Back in the jungle
Well here I am, back in the sweltering Jungle (36 degrees at 11am) with a guaranteed rain storm at 4pm every day to refresh the humidity.
R&R is over, and as everyone will generally know my mum passed away on October 10th. True to how she lived her life, she waited until I came on leave and for my sister to fly in from Cyprus before she passed on to a happier life. A taxing old biddy she was towards the end, but as this is the first close family member of mine to die, I really do not quite know what to make of it.
That aside, my time back down south was a really good break. Spent some time (4 days) at the office and it was interesting to catch up with the people I work with, but rarely see. Sides there were some changes.
I had to refocus on driving down south again, back to the left hand side of the road. On numerous occasions when I pulled out from my house, mind not quite on what needed to be done, I would end up driving on the wrong side of the road. In JHB people are not as understanding as the people here. Robbie (my son) also commented on numerous occasions when he was in the car with me “Dad – why are you driving so slowly”. The fact that you rarely exceed 40kmph here means I have got used to cruising around rather then skittering back and forth as I used to. That said – it was stunning to drive on a smooth road surface and not dodge the potholes of main road Tarkwa.
Movies – shopping centers – Pick and Pay – I busted my daughters food budget on all three weekends I was there and the day that I left was amazed how much left overs were in the fridge. From what I hear from Nessers, there is still a huge amount of left overs in the fridge.
Having my sister up for the week – albeit under sad circumstances – was stunning. Not that we did much, but I did take her shopping (sweets, clothes for the grandchild and other nice goodies to take back with her), she was introduced to sushi and managed to hit Monte Casino for R6,000 (1/2 of which she gave to me – do I have a nice sister or what). Was sad to drop her off on the Saturday as odds are I will not be seeing her for a while.
Was nice to catch up with Keith and Sam again on a few occasions and the fact that Everton is above Man U on the log meant that I had to eat humble pie. (but we still got Roony *chuckle*)
Had lunch with Esme and Lindy after dropping into Unicell to say hi to the peoples. Also managed a lunch with Esther – when she could spare time from her “busy” schedule.
Food wise – I must admit it was great to get back to MY way of eating, and I must admit the first morning back – after been awake and in the same clobber for 26 hours – was get picked up from the airport – shag – go home – shag again – go to hospital to visit mum and then GRILLED PORK CHOPS at 11am. Fark was I desperate for decent pork chops, nicely grilled with raw salted onion and ground black pepper. I pigged out. I also indulged in my famous Lamb Shanks and Roast Fillet (soaked on my special marinade for 24 hours and FILLED with Garlic). That said the one night I made a curry, it was as bland as hell so that was a bit of a failure.
All in all a good time was had.
Back in the Jungle, I am closer to religion then ever before. Before you all think I am going happy clappy – I am made aware that this is the holy month of Ramadan. The acute awareness is bought about at 4am each morning when the local Imam or his duly appointed man gets on the loudhailer and does his call to prayer. I swear the bloody thing is so loud that initial reaction was “what is this bugger doing outside my bedroom window!!!!” SO we have the following:
• 4am wake up call – eat as much as you can cause the sun she is arising soon
• 5am notice – 30 minutes guys and you best be at prayers
• 5,30am – prayers
• 7 pm joyous calling – ok guys the sun has set – tuck in.
For some reason on Sunday the prayers continue throughout the day. Religious tolerance aside, I do admit some pretty nasty thoughts go through my mind when the man starts his really bad singing. And let’s be honest – I do not think I am able to rely on a noise by-law to get the lad to turn his volume down.
I did have the (crazy) idea of if I was going to be awake at 4am, I may as well use that time constructively and do some exercise to combat my rapidly swelling waist. All I can say is thank God that idea faded into the mists rather rapidly! I now spend that time working on a way to fall asleep again. Not much luck so far, but at least I bought back a couple of books with me to while away the time. I am however starting to get used to the early mornings and did not even bitch when I stayed over at Nessers place and she did the 5.30am wake up to go to work.
I still have to concentrate to drive on the right side of the road here, and I do admit last week while going home after dark, a mini bus was driving in the middle of the road. He was duly flashed and moved over. My SA brain said “fark – the idjit is driving on the wrong side of the road” and duly flashed him again – to which he moved over some more. After two more flashes with no response, my brain kicked in and realized that I was the idjit on the wrong side of the road and the poor bugger in the minibus must have been looking in his mirror and saying “another bloody South African who cannot work out that we drive on the right here”.
My DSTV did not work for the first two days I was here, and as I have made clear due to the fact that there is bugger all to do at night, TV forms a huge part of my entertainment. I was forced to watch Ghana TV for TWO WHOLE DAYS, and as it is election time here soon, everything was politics and in strange languages. Thank Fark for the fact I was so far behind at work that I finally bowed and took work home to keep me busy. Again as everyone who knows me, will realize that I am quite happy to work until midnight at the office, but when I leave the office my brain enters home mode and I refuse to take work home with me. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
The sat phones were not working and my contact with SA has been very very sporadic since I came back. I have also been spending a fair amount of time at clients and this even email contact has been sparse. However they are back working today – reset router in SA - so I can be phoned. As luck would have it the ambulance service was one of the first to phone to find out about payment.
