Weekday Missive (and a mini Rant)

I sit at my desk, late afternoon and catch up on my blogs, news and other fun things as I wait for my car which has been used to take the lads to Wassa to look at a job that we are quoting on.

A few fun things from Ghana Life.

- On good Friday there was a massive fire at the port, which managed to kill 15 people who were repairing a ship, as well as 700 meters of pipeline and 400 meters of conveyors. Been in the game, our A team has been dispatched to Accra to see if we can help out. It reminds me a bit about tow trucks and their vulture status, but as they say in the classics.. “business is business”
- Following on with the fire story, APPARENTLY according to local news, the fireman had to loan money for “petrol” to fight the fire and complained bitterly that they were “hungry” and needed food. This while 15 people were charred to crispy bits!!!
- The workers at the port went on strike and locked out the management of the company doing the welding that started the fire because “they did not want to pay the fire department to standby while they were welding”. This epitomizes the way some businesses operate in Ghana. Their safety is non existent and accidents of this nature is wont to happen.
- It seems to be banking reporting time and further to my last blog all the banks produced healthy profits for the reporting period. Once again it was on this mornings news that Government is looking into the vast difference between the bank rate (18.5%) and the lending rate of the major banks (28%-35%). I think it is something that is long overdue.
- The current president and past president continue to snipe at each other and the whole issue is becoming boring. Neither one a statesman it seems.
- Wahala Marches protesting the price increase in fuel continue with another march organized for tomorrow. All this happens in Accra so we do not get the benefit of seeing the protest action. They lads are complaining of a fuel price of GHC 6666 when the fuel price in SA has just reached GHC 7500 equivalent.


On a personal side, life continues at a hectic pace which is grand as the days are passing by really quickly and a lot of the times we reach knock off time without me realising that the day has passed me by. Only 18 days before I am down South again.

The thought police have complained once again about my internet access. The following sites are not business related according to them.

www.702.co za – where I get the news and business reports from
www.trident.co.za – a steel supplier
www.google,co,za – where I do my searches
www.iol.co.za – where I get my business reports from and national/international news
www.blogger.com - where this blog comes from.

Apparently on 01/03/2005, I spend 1 hour and 4 minutes on the web. This was “excessive”.

What they seem to forget is:

1. Given the fact that I am running a business up here, it follows that I should keep up to date with National and international news. As The Star does not deliver and is not available on the street corner, the only source of information I have is iol and news24 (seen that 702 is now blocked). If this is not business related then the thought policeman does not quite understand how a business is run.
2. We are 6000km away from home. My blog is a simple way for me to keep in contact with people far and wide. Although not strictly business, I also do not believe that my entire contact with the outside world gets restricted preventing me from posting (and reading) blogs.
3. We work from 7am to 6pm every day – Including Saturdays!! We tot up 250 hours a month on a regular basis and that excludes the country trips when we get back at 9pm or the times we work on a Sunday. To then consider that we are using a resource for some 4-5 hours a week as excessive time boggles my mind!!!!

This is something I hate about corporate companies……..

Now that I have suitably worked off my anger!

Let me get back to work!

One door or two

One has to love how thick they cut the bread here :-)

The sea

I do love the sea

The Hotel

A view from the beach side of the hotel onto the verandah

The slave castle

A view from the slave castle from Cape Coast Beach. We never did get
there due to time constraints as I mentioned. On the to do list for
next time :-)

The lads again

On one of the platforms pondering over the sway to the next platform.
Are those wry smiles I wonder

View from one of the Platforms

The view was good. My sense for heights was not.

Another view of the bridge

Some 15 odd meters up in the air it was

A view of the rickety suspension bridge

The poor lad making his way across the bridge had a babe in arms. I
needed both arms on the bridge just to feel safe. I had no idea how he
was feeling, but the camera was there just in case he dropped the lil
un........

Butterfly's are fed

I actually thought this was quite cute. Almost like a gnome garden

The lads

1DSCF1464
Originally uploaded by Hop.

Before taking the "ride" one needed to be fortified with a beer.

Tourist 101

There is tourism in Ghana. Besides the beach and erm… erm….

