Ghana be fun...

Salvador Dali and Dr. Seuss

This week I have decided I really do live a Dali meets Seuss house.  I can’t decide if the floor is even and has a dip where it meets the wall, if it is the wall that is wonky and bends first out and then in, or where the furniture is just completely uneven and built to different scales depending on which part was measured by whom.   Either way I was lying in bed this morning and I was completely bemused by what felt like a fairground hall of mirrors.

It hasn’t really been helped this week by the constant and unending (lack of) flow of electricity and water.  Having been really quite steady for the last month of so, this week has been one of flux.  Again this is a situation that makes almost no sense to me.  I could understand if the whole house lost power and/or water; but that would be far too easy.  Instead it is only certain parts of the house that are affected.  This isn’t even divided down on a room by room basis- again that would be far too simple, but instead seems to work on a socket by socket basis.  For example- the lounge has three lights, and two of these can be out of power but the third is still on.  The dual socket that controls the kitchen light and the bathroom light (don’t even ask) can work for the bathroom, but not the kitchen, the fridge can be off, but the toaster can still be switched on.  Even more confusing is the bathroom.  The same switch turns on the light and the fan, yet the fan nearly always works and the light is a bit hit and miss.  It really is a totally surreal house- I live in a 1920s painting.

As for water, this week it seemed to have managed to work out the exact moment I have finished squirting shampoo over my head and then, and only then does it turn off.  There is a tank of water kept for emergences, it just needs switching on… the only snag with this is that the pump is outside, down the side of the house and past the guards.  Only once this week have I had to explain that I wasn’t planning on heading out to work half dress and foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog- I just needed the water back on before I could finish brushing my teeth.  More than one I have found myself with my head over the kitchen sinking pouring iced drinking water over my head to try and get at least some of the shampoo rinsed before getting dressed!

Despite this I am liking it here; especially this weekend.  It has once again been mainly sunny, beautiful breeze, white clouds in the sky and a great temperature for being outside.   I have managed a few hours by the pool, looking up the blue sky, the green palm trees; the (for once) peaceful neighborhood there has been a holiday feel in the air.  It could easily have been southern France or Italy with baguettes or pizza just around the corner.

In actual fact there was pizza yesterday.  Ghana is definitely changing and you can see signs of it everywhere.  The café is a great example of this.  The pizza is a relatively new menu item- as is the prospect of delivery (a service yet to be tried) but more impressive is the people watching and the area in which it is located.  The pizza place is Lebanese and does a great shawarma and is located on fairly busy corner, it really is fascinating watching all the traffic, the police and the tro-tros coming and going.  Nearly as fascinating as watching the business and the shops and restaurants develop.  It just seems that something has changed every time one visits; be it the colors of the shops, the services they offer or the people populating the counters.  It is a little microcosm for the whole country: continued, small but important changes.  I’m now hoping that that electricity, and water fill follow suite. 

A final thought and comment for the week, on a completely unrelated note.  It has been commented upon that most of my blog is not about life, travel or observations of the country, those may follow in due course, but about the food I eat, the things I like to drink and contents of my tummy.  So, pizza notwithstanding, I have also discovered Ribena this week, so have supplemented my diet coke intake with another old favorite.  Although as a child this was usually reserved as a treat for birthdays or when I was sick with a sore throat, I have been ill all week so feel as though I totally deserved a treat- as ever, magic worked and I am back to my fit and healthy self.