Tropical torrents
The rains continue... in fact they have been so strong that they have swept away half of a sleeping policeman on my road. There are a lot of sleeping policemen on the roads around here (put in to stop the UN troops killing so many children when they were based in Freetown). These cause a lot of traffic jams in the mornings as the taxis (in particular) struggle over them to get up the hill. Anyway, as I have mentioned in the past, the roads have become rivers and several boulders (of varying sizes) have been dislodged, but this is the first time I have seen rains heavy enough to wash away parts of the traffic calming system.
The rains are definitely getting heavier- I went paddling in order to get into a friend's car this weekend- we had been planning to go in search of sunlight but that seemed like a vain hope, so we retired to her house and watched 'The Last King of Scotland' instead- a good, but sometimes violent film about Idi Amin in Uganda and the change that came over him while he was in power there.
Also this weekend, I went on the walk (have been absent from it for various reasons for a few weeks), anyway, it was a nice, easy walk- up whale bay river (no Whales around, no bay and only a bit of a river, tho' am assured that the latter will soon be changed as a result of the rainy seasons). We then enjoyed a pot-luck picnic on the beach (with sun) and the waves were somewhat less violent than the previous weekend :-)
Several people seem to be leaving at the moment (I don't think this is just because it's the rainy season), which means there's a few leaving parties happening. However, it's also the beginning of the research season, when several people come over from various universities to research into various aspects of the social, economic and post-conflict development and structures of the country. I think it's the arrival of so many people coming here for 2-3months that meant when I arrived someone asked how long I was staying for and their response to my reply was 'Ah, well in that case I can be your friend because you're here for at least 6months' (or in my case somewhat longer). There's a lot of comings and goings here, which makes life more interesting but also makes it somewhat unstable and harder to really get to know people properly unless they're here for a decent amount of time.
Labels: beach, leaving party, rain, roads, traffic, walk
Rumours in Freetown
Well, there are always rumours flying around Freetown, the most recent relates to the possibility of Lungi airport (main international airport in SL) being down-graded from an international airport due to the lack of fire fighting facilities at the airport. This was emphasised when a recent helicopter crash at Lungi very sadly killed 19 people on board:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6715937.stm
This had been a chartered helicopter for the Togolese officials heading back to Togo after the match against Sierra Leone a couple of weeks ago. There is currently an investigation ongoing which will try to determine the reason behind the crash. This has meant that the government has decided to ground all helicopters flying between Freetown and Lungi (except the UN helicopter which has diplomatic immunity- tho' from the Freetown grapevine, I've gathered this helicopted has crashed more times than Paramount). This all means that the only way to get over to Lungi is by speedboat (they're charging more than the cost of the helicopter flight), by boat (have done this and was fine, but takes ages) or driving all the way round (takes forever and given the condition of the roads is probably at least as dangerous as going on a Paramount helicopter).
Anyway, the general hope is that the airport won't lose it's international status, otherwise things could get pretty complicated in terms of people trying to leave (and arrive in SL), but the panic over this seems to have blown over and the general hope/feel is that it won't be downgraded- at least, not yet. Will keep you posted on any other updates on the Freetown rumour-mill (which is probably more accurate than the local papers)!
Sunshine and showers
It has been far too long since I've written anything on my blog- I fully admit this, but life has been pretty busy here recently- lots of conferences and work to be done as a result of them and then just getting on with life as normal.
We've also been lacking internet at work since last Friday and I've had to take a few days off sick (tho' am now feeling much better). The walk last Saturday was up Sugarloaf (great views from the top but a bit of a clamber to get up there), which I avoided due to being ill for the previous 2-3 days and instead watched far too much Spooks at a friend's house.
The rainy season has begun in earnest it seems- some pretty huge 'showers' of rain coming down- well, actually huge thunderstorms that can be pretty dramatic to watch but are more annoying when you're trying to catch a few more minutes sleep before having to get up and go to work! In fact, that pretty much describes a lot of how this morning went- I just about managed to avoid getting drenched between the house and the car, but the rain hits the ground so hard that even if you're using an umbrella you're likely to get pretty wet as the rain that misses you on the way down, catches you as it bounces up again. In fact, the only 'benefit' of the rain was that I didn't face quite as many traffic jams as normal on my way into work, although heading up one road did feel like the car was trying to drive up a river as the deep channels at the sides of the road had so much water gushing down them that they were overflowing into the road. One of my colleagues told me of a 30-car pile up near Lumley roundabout this morning on his way into work- there's a short section between two roundabouts where there's no tarmac and the road is just hard earth/mud, well, under torrential rains, this had become impassable for all but the most able vehicles and please remember that however intrepid the taxi drivers here are, I haven't seen a taxi that I would class among the 'most able' of vehicles here.
We also faced a plague (well, one night) of flies, which we've also been told marks the beginning of the rains, as they 'emerge' after the first big rains. This happened last week and the flies were highly attracted to any light sources and even managed to get in through closed windows- metal bars on the window didn't seem to discourage them at all, but we've been told this is a one-off event, so are settling down to wait for the rains to continue. Having said that, looking outside of my office now, there's gorgeous sunlight and bits of blue sky, so it doesn't feel like we're really in the rainy season at the moment! We'll obviously see how many more trips we can make to the beach before there's more rain than sun on the weekends!
Labels: car, rain, sun, traffic
