Weekend off with time on ones hands
Well it is Friday and the weekend screams “use me”. A strange feature in the construction industry is payday is an off weekend. Everyone knocks off at 12:30, toddles over to the bank, picks up their cash and we do not see them until Monday morning. That means I have the weekend off as well. Which is pretty good as it will be my 1st weekend off since I arrived. The theory of working on a Saturday and Sunday is not something I have done in around 6 years.
What to do for the weekend? Well a few things come to mind. A little bit of exploring with my camera is in order tomorrow. I have $’s which I need to change into the local currency, given the fact I have not been given my allowance as of yet. More my error then anyone elses.
Maybe off to the beach, although the weather is not too great. 25 degrees, cloudy and as muggy as hell. The wind has also picked up quite substantially.
Our site manager has a malaria scare and he is flat on his back and lewks quite shite. The more I look at the way he feels, the more I feel there is an easier way to lose weight then getting malaria. I did catch up on a bit of sleep this afternoon, which again is the first Friday afternoon nap I have had in a while *chuckle*
I get my car this afternoon, A big 4runner, with leather seats and the whole gamut. One problem been that it is petrol driven and I will have to fill up at the pumps as opposed to the tank at the works. At c4444 / liter (R2.96)($0.48) it should not be that bad.
Have finished all my books but Nessers has put together a care pack with a few more books, the ciggies and “a surprise” – for which I am lewking forward to. Hopefully it will arrive asap!
A visit was made to the local electricity board regional office. It was like stepping back into an old movie of Africa in the 50’s. Imagine if you will a hall like area, with desks all around, the fans whoosh whooshing on a wooden ceiling and a pant job that must be all of 30 years old. (dark green). One computer sits on a desk, and the other desks have these HUGE! Cash books, specifically printed for the Ghana Electricity Board. Amazing stuff. The upshot of the visit was electricity is 4.3km away from the workshop, and they will give us a quote to install electricity at the site. Time promised: 2 weeks (for the quote that is) I was going through some old files this week and I noted a quote from 2002 which was the equivalent of R2,500,000.00. One does hope that there has been some movement down since them, cause at that price, the gensets are going to remain.
I have taken some pics of the main road of the town, which will accompany this post, and one can see just how basic it is. Hopefully after my sightseeing this weekend I will have a whole load more pics to send around. As the site that I am using has a limit on the number of pics that you can post, email me if you want me to send you a whole load of pics. :>
Religion is a big thing here, and a vast proportion of the businesses have religious names. “Psalm 21 General Dealers” “The Lord welcomes you enterprises” etc etc. You have your “chop shops” which in SA mean the place where hijacked vehicles gets reprocessed and in Ghana it means a place to eat. You do not have lunch or dinner you have “chop”. Chop shops abound in Tarkwa.
There are also a load of “Licensed Chemical Shops”, which as one is sure to expect, are your local chemists. These guys sell a whole range of goodies, a vast percentage of which has never seen a medical council test report. There is the ubiquitous “cure impotence, headaches, flu, HIV, malaria, bad eyes, cheating wife etc etc” muti in dark bottles that would take a stronger constitution them mine to use.
Talking about food, the basic rule is never eat from a local food vendor lest you want a dose of typhoid. However, I can still look *chuckle* Those of you that know me. Know how much I like my food and experimenting with different flavours. Well there are some interesting looking food stuff. Dried Fish (whole), rice is a big thing – fried or otherwise, pies of some description and a range of fruit and veggies – peeled and unpeeled: There is one thing that has caught my eye, which I will try. That is the bread. It is a flatter type of loaf around the size of a paperback book folded out and just has that golden brown color about it that say “I will make an amazing sandwich”. Maybe lunch tomorrow on the road.
…… to be continued
…… continuation Sunday Night.
Well Saturday was eventful with a drop in at site in my new Galunderwagen. Tis a bloody tank, huge car, automatic (which is kewl), and got into shite for not having (a) a mine permit and (b) a yellow flashy light on top of the car. Summit I will have resolve on Monday.
Took a drive on the Takoradi road, 60kms (2 hours) until I hit the road that they have fixed up. If all the roads were like that, this place will be a lot more of a pleasure to get around. That said, the drive was interesting, tiring as hell as you have to concentrate all the time on the road, dodging potholes, large trucks heading towards you, numerous pedestrians with no road sense and the ubiquitous goats. Apparently I was 10kms from the beach, and did not even know it. Not a major train smash as the weather was not great and at least I know where it is now.
Back home, downloaded the pics on the PC and believe it or not, fast asleep by 9pm on a Saturday night. These early mornings are self generating. You wake up early, are buggered by 9pm and cause you fell asleep early, you wake up before the birds. In this case 3am on a Sunday. That was even too early to send SMS’s to people in JHB
Sunday was once again a brief trip to site, take an expat to the hospital cause he was not feeling well, and off to the golf course.