Well, there is the “canopy walk”. This natural wonder was mentioned to me on my arrival in Ghana, in July last year. Lots of people have mentioned it and my first long weekend in Ghana (that we can actually take), this was high on the list.

Four guys – our plant manager. Workshop manager and Draftsman, hopped into my *new* vehicle and at 9am pressed off to go to the canopy walk. The road we took was past Wassa Mine to the main Kumasi/Cape Coast road. Considering that I had traveled the road once 8 months ago and Ike had traveled the road in February once, we knew “exactly” where we were going. Four guys in a car are loathe to ask for directions, but after a few wrong turns, asking a few people on the side of the road we finally arrived at the National Park.

GHC2,000 per person for entry was reasonable. The entrance fee to the canopy walk was GHC 90.000 for “Non Locals” (ZAR60.00). We stopped off for a beer first – was a thirsty drive – and after waiting for 30 minutes for a “tour guide” to make an appearance we finally took a walk through the only rain forest in Ghana.

The forest was identified in 1994, consists of 450ha of forest and is reputed to have bears, leopard, birdlife and 280 types of insects. I saw some ants and two butterflies. *shake of head*

The canopy walk consisted of a suspended rope walkway between five platforms mounted on tall trees which allow you to walk above the canopy – ergo the name – and look down onto the forest. I am not a great heights person and the entire walk was not made easy by the fact the part that you walk on was made from aluminum ladders with a board bolted on, was built in 1995 and the lads charged with maintaining the walkway were sitting on the ground playing cards.

The guides function was telling us we had 66 steps to climb up before we reached the walkway, give the above mentioned history and leave us to do the canopy walk by ourselves. Oh yes ! he did appear once we came off the canopy walk and “ask” – read demand – a tip. Silly little individual.

All in all it was interesting, but I am not sure as to their rainforest definition as the forest seemed really young to me, without the darkness and wetness that one would associate with a rain forest as well as no animals at all.

But the beer was cold.

We also all purchased a fresh coconut which was chocca with very sweet milk for GHC 1500. (ZAR 1.00).

We then decided seen that we were only around 30kms from Cape Coast, that would be a nice place to eat lunch. After getting lost in town, driving around in a figure of eight and getting stuck in traffic we finally ended up at the local hotel for lunch.

Was a great meal with basically 4 people having salad/sandwich starters and main course of meat/fish with beer and coffee cost GHC180.000 each. (R120.00). This at tourist prices which was great.

We left Cape Coast at 4pm, much too late to go to the slave castle, which was a pity, and got home happy chappies at 6:30.

Tourist 101 complete.

Sudan Red

There are two wonderful posts on this subject which epitomise the over reaction on this subject.

http://aquilaonline.blogspot.com/2005/03/cancer-scare.html#comments

Joblog href=http://www.joblog.co.za

I tried to add actual links and am now working hard enuff to not bother how to sort it out!
*growl*

Long Weekend Ahead!!!

The day before the long weekend starts and as it coincides with a month end pay weekend, everyone happily toddled off at 12. So here the expats sit trying to complete a quote which has to be in by tomorrow. At least the client apologised for the timing, and as business is business one does what one has to do.

The lads have wizzed off to the client to have a look at some of the trickier aspects of the installation and we await their return.

With the long weekend, the original idea was to scoodle off to Accra and attack the night life there. That idea has faded into the distance and everyone seems to be doing their own thing. I have sent all the chefs and houseboys home for the long weekend and us expats will fend for themselves for the next four days. Easter is a family time anyways and the lads do need some time off.

What am I going to do this long weekend. Well assuming I finish the quote, I am going to take time and do the touristy thing. Canopy Walk (one of a kind walking above the canopy of the forest), Slaves Castle and other historical features around Cape Coast. My camera will be working overtime and hopefully I will be able to post some nice pics next week.

That assumes it all happens of course, but it would be a nice opportunity to get in there and do the tourist stuff.

A few days ago one of the mine trucks – those really big ones where if you stand next to the tyre you look like a dwarf – was driving down the main Tarkwa road (why I have no idea) and reached a point in the road where a culvert was been laid. Avoiding the hole on the left hand side, the truck happily collapsed the right hand side verge and we were left to marvel at a 100 ton truck half way down the hill blocking off the road.

