Wednesday 24 November 2010

A birthday in the sun! and a great night at Alex’s

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I had been a little worried about spending my birthday away from my family and friends, especially on this special occasion of my quarter centenary celebration. But I have to say I genuinely had a great time. See, living in London, November is usually the time of frosty cold weather, and more recently, snowy. So it was nice for a change to be in an environment where I could wake up on the morning of my birthday, put on a bathing suit and go swimming in the sea, without anticipating a painful frostbite!

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So this year, Carole has planned a weekend at Hamilton beach, reserving the beach huts at Samso’s (If you’re coming to SL, and would like to spend a few nights on the beach, Samso’s is well worth a try. Great location, affordable prices, good food… okay, I’m starting to sound like an infomercial!).

On Saturday afternoon, courtesy of Sam, we drove to the beach to meet with the weekending party of VSO vols and NGO friends. I had an absolutely amazing time, swimming, lying on the beach, taking pictures, helping to put together a Hobie 16 Catamaran… (don’t get too impressed; knowing squat about boats, my idea of helping was pulling ropes, unfolding the mast, slotting pins in the right place and tilting my head to one side with a wise-ish look on my face, while saying thoughtfully, ‘yes, that looks about right’. At least I now know what a shroud is!)

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In the evening, we had a wonderful dinner of skewered barracuda and sweet potato chips and I received a birthday song and a pineapple cake. No, an actual pineapple with a lit candle on top and biscuit pieces crumbled over the top. As someone who is not a massive fan of actual cake, this was a prize and a half! We then ended the night by the campfire. I stayed up until the wee hours, captivated by the soothing impression of the burning flames on my senses.

I woke up on my birthday to the sound of the crashing waves (amazing!) and immediately put on my bathing suit and went for a quick morning swim, followed by breakfast. Coming home on the Sunday, even I had to admit that I had out-swum myself, spending over an hour an a half in the sea… so as soon as I got home, I fell into bed for a quick nap.

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Later in the evening, we went to an absolutely amazing restaurant by the beach called Alex’s to eat with a few friends. 

So all together, it was a totally enjoyable birthday, and I really appreciate all of those who celebrated it with me. We all know how I am about birthdays, so thanks for indulging me, even suggesting more fun activities for next year’s 26 tasks. Also, thanks to you all, I have received the most thoughtful, useful and amusing birthday presents this year, one of which being my very own bistro (below) in the kitchen, where we can now add corned beef hash, spaghetti Bolognese and peanuts to the menu…

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Banke xxx

Tuesday 2 November 2010

And the walls came tumbling down…

There have been a few noticeable changes in Freetown over the past few weeks. There have also been some things which we would have expected to change, but have annoyingly stayed the same! In a way, I feel words won’t do, so I’ll let pictures show tell the story.

What has stayed the same

1. Rainy season turns to dry season… nope, still here… 

See, by the end of September, what we were all expecting was this…

…but instead, what we’ve been having is still a whole load of this…

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How annoying right! On that particular day, I had to wade through the mucky water to get to the bank. Not enough antiseptic spray can make that seem ok!

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Before I attempted to catch a taxi from the VSO programme office to go to the bank, I called my housemate, saying, ‘I don’t know, I think I’m going to brave it to the bank.’ to which she replied, ‘no, I think what you mean is, you’re about to stupid it to the bank!’

She was quite right!

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DSC0267612. Yep, you guessed, there is still a lot of traffic… and yes, there are still a few unpleasant smells you have to endure sitting in a hot poda, and yes we’re still taking the exciting route down the hills of Freetown!

 

What has changed

DSC02679 1. The most dramatic change which all Freetonians can attest to is the widening of Wilkinson Road. Okay so at the moment, its more of reducing the walls to rubble and possibly destroying the livelihoods of shop owners and street sellers (even though, I have this uncanny feeling that the street sellers are quite accustomed to being moved, and so will find a new spot to sell their produce before the diggers move in!).

A couple of weeks ago, this scene was eerily reminiscent of the aftermath of civil unrest, something all too familiar to the history of Sierra Leone. I DSC02691have to applaud the workers on their efforts however, it has returned to looking like the Peaceful Salone I know! The rubble is being cleared at a speedy rate, workers are ACTUALLY working! and the roads actually looks like they might have a fighting chance of being finished by the given deadline.

See, the plan is to widen the roads in Lumley, and also complete the extension of Wilkinson road from 2 lanes (or 4-5 lanes depending on whether you define it using the road traffic rules or from the lawless Freetonian drivers point of view) to 4 lanes in time for Sierra Leone’s 50th Anniversary of Independence, led by the Chinese railway construction group. The idea is to reduce the traffic and congestion going into town, which is a good thing, since it means a 15 minute journey will no longer take an hour! Also, there is a hopeful possibility that they will put in pavements, meaning we won’t have to fear for our legs or life when walking down the road, which we currently share with cars, trucks, lorries and believe it or not, mangy dogs!

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Jimmy the Chimp from the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary says hello!

Well worth a trip if you ever visit Freetown!

Till Next time,

Banke xoxox