I have snuck this missive in during the day to get some relief from work. SO lemme get back to it!!
Have a stunner – updates soon.
R&R is over, and as everyone will generally know my mum passed away on October 10th. True to how she lived her life, she waited until I came on leave and for my sister to fly in from Cyprus before she passed on to a happier life. A taxing old biddy she was towards the end, but as this is the first close family member of mine to die, I really do not quite know what to make of it.
That aside, my time back down south was a really good break. Spent some time (4 days) at the office and it was interesting to catch up with the people I work with, but rarely see. Sides there were some changes.
I had to refocus on driving down south again, back to the left hand side of the road. On numerous occasions when I pulled out from my house, mind not quite on what needed to be done, I would end up driving on the wrong side of the road. In JHB people are not as understanding as the people here. Robbie (my son) also commented on numerous occasions when he was in the car with me “Dad – why are you driving so slowly”. The fact that you rarely exceed 40kmph here means I have got used to cruising around rather then skittering back and forth as I used to. That said – it was stunning to drive on a smooth road surface and not dodge the potholes of main road Tarkwa.
Movies – shopping centers – Pick and Pay – I busted my daughters food budget on all three weekends I was there and the day that I left was amazed how much left overs were in the fridge. From what I hear from Nessers, there is still a huge amount of left overs in the fridge.
Having my sister up for the week – albeit under sad circumstances – was stunning. Not that we did much, but I did take her shopping (sweets, clothes for the grandchild and other nice goodies to take back with her), she was introduced to sushi and managed to hit Monte Casino for R6,000 (1/2 of which she gave to me – do I have a nice sister or what). Was sad to drop her off on the Saturday as odds are I will not be seeing her for a while.
Was nice to catch up with Keith and Sam again on a few occasions and the fact that Everton is above Man U on the log meant that I had to eat humble pie. (but we still got Roony *chuckle*)
Had lunch with Esme and Lindy after dropping into Unicell to say hi to the peoples. Also managed a lunch with Esther – when she could spare time from her “busy” schedule.
Food wise – I must admit it was great to get back to MY way of eating, and I must admit the first morning back – after been awake and in the same clobber for 26 hours – was get picked up from the airport – shag – go home – shag again – go to hospital to visit mum and then GRILLED PORK CHOPS at 11am. Fark was I desperate for decent pork chops, nicely grilled with raw salted onion and ground black pepper. I pigged out. I also indulged in my famous Lamb Shanks and Roast Fillet (soaked on my special marinade for 24 hours and FILLED with Garlic). That said the one night I made a curry, it was as bland as hell so that was a bit of a failure.
All in all a good time was had.
Back in the Jungle, I am closer to religion then ever before. Before you all think I am going happy clappy – I am made aware that this is the holy month of Ramadan. The acute awareness is bought about at 4am each morning when the local Imam or his duly appointed man gets on the loudhailer and does his call to prayer. I swear the bloody thing is so loud that initial reaction was “what is this bugger doing outside my bedroom window!!!!” SO we have the following:
• 4am wake up call – eat as much as you can cause the sun she is arising soon
• 5am notice – 30 minutes guys and you best be at prayers
• 5,30am – prayers
• 7 pm joyous calling – ok guys the sun has set – tuck in.
For some reason on Sunday the prayers continue throughout the day. Religious tolerance aside, I do admit some pretty nasty thoughts go through my mind when the man starts his really bad singing. And let’s be honest – I do not think I am able to rely on a noise by-law to get the lad to turn his volume down.
I did have the (crazy) idea of if I was going to be awake at 4am, I may as well use that time constructively and do some exercise to combat my rapidly swelling waist. All I can say is thank God that idea faded into the mists rather rapidly! I now spend that time working on a way to fall asleep again. Not much luck so far, but at least I bought back a couple of books with me to while away the time. I am however starting to get used to the early mornings and did not even bitch when I stayed over at Nessers place and she did the 5.30am wake up to go to work.
I still have to concentrate to drive on the right side of the road here, and I do admit last week while going home after dark, a mini bus was driving in the middle of the road. He was duly flashed and moved over. My SA brain said “fark – the idjit is driving on the wrong side of the road” and duly flashed him again – to which he moved over some more. After two more flashes with no response, my brain kicked in and realized that I was the idjit on the wrong side of the road and the poor bugger in the minibus must have been looking in his mirror and saying “another bloody South African who cannot work out that we drive on the right here”.
My DSTV did not work for the first two days I was here, and as I have made clear due to the fact that there is bugger all to do at night, TV forms a huge part of my entertainment. I was forced to watch Ghana TV for TWO WHOLE DAYS, and as it is election time here soon, everything was politics and in strange languages. Thank Fark for the fact I was so far behind at work that I finally bowed and took work home to keep me busy. Again as everyone who knows me, will realize that I am quite happy to work until midnight at the office, but when I leave the office my brain enters home mode and I refuse to take work home with me. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
The sat phones were not working and my contact with SA has been very very sporadic since I came back. I have also been spending a fair amount of time at clients and this even email contact has been sparse. However they are back working today – reset router in SA - so I can be phoned. As luck would have it the ambulance service was one of the first to phone to find out about payment.
I have snuck this missive in during the day to get some relief from work. SO lemme get back to it!!
Have a stunner – updates soon.
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