In order to get around the truck, I was forced to use a new road which they are busy building which is theoretically meant to act as a bypass road once they start resurfacing the main road. The road is a bit narrow and bumpy, but what it has done is cut at least 10 minutes off the trip. Ergo I am now using that road every day. The aforementioned truck is still there, but the roads contractor has temporarily widened the road and filled in the culvert hole. I would love to hear the driver’s explanation on how he avoided the small hole on the left and fell down the big hold on the right.hand side.

We have been getting wonderful rain and it cooled down dramatically yesterday to around 22 degrees at night. I actually turned off the aircon in the lounge as I was getting a tad cold. That’s a first for me. Today we back to normal temperatures.

I have mentioned in previous blogs the high interest rates charged by the bank, and today’s paper has Stanbic Banks results. Net profit after tax of GHC15 billion on a Net interest Turnover of GHC43 billion. That’s a 35% net profit. License to print money in my book. Interest received to Interest paid ratio is 3.26 times and commission and fees received exceeds interest paid. Shareholders enjoyed a 19% return on Shareholders funds.

It seems like it is bank reporting time as ECOBANK reported their results as well.

Net profit after tax of GHC 87 billion on an interest turnover of GHC 177 billion. Net profit percentage *49%*. Interest received to paid ratio is 3.45 times and once again commission earned exceeds interest paid by a substantial amount. Shareholders return is 36%.

One thing the banks are not doing here is assisting in the development of the country that’s for sure!

On strange court decisions, a blind 74 year old man raped a 14 year old girl in Accra a while back. He was sentenced yesterday. The sentence? He was “banished” from Accra to his home village and his SISTER was charged to ensure he never shows face in Accra again. If he was found in Accra, his SISTER would be imprisoned. Ludicrous is the word that immediately comes to mind!

There is a wonderful picture in the local paper of a building in Tamale (near Accra) built ACROSS the road. I wonder seriously what went through the owner and builders mind as they built the house. I can imagine “wow that is nice, the roads department has leveled my building site for me”

Crime is still a major story in the press with a suspected armed robber been shot and killed by police. One way of avoiding strange court decisions I suppose.

Our thought police have installed new firewall software, which has in effect blocked out a few of the sites I visit as “not been business related”. 702 is one of them, and I honestly miss out on their concise business news reports and local Gauteng news. I wonder for how long one will be able to blog.

I cannot understand how they ship you up to the jungle and then disallow sites from being accessed to the only communication link that we have. Let’s make life difficult for the lads in Africa seems to be the statement.

That said! Hope the Easter eggs are chocolate and unfertilized, and the long weekend was a good rest for everyone. All five of you… yup – John and Jane have joined the comment line. Welcome!

Tuesday Missive

A Tuesday missive for some reason as I have been in workaholic mood and could not find the time to wax lyrical on Sunday, or for that matter yesterday.

The access issues on the puter seem to be resolved (for the moment). I hate people that cannot admit that they have changed something and walk through the change to see what went wrong. It was finally resolved by me making changes via them to all my passwords and them realising that the access server was not actually set up to recognize the Ghana network. All the time I have taken to sync my passwords across all the systems has gone out the window. One day they will have a common password for all access to the network.

This weekend entailed a full day’s work on Saturday doing the punch clerk thing while periodically cursing the fact that using jdE on a web interface is most frustrating. The fact that the system validates each field as you enter it means you enter and wait the 10 – 30 seconds for the screen to refresh. You can see whoever tests the system, do so over a LAN.

That said, there was a farewell for one of the mine lads on Saturday night and for the life of me I forgot clean about it. I am so bloody used to going home with nothing to do that I plonked myself on the couch and watched our SA teams getting thumped in the Super 12. Come bedtime at 10pm I saw a missed call from Albert at 7pm and wondered why he would be phoning me at that time. That’s when it dawned on me that I had forgotten about the party. From the reports it was a goody.

The fact that I had finished all my clerk work on the Saturday meant that I did not have to go in on Sunday. Which was a bonus. I absolutely vegged. I only got into the shower at around 12 after waking up at 7. I watched TV, read my book, played around on the computer and generally did not see the outside until around 3pm when I moved onto the stoep to read and enjoy the fresh air.

