“The rainbows of life follow the storms”

My apologies for no weekly newsletter last week, we had a very busy week in the office and then our Nigerian friends paid us a wonderful visit on the weekend. There was absolutely no time in between work and serious play for writing. Although slightly heavy headed this morning I am back on form.

Our woes with transport seem to continue. It was rather amusing to watch a bike mechanic repairing our four motorbikes that the company uses for selling airtime on the streets. He arrived at the offices and set up shop on the side of our building. On one of our regular inspection trips outside, Victer and I were in hysterics when the mechanic discovered that one of the bikes had a hole in its exhaust and he promptly repaired this with a cigarette butt and then handed us a bill. One of our land cruisers was originally brought over to Accra from our Du Pont office in Lagos, Nigeria. This means that every thirty days the vehicle has to cross back over the border to show that it has not been stolen. We have applied for multiple entries, but in the interim this tedious trip to renew the permit has to be made by our driver, Kwesi. The expiry date on the permit was this last weekend, and we duly sent Kwesi on his way. Ten hours later there was no sign of vehicle or driver and we naturally began to panic. We should have known that with Nigeria being famously known for its corruption……the permit was found to be fake and our poor driver had been arrested. All ended well however and after a further corrupt payment, he was released with new authentic papers in hand. Poor Kwesi if he is not being fired by Christopher he is being arrested.

After a busy and tiresome week in the office, we were delighted to be rewarded with a visit from our Nigerian friends, Shane, Natalie, and the boys. The children were barely manageable in the week prior to their arrival, a lesson I have learnt for future…never give a seven and five-year-old exciting news that requires counting down sleeps! They arrived on Thursday and spent three nights with us (hence the heavy head today) Monsoon and its delicious sushi welcomed us with open arms once again on Friday night, and we went wild with oysters for starters, sushi for main and just a few bottles of red wine. Once in the partying mood, we dabbled in some gambling in the little casino at Golden Tulip and ended with some boogying at a club Victer found in Osu, called Tantra. We were like eighteen-year old’s again and it was definitely a night to remember…crawling into bed at four in the morning to be woken by little demanding people two hours later. The rest of Saturday was spent lying on the couch watching movie after movie, and whoever was the braver of the four of us occasionally made a trip to the kitchen to grab a drink or a snack (Don’t know why we were so thirsty – we had so much to drink the night before). We had finally managed to get our little blow-up pool send to us from South Africa to work so the children swam and we recovered!

That evening, feeling our second wind, we tucked kids into bed and created our very own poker evening at home, using monopoly money to bet. Minus the cigars, we were the real deal, and it must be said that Victer and Natalie are quiet the bluffers, so Vegas watch out!

A while ago, Victer discovered an old go-cart track next to the Trade Centre in Accra. Feeling particularly child-like this weekend, the four of us ventured down to the track on the Sunday morning to take a spin. Victer and Shane drove like real maniacs, Nat followed close behind, and as for me…. I blame it on the go-cart. Driving Miss Daisy would be putting it way too mildly. Our butts were soaking wet and we were covered in mud so after a quick trip home to shower and grab a bite to eat, our friends flew back to the land of corruption and 419’s, leaving the Kerslake’s to nurse their headaches.

On a more serious note…Victer is distraught to discover that his darling daughter has a friend who happens to be a boy…little Lucas…who goes to school with her. She has been spending some play time at his house after school and Victer is beside himself. He keeps threatening to sit the little man down and ask him what his intentions are with his daughter…and poor Morgan is being subjected to a million questions including “Who are you going to marry?” and as long as she answers in her sweetest voice “Daddy!”, she is safe. Christopher, for once has the upper hand in the whole situation and every opportunity he gets he sings “Morgie and Lucas sitting in a tree…. K.I.S.S.I.N.G…”, driving both father and sister mad. Never a dull moment in our house…once again, I will keep you posted.

The weather has been so much cooler than normal. We have definitely entered our rainy season (what Ghanaians call their winter) …. whatever! Although cooler, which is a big relief, along with the rain come the huge wind storms. I know the Capetonians out their will probably identify and laugh us off, saying “Wind? You ain’t seen nothing Vaalies…”, but we actually get hurricanes. Huge aluminum and steel sign boards get blown away and DSTV dishes fly around like U.F.O’s. The main tree in Ghana is the coconut palm tree, towering several meters into the sky, and when they blow and sway, they create quite an eerie whistle through the air. The mosquitoes are at their happiest and the bats and lizards have retreated into their caves or wherever it is that such things retreat, no doubt to multiply. There is much excitement ahead.

“The rainbows of life follow the storms”