25.1.14 Saturday. Clean up day

Set Settal, the local name for clean up day today, all traffic is suspended for the morning and everyone is supposed to be at home or work cleaning up the environment around their place.  Western rubbish is the biggest problem here, things introduced into the country that the local people do not know how to cope with.  There are no recycling plants here so all rubbish is left in the street, hoping that it will disappear like all natural waste.

The area in front of the storeroom had accumulated lots of rubbish, mainly plastic bags,  and we decided to set a good example to our neighbours and spend the morning clearing the area.  Mell, James, John, Steve and I; armed with rakes, shovels and a lighter, spent half the morning clearing all the rubbish and having several small fires.  Kebba and some friends joined in with their machetes and we cleared a large area of shrub where the rubbish had stuck on to the branches and so we managed to tidy up half the street.  Several passers by stopped to say what a good job we were doing, but no-one offered to help! Once the traffic curfew for clean up day was lifted, Steve and James went to do a delivery at Abuko and to collect Mr Jallow’s bike which had broken down there.  All the packing done for our travellers today we went to the beach for a last swim and to order dinner. Unfortunately the wind had really got up today and it was cold! on the beach, only John braved the sea.  The bar is part owned by a Swiss couple and we were pleased to get our dinner at 4.30pm which was the time we had booked it.  Steve and Jim were back in time to join us to eat, we left the beach and sat in the bar, huddled under our towels trying to get warm.  An excellent meal, we will be back!    Home for shower and change and then we went to the airport to drop Gill and John and collect Linda.  The 4 of us at in the Sky bar and watched the plane arrive, Gill stayed with us to greet Linda, Christine Schofield and the others, and then she and John made their way to the departure lounge.  Christine and 4 others went off in their transport whilst Linda joined us to return home and meet Mell and James.

24.1.14 Friday. Gill’s last day

This week has passed so quickly! A last opportunity for some serious sunbathing for Gill round the pool this morning, a chance to relax before returning home and work. .  John, Mell and Steve went to do a delivery at St John’s school for the deaf, and Jim and I spent the morning in the storeroom, sorting some supplies out.  We are finding that we are getting less exercise books from England as more schools are using IPads now.  If anyone out there has some we would be very grateful, please send them to Christine at the contact address.  Kebba had been in touch yesterday to say that the last ferry had gone at 7 instead of 11 last night and so he had spent the night in Barra, so he arrived later in the morning.  We decided to return to the beach this afternoon as the sea has enormous waves today and we are all good swimmers.  Great fun had by all, and our local beach bar even lent us a boogie board!

The last night, a chance to dress up and go to Cabanas our newest bar here in the tourist area, cocktails, tapas and an evening meal by sunset.

23.1.14 Thursday Makasutu

Omar came for us this morning and we set off to visit Makasutu park, calling at the bank on the way to meet Mr Jallow and give him the wages for January.  He joined us in the minibus for a lift down to the school and then we left him for Brikama and the game park.  This park was started by two English men a few years ago and has been developed into an eco lodge hotel and a forest park. We opted for the half day excursion and were joined by our guide, Ousman, for the morning.  The park is home to baboons, and we soon met a troop crossing the path in front of us.  Lots of photograph opportunities and then we went to what is called base camp for our boat ride through the mangroves.  Back from the boat we had a cold drink and then decided to have a swim in the newly constructed pool.  A very pleasant afternoon; followed by a walk through the park; an opportunity to meet a palm wine tapper; watch how he climbs the tree to collect the palm and a taste of the product. The wine is non alcoholic when collected, but very soon ferments into something quite strong!  we had the newly collected wine to taste.   We then returned to the tourist area in Kololj where we had lunch at Al Rawshe followed by ice cream at the parlour.  Whilst we were enjoying the day Kebba was in touch to say that more workers had been stung by bees and so they had now filled up the hole in the tree where the bees were living, they have almost finished the wall, so he will be back tonight. 