Saturday night we had the mother of all thunder storms and the noise woke me up a few times. The first clap of thunder that woke me up sounded like a transformer exploding outside my window. It was a stunning rain and lying in bed listening to it beat down on the roof made me hanker after a nekked Nessers on my left hand side. *chuckle*

On Sunday night my DSTV decided to display an error 30 just as I was about to watch “league of extraordinary gentlemen”. After suitably cursing for around 10 minutes, I decided that book time was in order and I retired to bed to complete my latest Fredrik Forsythe Novel.

Monday I was in a reconciliation mood. Those of you that know me know that if there is one thing I hate, that is recons. However I do get in the mood to stick my head down, grab the highlighter and attempt to work out what the people that put entries in my books were thinking as they punched the entry. I knocked out all the balance sheet stuff and am only left with Statutory Income statement goodies. I did realize that some of the stuff I did in January should not have been done without the relevant information available and spend a bit of time correcting that.

Last night was very much more of the same, with a late leave from the office due to me taking advantage of my mood to kill off the work and a reasonable dinner of Lamb and Tatties. (Lunch was foul and I eat a few mouthfuls of a vile pie). More TV – it was working again thank gawd – and sleep at around 10.

I did get an SMS from a very very old friend in the form of Ronnie, who I phoned and she filled me in on all the exciting stuff that is happening in her life. Her daughter is the same age as Lisa and had just got a tattoo. I thank my stars sometime *chuckle*. She was in SA in February (she currently lives in the UK) and I was most unhappy that I missed her. Her hubby is in SA in April and I may meet up with him if our timing gels.

She still refuses to send me nekked pics *sigh*

Today is very much more of the same as regards getting the month in data input complete and a site visit this afternoon. Having finished the invoicing, I am smiling as once again we have exceeded budget.

I am actually in a most chipper mood this morning, and have a smile on my face from ear to ear. Not sure why, but hey – I like it!

As far as Ghana news is concerned, there is not much new and the fuel price, Rawlings Doctorate and crime still make the news on a daily basis with no indication that any of the parties will change their views sometime soon.

One thing that does make the news on a regular basis is the size of Kufours Government with a total of 78 ministers and deputies. There is word in the vine that a further 2 ministers will be appointed making it a total of 80. Seems to me like a hell of a lot of people considering that each one is supported by a team of Government employees. But hey TIA.

And that fun people is an update on my news for the weekend. It is Easter coming up and we still mooting an Easter weekend in Accra.

And Life Goes on

Once again I am unable to do what I had planned to do as we have a mini self destruct with the access systems between Ghana and SA. Suddenly the JDE system decides that it wants to go via a proxy, which given the fact that my three user names a passwords do not work results in another call to “Helpdesk”

Lunch today was Beef Curry and Rice, which the chef makes nice and hot. All I have to try and make him understand is that if he cooks it for longer the meat will not be as tough as old shoes. But hey, curry for lunch usually means I will have something light for supper, and seen that I have a chicken breast marinating in Peri Peri for two days, that will be perfect for the task.

I am happy that the Daily Graphic reads my blog and today dedicated their comment column to the debacle around the Rawlings doctorate. As the comment ended “We must give honor to those who deserve it”

There is also a wonderful article on the problem facing Africa as regards its medics. Figures quoted in the article state that in Zambia, since independence 600 doctors have qualified. Of the 600 a paltry 50 remain in Zambia. Ghana is faced with a 50% loss and Malawi 25%. Where do they all go? Well apparently a large amount of African qualified medical staff (Both Doctors and Nurses) have joined the UK health system as NHS staff. Statistics are showing that by using the qualified medical staff from Africa, the UK has saved some GBP2.7 billion for which the donated GBP560 million towards healthcare in Africa. Somewhere in the UK, there is a very very astute accountant running their health care.

Ghana apparently has 1500 doctors registered in the entire country.

Malawi hits the top of my pops today with the President moving out of his **300 roomed** house “because it is haunted”. The house built during Banda’s reign took some 20 years to build?? And cost in the region of $100 million. Where does he move to? Well State House of course. The 300 roomed pad was also the houses of Parliament and thus MP’s have to rent a venue when they reconvene next month. Different.

