The beach and Think Tanks
Another update to the exciting life in Ghana hits the www. This weekend was a “Think Tank” where I got all my management and supervisory staff together to present the *roll of drums* “MASTER PLAN for 2005. The tank farm was Busua Beach, and those of you who read this missive on a regular basis will recall my visit there in September.
We were all booked in for the Saturday night, and normal planning meant we had a meeting planned for Saturday morning before we departed at “10am”. As per usual 10am was 11:30, and the road if anything was worse on my trip now then I recall it before. We arrive at 1.30, into heat and humidity that makes Durban in February seem like the Drakensburg in July! That said, we had a drink (soft drinks of course) and at 2.30 off to a very nicely appointed conference room with my trusty laptop and the ever present Power Point presentation.
The resort is really first class. Nice rooms, smallish pub, swimming pool, DJ (playing pirated music, much to our HR Directors disgust as she used to be employed in the music industry) and a wonderful beach. Well worth a visit when you in Ghana for the Xmas holidays.
I was pleasantly surprised by the interaction and the enthusiasm shown in the 2.5 hour session (1 x 15 minute smoke break). The guys were animated, but that did tend to wilt when the one airconditioner in the room gave up the ghost, and the room temperature rapidly reached 35 degrees. Needless to say a shower was required after the session. It gets rather difficult to talk about really important stuff when sweat is running, and I mean running, down your back and tracing a delicate path through your bum cheeks!
The evening was pretty festive with a good meal (braai and salads) and a few drinks. I had mentioned to the lads not to destroy the bar budget and they seemed to take me really seriously with me been the only one drinking in the early part of the evening. They did however join me *wipe of brow* and no-one fell down or got nekked in the pool….. yup – not even me! Bloody hell I must be getting old!
The evening started winding down at around 10pm, but given the fact the start of the second session was 12 hours away, a few of the lads and moi toddled off down the road to the Alaska Beach Bar. Basically a pub on the beach. We were the only people there! They had no rum, they lit a fire on the beach, it made the surroundings as hot as hell, I retired to my airconditioned room, and not having anything worth watching on the 4 TV channels, I was asleep by 11. The rest of the lads, or most of them, toodled off down the road (30 mins) to a Jazz bar in Takoradi and I was “reliably” informed they were in bed by 12. (yeah - right)!
Sunday morning – there was no imam!!!! – therefore I slept until 6.30. Impressive! I evidently tossed and turned a tad during the night and managed to knock my glasses off the bedside table. If the cleaner had come in at that time, there she would have been met by a nekked guy, butt in the air feeling around on the floor for a pair of glasses. You have got to understand. My eyesight is foul! So finding glasses in low light early in the morning when you cannot stand up just in case you stand on the bloody things is not much fun. Eventually they were found wedged between the table and the bed. *sigh*
Off to the beach to enjoy the sun and the intense humidity at 8am, I had my first Ghana swim. The water even though it is the Atlantic is wonderful. Warm enough for me, and cool enough to cut the heat. I splashed around for a while, took a few pics, and toddled back to the room to shower and eat breakfast.
Once again a lively debate during our second session, and my Swaziland Staff that read this blog – 2 if my tracking works correctly – will remember the lively sessions we used to have at the Why Not Motel! Getting your management team involved in your vision is always a very good idea!
Lunch was chicken, fish, calamari and chips and needless to say for the second day running my diet was not even considered. I did find the heat at that time of the day unbearable, and given the fact that Man U had an important game at 4.30 local time, off I toddled at 2.30 in time for the game (3-1), the block, Carte Blanche and the Matrix!
I have had, since Thursday, our Human Resources Director staying with me. We did not drink anything at all, but had some pretty interesting discussions, and even did some work on Sunday night.
The imam this morning seemed to have forgotten that Ramadaan is over! So once again, the “alarm clock” went off at 4.30am much to my disgust. It was apparently a public holiday today – not that we would notice – but I do think the only business that is closed on a public holiday is the banks. All the shops and roadside stalls were open and it was business as usual. We did however manage to leave at 6pm and once again I camped in front of the TV for poor Monday night TV. The Block is really the only thing worth watching on a Monday.
My diet was restored today with a concotion of meat, onions, beans, garlic and chilli tossed together in the wok.