How to build a golf course in Tarkwa:
• You have to be a mine
• Take a piece of land that you cannot build houses on
• Make sure the land is effectively a valley
• Plonk a few greens on the land
• Make a few tee boxes
• Put numbers on the holes.
The course is build on the side of two bloody mountains.
1st hole 290m over a valley to a raised green – par 4 – scored 6, thanks to a duffed chip
2nd hole 160m par 3 – back down the hill that you just played to a green at the top of the next hill – 4
3rd Hole – 380m par 4 on the side of the mountain. No matter where u going to hit, you are going to end up at the side of the mountain in a small stream. I decided to get clever and hit far right, and promptly hit out of bounds twice – blackout
4th hole – 430m par 5. Over the valley, up a hill, late dogleg to the left. Poor 3rd shot meant a 6.
5th Hole – 360m par 4 (stroke 1). Huge dogleg to the left, play up the hill, then over the valley to a raised green. Put my second over the green and scored a 5
6th – 189m par 3. This farking hole plays over the valley and is long. Great 3 iron, just short and to the right. But by the time I got to the top of the hill, after walking down the hill first, I was knackered!!!. Managed to miss the green scored a 4
7th – 280 m par 4 once again played across the mountain. Took out the driver and was a sand wedge away in the middle of the fairway. The fact that the ball was way below my feet made it interesting and true to form the bloody ball shot off to the right, next shot short – made a 6
8th – 160m par 3 once again, up over a valley – at this stage the rain was pissing down. Great tee shot, pin high to the right (there is a pattern here) chip on 2 putts = mark down a 4.
9th. 340m par 4 – back towards number 1 – basically number 1 in reverse. Made a lot more interesting by a bloody big tree in front of the green. Good drive (to the right) great second, which hits the bank at the back of the green and bounces onto the green. And there we have my 1st par.
Decided against playing the second nine due to the teeming rain. (and the fact I was bloody knackered)
Few beers at eddies place – bar was shut – it been Sunday and all, and off to the local restaurant at the Mangenese Mine (around 20 mins away) to eat GRILLED PORK CHOPS!!! - oh what bliss.
Chilled afternoon chatting to Denzil who is a lot better from whatever lurgy he was subject to and 7.47pm – writing this blog and getting ready for bed. Oh the hectic life I lead.
Looking forward to work tomorrow, have a bit of kak with a customer who we are late on delivery for, and he quite happily kakked on me tonite. I can see a lot of marketing repair work coming up soon. Looks like we are behind on every job that we have, and I need to set that right asap or I will not have a business to run in a few months.
Have a goody ….. will subject you to further ramblings soon
What to do for the weekend? Well a few things come to mind. A little bit of exploring with my camera is in order tomorrow. I have $’s which I need to change into the local currency, given the fact I have not been given my allowance as of yet. More my error then anyone elses.
Maybe off to the beach, although the weather is not too great. 25 degrees, cloudy and as muggy as hell. The wind has also picked up quite substantially.
Our site manager has a malaria scare and he is flat on his back and lewks quite shite. The more I look at the way he feels, the more I feel there is an easier way to lose weight then getting malaria. I did catch up on a bit of sleep this afternoon, which again is the first Friday afternoon nap I have had in a while *chuckle*
I get my car this afternoon, A big 4runner, with leather seats and the whole gamut. One problem been that it is petrol driven and I will have to fill up at the pumps as opposed to the tank at the works. At c4444 / liter (R2.96)($0.48) it should not be that bad.
Have finished all my books but Nessers has put together a care pack with a few more books, the ciggies and “a surprise” – for which I am lewking forward to. Hopefully it will arrive asap!
A visit was made to the local electricity board regional office. It was like stepping back into an old movie of Africa in the 50’s. Imagine if you will a hall like area, with desks all around, the fans whoosh whooshing on a wooden ceiling and a pant job that must be all of 30 years old. (dark green). One computer sits on a desk, and the other desks have these HUGE! Cash books, specifically printed for the Ghana Electricity Board. Amazing stuff. The upshot of the visit was electricity is 4.3km away from the workshop, and they will give us a quote to install electricity at the site. Time promised: 2 weeks (for the quote that is) I was going through some old files this week and I noted a quote from 2002 which was the equivalent of R2,500,000.00. One does hope that there has been some movement down since them, cause at that price, the gensets are going to remain.
I have taken some pics of the main road of the town, which will accompany this post, and one can see just how basic it is. Hopefully after my sightseeing this weekend I will have a whole load more pics to send around. As the site that I am using has a limit on the number of pics that you can post, email me if you want me to send you a whole load of pics. :>
Religion is a big thing here, and a vast proportion of the businesses have religious names. “Psalm 21 General Dealers” “The Lord welcomes you enterprises” etc etc. You have your “chop shops” which in SA mean the place where hijacked vehicles gets reprocessed and in Ghana it means a place to eat. You do not have lunch or dinner you have “chop”. Chop shops abound in Tarkwa.