The fuel row still continues, and there is another Wahala march tomorrow in protest of the fuel price hikes. There is also a very clear and concise article in the news paper by Dr. J K Kwakye as to the fuel industry and its deregulation in Ghana. It is interesting to note that Government by subsidizing the fuel price has inherited $400 million of debt from the local state owned oil company. It is also interesting to note that our fuel price remains the cheapest in the region by still a long way, which encourages smuggling of fuel to neighboring countries.

Our first set of guys start rotating back this week and you can already see the jauntiness in their step as Friday approaches. We have 2 guys on the road this week, 2 guys next week, 1 guy the week after and then MEEEEE!!!!!!

My office temp is back up to 28 degrees as the aircon gamely tries to cool the superheated air and my split unit has been put on hold!

Hope you all still having fun!

Newsworthy

Constantly reminded that I am in Africa, I chuckle when I see certain items in the daily press as I munch on lunch. (Spag Bol today).

It appears the Auditor General has demanded from the IRS the tax postion of most of the newspapers in the country. This includes directors personal tax. Although the AG's office is responsible for auditing the revenue collection, the timing comes as certain press publications are less then complimentary on the ruling NPP.

Poor timing? - or an attempt at press freedom. It is interesting to note that the Daily Graphic, which tends to be pro government is not amoung the papers listed.

There is also a hullabaloo about JJ Rawlings (Previous PM who gained power via a coup) who was to be awarded a doctorate. Apparently the ruling party called off the award due to "security concerns". This is getting a large amount of radio time, but not a mention in the Daily Graphic. The plot thickens.

In Togo a few weeks back the president for 40 odd years passed on. Given the fact that Togo now has a constitution, successor to the Pres until new elections could be called was the Speaker of the House. What does the Togo Army do? They fire the speaker of the house and appoint the Late Presidents Son as speaker and thus de facto president. Elections were to be held "at a future date".

The East African community reacted with outrage and sanctions were imposed against Togo until they got their house in order. That has been done and elections are due fairly soon.

That was not quite the issue in my mind however. The Ghana ambassador was one of the first lads to welcome in the "Speaker of the House (new)" as president. Much against his countries wishes.

Most people will be fired and on the next plane home. The politically correct was it seems is to recall the lad and make him stand in a by-election due next month. I am not sure if they are hoping he is trounced at the polls and thus vanishes quietly into the distance or if they believe that his "shoot at the hip" attitude will make him a great MP.

I watch this one with interest :)


On a personal note:

Got a wonderful email from a lass yesterday working for the company requesting me to purchase 50 sheets, 50 pillows and 50 Pillow Cases.

Somewhat perplexed I sent an email back noting that I did beleive the email was misdirected. (big company - more than one Tony ..etc)

Blow me down if I did not get an email back saying, no issue, but please get the sheets and pillows.

I then proceeded to set out in simple terms the logistical nightmare of getting Bed Sheets and Pillows from Ghana to Angola (thats where she was) and hell it should be a lot easier just buying them locally.

At least she had a chuckle about it.....

Now I wonder how I go about getting a female buyer!!!!

OW!!! - Someone hit me - who was that *wicked chuckle*

Sunday Again :)

Another weekend has passed by in the Jungle and as I sit here perving at Laura Crofts perky bits, I am almost one month from HomeTime!!

We had a wonderful rainstorm last night which true to form killed the electricity to the area. Over the past week we have been having electrical problems which kill everything except for the Aircon in my room and the plugs downstairs. Very strange wiring in this house.

Not that I complain too much, as long as the room aircon works, I am able to sleep in relative comfort and read by torchlight.

Saturday however, everything was dead. Ergo I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6am on Sunday already sweating with no aircon. I had a very cool shower and waited for the Ghana Power Company to fix whatever fault had killed the power.