Monday at work for some reason is rather chaotic. I am never quite sure why! Today was no different and I quite honestly did not touch sides until around 3pm. We are busy establishing the site (again) around 30kms away, and for some reason the guys allocated to the contract did not bring any clothes with them. This resulted in having to arrange a bus to take them home to pick up clothes. Add to that another workers meeting at 7.30, where 4 of the 6 people were meant to be at the client and you can understand the reaction.
Tomorrow promises to be a fun one, with a 7am meeting, off to Wassa for another meeting at 9.30 and hopefully back at the office by 1. Looks like a late week this week as we make sure everything is up to date to meet some nice tight December reporting deadlines. The fact that I am talking December already means………… yeah you got it HOME TIME!! For some silly reason this stint seems to be dragging, but as I discussed with Nessers tonite, I am hoping by the time we get nearer to the departure date it will seem to has flown.
The start of another week has been successfully negotiated! And I need sleep.
*ponder*
Letter to George W Bush.
Dear George,
While we have not met, you have had enough television time over the last few months (together with some rather unflattering emails depicting you as a monkey) for me to be able to call you George.
As you do not have to seek re-election in four years, I was wondering if you could bend the rules a tad (you have been known to be creative in this area) and assist me with a small problem I have in Ghana. (note to Foreign Minister: Please Point out Ghana on the big map of the World you have. Note to geography teacher, please point out to the Foreign Minister where Ghana is, so he can help George). It appears we have a weapon of mass distraction in the small town of Tarkwa, (yes I know destruction is not spelt like that, but it could be written off to “poor intel”). It appears that some lad is causing major disturbance to my sleeping pattern, and given the fact that my house is on the hill (ie. I hold the high ground – remember that army briefing), could you please assist me with a laser guided missile to take out the loudspeaker causing the disturbance.
I know this request may be a bit strange, but you have decided to save the world from these weapons of mass distraction, and I am sure a special ops team can do this with the minimum of fuss, and who knows, even the ugly press may not find out about it. That is of course assuming there is no embedded journalist, where great press will no doubt come out of it.
Please Uncle George, help a free worlder out here!!!!
Kind regards
*Methinks sleep is required*
Have a good one!!
We were all booked in for the Saturday night, and normal planning meant we had a meeting planned for Saturday morning before we departed at “10am”. As per usual 10am was 11:30, and the road if anything was worse on my trip now then I recall it before. We arrive at 1.30, into heat and humidity that makes Durban in February seem like the Drakensburg in July! That said, we had a drink (soft drinks of course) and at 2.30 off to a very nicely appointed conference room with my trusty laptop and the ever present Power Point presentation.
The resort is really first class. Nice rooms, smallish pub, swimming pool, DJ (playing pirated music, much to our HR Directors disgust as she used to be employed in the music industry) and a wonderful beach. Well worth a visit when you in Ghana for the Xmas holidays.
I was pleasantly surprised by the interaction and the enthusiasm shown in the 2.5 hour session (1 x 15 minute smoke break). The guys were animated, but that did tend to wilt when the one airconditioner in the room gave up the ghost, and the room temperature rapidly reached 35 degrees. Needless to say a shower was required after the session. It gets rather difficult to talk about really important stuff when sweat is running, and I mean running, down your back and tracing a delicate path through your bum cheeks!
The evening was pretty festive with a good meal (braai and salads) and a few drinks. I had mentioned to the lads not to destroy the bar budget and they seemed to take me really seriously with me been the only one drinking in the early part of the evening. They did however join me *wipe of brow* and no-one fell down or got nekked in the pool….. yup – not even me! Bloody hell I must be getting old!
The evening started winding down at around 10pm, but given the fact the start of the second session was 12 hours away, a few of the lads and moi toddled off down the road to the Alaska Beach Bar. Basically a pub on the beach. We were the only people there! They had no rum, they lit a fire on the beach, it made the surroundings as hot as hell, I retired to my airconditioned room, and not having anything worth watching on the 4 TV channels, I was asleep by 11. The rest of the lads, or most of them, toodled off down the road (30 mins) to a Jazz bar in Takoradi and I was “reliably” informed they were in bed by 12. (yeah - right)!
