Fri June 3 - Marriage proposal

OK, I was mislead - they are not vultures circling the bank... one came close enough to see the neck is too short – some sort of eagle-like thing, big. Lots of them too.

I made it to devotional at the bank this morning, dragged myself out for 8am. It’s basically singing and praying, led by one rotored staff member each day. Quite evangelical, the singing was great! Impromptu accapella’s all over the shop, interspersed with really fervent praying.

One of the guys took me around the town in the middle of the day to try to find a spare battery for my p800 phone. Pretty rare, the battery that is, not cellphone shops – there are hundreds of them. It was incredibly unpleasant, no so much the heaving throngs of people, but the heat and humidity. Samuel had sweat rolling down his face, and like so many people here, carried a hanky to dab it all away, so I reckon I was doing pretty well just to be alive.

Victor, one of the two gatekeepers at the head office – very empire british in his demeanor, loose tan-uniform, upright, always very crisp in his salutes to me, “sah!”. Well, Victor offered me his daughters hand in marriage. He said he liked my “structure” (outlining my shape with his hands) and my smile, so I would do. I was flattered, of course, but felt I had to decline. I didn’t seem to be able to get away with not meeting said daughter, so I have a date for 4 o’clock tomorrow afternoon – with no idea what she is like, age, or anything! Though Victor did give me permission to “do what you like, I’m only the father”…

It’s Friday night, so thought I’d better go out. Looked in the guide book, settled on Ryans Irish pub, just down the road. No, luck, closed. The guide book is from 2001 (thanks, Dan ;-) Ended up at Vic Bamboo’s café near the centre. I had an expectation of a bustling place, esp. on a Friday. Uh-uh, very quiet. Huge menu with everything from Italian, to Indian, to Chinese. I had the butter chicken, which wouldn’t be recognized as such in Brick Lane, but was quite edible. That, plus a small beer, small water and Gordons Spark (G&T in a bottle) was 80,000 Cedi, or 5 quid. Chatted to a young American woman, who was working for an NGO and living in a small village to the west for a few months…all credit to her. No running water and even less electricity that we have but she appeared to be loving it.

The Black Stars are staying in my hotel tonight – that’s the Ghanain national football team. They play Burkino-Faso on Sunday. To which Antony, at work, got me and him some VIP tickets. I might get religious just for a moment…I hope to God that there is some shade in that stadium!