By 10am all the doors to the house were open and I was sitting outside in a pair of shorts on the verandah trying to stay cool. The house was an uncomfortable 28 odd degrees. Lunch was also going to be an issue as I had marinated some steak in the “Tony Special Sauce” and I worked out by 12 that the stove was out of gas. I have a nice Gas/Electric unit, so running out of gas is usually not a major train smash as I can use the one electric plate. With no power – this was turning into a train smash. *g*

Power finally returned at around 2pm and with all the aircons on full, fans on 5, the house was comfortable around 3pm. I could also cook my steak, with fried onions and Achar as my veggies. I do love my own meals, and was a happy chappy, plonked in front of the TV, puter on table and well spiced steak, rare, with loads of Garlic.

I mentioned previously that my windscreen on the *new* car was cracked in the first week. True to form the bloody crack started spreading and some fancy footwork was needed to stop the crack in its tracks – so to speak. Fortunately Albert was in Obuasi on Saturday and his *new* vehicle also picked up a crack. He then sent the same lad out to my place on Sunday morning to do a repair job. He did a reasonable job and hopefully the crack will stop its movement into my eye line. Cost GHC 250.000.

Not much on the personal side to report about.

Some Ghana News:

• The Kumasi clean up I mentioned in previous blogs was completed with no major fights. Again there are pics in the local news showing how clear the roads are.
• The fun part is there will always be a con man waiting in the wings to take advantage. All the Hawkers were to be moved to “the old race track” and as sure as god made little apples, some enterprising lad was on site charging the hawkers GHC20.000 to “register”. Some 600 people later and the local news station decided to check up on the lad and bust him. He was almost subject to a lynching.
• There is talk in the papers that Govt has decided to “boost the communications infrastructure”. This I wait to see in my term here.
• The news reports on a “virgin club”, which appears to be a HIV education club. I assume once you get shagged, that’s your membership suspended. How do you prove that you a virgin to get into the club? I can only chuckle at this.


That fun readers was my weekend.

A new week starts – and another week closer to nookie!!!!!!

Fark – I last got shagged on Sunday 23rd January – and when you know the exact date and it is more then two days ago – you know that you are battling. My right arm is getting a lot more muscular then my left. I have got to change hands more often!!!

Have a fun week peoples and peoplesses 

The Commissioner of Oaths

Today I had the dubious pleasure of visiting our local commissioner of oaths to get a document attested.

I have noted on my blog lately that humour has vanished from it. This appears to be because it has very much been a lot of the same thing every day and mot much has happened that has caused me to look at the funny side of life.

This normally is a reaction to me been angry, and realising that throwing my toys out of the cot is not going to achieve anything, I then look for the funny side and make a joke out of it to stay sane.

Imagine if you will – dear four readers – you are taken into town by your HR Officer who knows where the commissioner of Oaths is and you are presented with a wizened old man, sitting in front of a typewrite which is older then he is, and he has “Government Pension Service” Calendars on the wall – Going back to 1999.

This appears to be his retirement provision. The office is a wooden hut that makes the daily temperature in my office (27 C) seem like Siberia in Winter in comparison.

And this poor lad (a) needs glasses and (b) does not appear to read English very well at all. He further insists on reading through the entire document at his pace. One trusts that he keeps items like this confidential.

That said, all he needs to do is to make me take the prescribed oath. Anyone who has had a document attested knows the answers are “yes”, “no” and “yes’. Get this done at a local cop shop in SA and you talking 3 minutes tops. My poor OAP (old age pensioner) has to really think about what the answers should be.

After telling him what answers to write, he finally, with shaking hand completes his part of the program. Then comes the Name Address and Stamp.

You a commissioner of Oaths, right. You stamp things Right…. SO one would assume his stamp is close at hand. Nope. His stamp is in a drawer on the other side of the office, in a plastic bag tied up. OAP also must have the same problems with his legs that my dear old mum had. It takes him a while to get out of the chair, toddle across the office, dig in the drawer and battle to untie the knot of the plastic bag.

OAP battles back again to his side of the wooden shed, flops down into the chair and … stops. On the desk where he recovered his stamp is….

The stamp pad.

Now a little the wiser, I leap up from my comfy plastic chair and retrieve the pad for him, fearful that getting out of the chair twice in such a short time will induce a fatal heart attack and mean that I will have to find another commissioner called “Joshua Ensah”. That of course due to the fact he has already written his name in the provided space.