Sunday morning – there was no imam!!!! – therefore I slept until 6.30. Impressive! I evidently tossed and turned a tad during the night and managed to knock my glasses off the bedside table. If the cleaner had come in at that time, there she would have been met by a nekked guy, butt in the air feeling around on the floor for a pair of glasses. You have got to understand. My eyesight is foul! So finding glasses in low light early in the morning when you cannot stand up just in case you stand on the bloody things is not much fun. Eventually they were found wedged between the table and the bed. *sigh*
Off to the beach to enjoy the sun and the intense humidity at 8am, I had my first Ghana swim. The water even though it is the Atlantic is wonderful. Warm enough for me, and cool enough to cut the heat. I splashed around for a while, took a few pics, and toddled back to the room to shower and eat breakfast.
Once again a lively debate during our second session, and my Swaziland Staff that read this blog – 2 if my tracking works correctly – will remember the lively sessions we used to have at the Why Not Motel! Getting your management team involved in your vision is always a very good idea!
Lunch was chicken, fish, calamari and chips and needless to say for the second day running my diet was not even considered. I did find the heat at that time of the day unbearable, and given the fact that Man U had an important game at 4.30 local time, off I toddled at 2.30 in time for the game (3-1), the block, Carte Blanche and the Matrix!
I have had, since Thursday, our Human Resources Director staying with me. We did not drink anything at all, but had some pretty interesting discussions, and even did some work on Sunday night.
The imam this morning seemed to have forgotten that Ramadaan is over! So once again, the “alarm clock” went off at 4.30am much to my disgust. It was apparently a public holiday today – not that we would notice – but I do think the only business that is closed on a public holiday is the banks. All the shops and roadside stalls were open and it was business as usual. We did however manage to leave at 6pm and once again I camped in front of the TV for poor Monday night TV. The Block is really the only thing worth watching on a Monday.
My diet was restored today with a concotion of meat, onions, beans, garlic and chilli tossed together in the wok.
Monday at work for some reason is rather chaotic. I am never quite sure why! Today was no different and I quite honestly did not touch sides until around 3pm. We are busy establishing the site (again) around 30kms away, and for some reason the guys allocated to the contract did not bring any clothes with them. This resulted in having to arrange a bus to take them home to pick up clothes. Add to that another workers meeting at 7.30, where 4 of the 6 people were meant to be at the client and you can understand the reaction.
Tomorrow promises to be a fun one, with a 7am meeting, off to Wassa for another meeting at 9.30 and hopefully back at the office by 1. Looks like a late week this week as we make sure everything is up to date to meet some nice tight December reporting deadlines. The fact that I am talking December already means………… yeah you got it HOME TIME!! For some silly reason this stint seems to be dragging, but as I discussed with Nessers tonite, I am hoping by the time we get nearer to the departure date it will seem to has flown.
The start of another week has been successfully negotiated! And I need sleep.
*ponder*
Letter to George W Bush.
Dear George,
While we have not met, you have had enough television time over the last few months (together with some rather unflattering emails depicting you as a monkey) for me to be able to call you George.
As you do not have to seek re-election in four years, I was wondering if you could bend the rules a tad (you have been known to be creative in this area) and assist me with a small problem I have in Ghana. (note to Foreign Minister: Please Point out Ghana on the big map of the World you have. Note to geography teacher, please point out to the Foreign Minister where Ghana is, so he can help George). It appears we have a weapon of mass distraction in the small town of Tarkwa, (yes I know destruction is not spelt like that, but it could be written off to “poor intel”). It appears that some lad is causing major disturbance to my sleeping pattern, and given the fact that my house is on the hill (ie. I hold the high ground – remember that army briefing), could you please assist me with a laser guided missile to take out the loudspeaker causing the disturbance.
I know this request may be a bit strange, but you have decided to save the world from these weapons of mass distraction, and I am sure a special ops team can do this with the minimum of fuss, and who knows, even the ugly press may not find out about it. That is of course assuming there is no embedded journalist, where great press will no doubt come out of it.
Please Uncle George, help a free worlder out here!!!!
Kind regards
*Methinks sleep is required*
Have a good one!!
2 Comments:
and hopefully you didn't scratch your butt while the sweat was tracing a delicate path through your bum cheeks?
told you, climb on the roof of the mosque and cut the wires. by the time they've replaced it they would have gone back to praying at 5:00?
*hehe* *grin* wonder if George will listen to your request ......
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