There are also a load of “Licensed Chemical Shops”, which as one is sure to expect, are your local chemists. These guys sell a whole range of goodies, a vast percentage of which has never seen a medical council test report. There is the ubiquitous “cure impotence, headaches, flu, HIV, malaria, bad eyes, cheating wife etc etc” muti in dark bottles that would take a stronger constitution them mine to use.
Talking about food, the basic rule is never eat from a local food vendor lest you want a dose of typhoid. However, I can still look *chuckle* Those of you that know me. Know how much I like my food and experimenting with different flavours. Well there are some interesting looking food stuff. Dried Fish (whole), rice is a big thing – fried or otherwise, pies of some description and a range of fruit and veggies – peeled and unpeeled: There is one thing that has caught my eye, which I will try. That is the bread. It is a flatter type of loaf around the size of a paperback book folded out and just has that golden brown color about it that say “I will make an amazing sandwich”. Maybe lunch tomorrow on the road.
…… to be continued
…… continuation Sunday Night.
Well Saturday was eventful with a drop in at site in my new Galunderwagen. Tis a bloody tank, huge car, automatic (which is kewl), and got into shite for not having (a) a mine permit and (b) a yellow flashy light on top of the car. Summit I will have resolve on Monday.
Took a drive on the Takoradi road, 60kms (2 hours) until I hit the road that they have fixed up. If all the roads were like that, this place will be a lot more of a pleasure to get around. That said, the drive was interesting, tiring as hell as you have to concentrate all the time on the road, dodging potholes, large trucks heading towards you, numerous pedestrians with no road sense and the ubiquitous goats. Apparently I was 10kms from the beach, and did not even know it. Not a major train smash as the weather was not great and at least I know where it is now.
Back home, downloaded the pics on the PC and believe it or not, fast asleep by 9pm on a Saturday night. These early mornings are self generating. You wake up early, are buggered by 9pm and cause you fell asleep early, you wake up before the birds. In this case 3am on a Sunday. That was even too early to send SMS’s to people in JHB
Sunday was once again a brief trip to site, take an expat to the hospital cause he was not feeling well, and off to the golf course.
How to build a golf course in Tarkwa:
• You have to be a mine
• Take a piece of land that you cannot build houses on
• Make sure the land is effectively a valley
• Plonk a few greens on the land
• Make a few tee boxes
• Put numbers on the holes.
The course is build on the side of two bloody mountains.
1st hole 290m over a valley to a raised green – par 4 – scored 6, thanks to a duffed chip
2nd hole 160m par 3 – back down the hill that you just played to a green at the top of the next hill – 4
3rd Hole – 380m par 4 on the side of the mountain. No matter where u going to hit, you are going to end up at the side of the mountain in a small stream. I decided to get clever and hit far right, and promptly hit out of bounds twice – blackout
4th hole – 430m par 5. Over the valley, up a hill, late dogleg to the left. Poor 3rd shot meant a 6.
5th Hole – 360m par 4 (stroke 1). Huge dogleg to the left, play up the hill, then over the valley to a raised green. Put my second over the green and scored a 5
6th – 189m par 3. This farking hole plays over the valley and is long. Great 3 iron, just short and to the right. But by the time I got to the top of the hill, after walking down the hill first, I was knackered!!!. Managed to miss the green scored a 4
7th – 280 m par 4 once again played across the mountain. Took out the driver and was a sand wedge away in the middle of the fairway. The fact that the ball was way below my feet made it interesting and true to form the bloody ball shot off to the right, next shot short – made a 6
8th – 160m par 3 once again, up over a valley – at this stage the rain was pissing down. Great tee shot, pin high to the right (there is a pattern here) chip on 2 putts = mark down a 4.
9th. 340m par 4 – back towards number 1 – basically number 1 in reverse. Made a lot more interesting by a bloody big tree in front of the green. Good drive (to the right) great second, which hits the bank at the back of the green and bounces onto the green. And there we have my 1st par.
Decided against playing the second nine due to the teeming rain. (and the fact I was bloody knackered)
Few beers at eddies place – bar was shut – it been Sunday and all, and off to the local restaurant at the Mangenese Mine (around 20 mins away) to eat GRILLED PORK CHOPS!!! - oh what bliss.
Chilled afternoon chatting to Denzil who is a lot better from whatever lurgy he was subject to and 7.47pm – writing this blog and getting ready for bed. Oh the hectic life I lead.
Looking forward to work tomorrow, have a bit of kak with a customer who we are late on delivery for, and he quite happily kakked on me tonite. I can see a lot of marketing repair work coming up soon. Looks like we are behind on every job that we have, and I need to set that right asap or I will not have a business to run in a few months.
Have a goody ….. will subject you to further ramblings soon
1 Comments:
Hey Hop - not only 3 people reading your blogs - there are at least (erm....) 4!!!
I'm enjoying them too, but certainly not envious of your glamourous lifestyle.
Babelicious
BTW what is e-mail addy - sms it if you want messages and nekked pix
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