He tests his stamp on the pad in front of him and satisfied that the rubber stamp is the correct one, stamps the form in the correct place.

Finally the date and place has to be written. Ohh – He works out that he has a date stamp in his little bag of tricks and starts to stand up. Ever the gentleman – well not really but as mentioned before, I really do not want the poor old bugger to pass away, I once again leap up and retrieve his plastic bag of stamps.

Some shuffling around in the bag and the requisite stamp is found, tested, verified correct (after advancing the date) and applied to my form.

Success!!!!!

Pay the man GHC 50.000 (ZAR 35.00, $5.83) and I walk out of the hot box proudly holding the most difficult form I have ever had attested in my life.

And to think when I was in Swaziland, I was a commissioner of Oaths because I was the General Manager there.

I love this place!!!!!

Sunday Missive

Another Sunday missive from the jungle.

The reporting week went really well and besides one (major) stuff up, I survived!!. That meant I could work until 3pm on Saturday and take off Sunday. Now that’s called working smarter not harder.

Saturday saw the arrival of MY NEW CAR!!!! - I am now the proud driver of a Pajero 2.8tdi and boy! It drives well! Loads of grunt and u do not get bounced around as I got in the LDV. *bow* to the powers in JHB that approved the purchase.

It also proves how ripped off we are in SA when it comes to vehicle prices. The Pajero with aircon, radio/CD, 4WD, 7 seats etc etc cost USD 30.000 (ZAR 180.000). The same vehicle in SA retails at R360.000. TWICE!! the price. Scary!

Saturday was a quiet night at home as I think I am coming down with something. Back to the low grade headache and scratchy throat. Or it may be the fact that my SA ciggies are finished and I am back to local Rothmans. Not sure!

Sunday was a late morning – I arose at 7am and toddled off to the beach in my *new* car for lunch and a wander along the beach. The journey was a pleasure and my new CD’s were put to good use. Home by 5 and a quiet evening watching TV ensued. Loved the Italian Job and watched a really good movie called “Article 99” which highlighted the plight of vet’s in the US health system

Was good to chill, eat choccie and marshie eggs and nibble some garlic wors. I do think Nessers sent the Garlic Wors to chase all the school teachers away. It must be working cause I have yet to see a cute school teacher. *chuckle*

Ghana Police seem to be on a roll at the moment and have caught “the most wanted criminal” in Accra (apparently 96 odd armed robberies have been attributed to him) as well as “the most wanted criminal” in Kumasi. This after Kumasi erupted into violence on Friday when a gangster was killed and the mourners decided to trash cars and shoot at people in the middle of town. Goodness! And the say JHB is bad???

Government is also getting serious as regards the anti corruption drive, and are taking all the Ghana Railways staff to task who were party to leasing out land controlled by Ghana Rail to other people. Could be interesting to see how this pans out. But when you consider the railways is almost non functional one may be tempted to say renting out the land could pay salaries. However one wonders how much went into officials back pockets.

Traders in Kumasi are also subject to arrest in that towns attempt to improve traffic flow by getting rid of the street and pavement hawkers. The situation appeared to improve traffic flows in Accra, but based on the fact the Kumasi traders seem a little more militant, it could be a question of who has the stronger will. The fact that people are forced to walk on the street due to the pavement traders is a major problem and one that needs to be resolved methinks.

Monday is a public holiday celebrating Ghana Independence day and this was seen with all kinds of celebrations in the villages with kiddies marching around, flags flying high and people giving speeches. Sunday was the actual holiday, but as in SA the Sunday holiday carries over to Monday.

Business wise we had a very good month last month and poor old Albert is deskbound doing all sorts of quotations for all sorts of goodies. It also appears as if our new operation at Obuasi has got their first job, which makes me a happy lad. I will be visiting them this week again.

Easter weekend is up and coming and as it is at the end of the month 25/03-28/03 there is talk of all the lads going off to Accra for the weekend to get a bit of their nightlife. Sounds like a bloody good plan to me. All it requires from my side is some nifty planning to make sure we close the books off on time and input as much as possible by the Thursday, with the remaining items on the Tuesday and Wednesday. That should be possible for a man of my caliber!!

*chuckle*

Other then that! 40 days until I fly out for rotation!!!!