbish tip near us may even be cleared. Of course still no bins,rubbish not cleared and now well is empty so people have to walk with buckets to a stand pipe about a 1/4 mile away. Luckily we have a tank outside we can get filled up my a man with a small tanker. Bucket bath and showers for us.
I should also mention that before we moved to the beach the house we lived in was broken in to whilst we were out . My computer was taken and my 'myfi'. We arrived home to see the front door had been forced open and a crowd then arrived at our gate led by our office security man. We were told that they had chased the thief and seen where he left the computer and amazingly 10 minutes later the computer was returned intact. It seems everyone knows the thief and where he lives but they let him go. We couldn't be bothered to try and get the police involved as it would have cost us a bribe to get them to do anything. That is life here. At least I only lost the myfi.
So daily life. Elmina and the Cape Coast are tourist attractions due to the slave castles and we finally visited one. It is scary to understand the conditions they lived in and how many slaves from all over Africa left the shores forever and how many lost their lives there and on the ships.
Also at the moment I have no passport as my application is being processed for a residence and work permit so we can stay beyond September. Hopefully no emergencies at home in that time as the thought of trying to get my passport back from the immigration office in Accra is scary. Red tape rules. Manda then applies for a spouse permit so again no passport for at least a month after that.
As we have no television, cinemas,theatres, Am Dram groups, golf courses etc we use the internet a lot (well I do) and read a lot of books (well Manda does). We also look at the sea a lot. Cue for sanity check! The tides are one of our favourite topics and watching the waves and sometimes at night the green glowing algae on the top of the waves provides endless interest. We will never get tired of the view.
We are supposed to be getting ourselves bikes to get a bit fitter but laziness has prevailed. I still have the Lands End to John O'Groats dream but it is on hold at the moment.
Food is also a constant topic. We have no oven but our two ring gas hob works well albeit the flame is a bit fierce so burnt offerings can easily be made instead of supper if the pot is not watched carefully. Who said a watched pot never boils? Oh yes it does.
If you are easily shocked look away now. I tried some 'bush meat' the other day. No not venison but. what is a giant cane rat called a grass cutter . Very tasty indeed if you forget what it looks like live. It helped that I ate guinea pig and chips in Peru many years back
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| The back leg was very tasty |
Shopping in the markets is fun and on the whole we do not get ripped off as immigrants. Notice my use of the word immigrants as opposed to ex-pats. I don't take too much notice of Facebook articles but interesting to note the distinction between people coming to the UK to work and us jolly Brits working abroad. We buy meat from a place I know many of you might have trouble with hygiene wise but so far no problems.Liver and onions with mash was a real treat today. Being brutally honest, there is no doubt that at some point you will get the runs but to be honest you just get on with life.
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| Dead squirrel now in someone's tummy |
There is of course a very large choice of fish in the market so you don't really need the bush meat but hey ho it is nice to mix up your diet. I had a very nice piece of barracuda the other day and Manda loves the lobster
AND FINALLY........
I will never stop saying how lucky we are in life and how you need to enjoy life whilst you can. Have no regrets. Manda and I send all our love to Barbara and family. Jack's golfing buddy misses the relaxed days golfing and chatting at Abridge whilst our friends slaved in their offices xxx
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