22.1.14 Wednesday Nemasu

Kebba was setting off back to Kumbija this morning with the wages for the workers, the wall at the back of the school should be finished tomorrow.  i needed to call at the bank for the money and so we dropped him at the turntable after sorting the wagesand and water money. We made our way to Nemasu for the rest of the morning, Omar and his minibus taking us as Steve was going to Naata today to talk to Mr Jallow about regularly servicing the bike as it has broken down. We arrived at the nursery, Gill's first chance to see what we actually do here, and spent time in the school, visiting the classrooms and interacting with the pupils.  We then decided to walk through the village to inspect the well as it is now finished and the villagers are very happy with the new pump and cover, making it safer for people to use. As usual we were like the Pied Piper with many small children following us and grabbing a finger each to hang on to.  After a busy morning we returned home and spent the rest of the day round the pool, John cooked dinner this evening and then we settled down to watch 12 years a slave, our newest purchase..

21.1.14 Tuesday Beach day

After the exertions of yesterday a lazy day on the beach was called for today.  Gill, John and Mell set off to the beach just down from our house, and we arranged to meet them a bit later.  We had an errand to run for Amy to help Francis with his English exam arrangements, we met Francis in Kotu and completed the errand before going on to Musa’s garage to check out the truck and make sure it was all running correctly.  Whilst we were there we had a call from Kebba to say that he and Jim were on their way across to Banjul from Barra, so we went to collect them as they disembarked from the small boats.  The wall at Kumbija should be finished by Thursday, a slight hiccup yesterday as the workers surprised some bees and a couple of the guys were chased by some very angry bees and got stung. We went home and dropped Kebba off and then Jim joined us on the beach to surprise Mell and stay for the afternoon.  Lunch was late coming as they had had to send someone to buy fish, and so we all had time to relax, swim and read for the rest of the afternoon.  After a relaxing afternoon we returned home in time to shower and change for quiz night.  A team of 6, we called ourselves ‘The Old Colonials’ but as we won again we were renamed the ‘Clever Bastards from Yonder’  a name we have decided to keep.  Jo at the bar insisted we spend some of our winnings on the Bingo that followed, a decision she regretted when we won that as well!   More money into the charity pot.

20.1.14 Monday. Banjul

We needed to go into the capital for some paperwork today and so after breakfast we set off for Banjul.  We called at the offices of our shippers to pay for the container and then John and I walked around the corner to the ferry offices to drop off our letter of request for a priority crossing.  There is lots of work happening in Banjul, with roads being renewed and many very old buildings being pulled down to make way for new building work.  We drove down to the Ministry of Education to drop off some paperwork , Steve left me at the office and went around the corner with everyone else to do some shopping.  I logged the papers with the record office and then walked around the corner to find everyone.  I was stopped by one of the many guys trying to get you to go into their shop, this one was David Beckham Shop, nothing to do with the man himself, and I declined saying I was looking for my sister.  The guy said – she’s over there – and sure enough Gill and Mell were on the other side of the busy street.  The guy then said that he had saved my sister from one of the most notorious criminals in the Gambia and would walk with us to protect us for the rest of the morning!   John was looking for a belt, so we were taken into Albert Market and after several choices had been brought for him to try and inspect, a purchase was made.  We had had enough of the shops and the eager shopkeepers by then so went on to Independence Arch where we had a welcome cold drink and a sandwich before climbing to the top of the building for the view of all Banjul.  It was getting hot by now, so we returned home and sat and relaxed in the garden this afternoon before walking round to Neil’s bar for the evening. 

19.1.14 Sunday Vultures and Crocodiles

First morning in the sunshine for Gill and John, so we were out and in the sunshine early today.  Mell’s back is improving and she is able to sit for longer than before.  We had breakfast and then decided to go to the Senegambia hotel to watch the vulture feeding.  We all piled into the truck and drove up to the tourist area and walked down to the hotel where we were able to have a cold drink before the bird guide came out to feed the birds.  There was plenty to see as a family of red Colobus monkeys have made their home in the hotel grounds, and a large monitor lizard walked across the path in front of us.  Mell, Gill and John went onto the lawn to watch the vultures and the kites being fed.  We then decided to go and have some lunch before going onto the crocodile pool this afternoon.  John and Mell were brave enough to stroke ‘Charlie’ but Gill was keeping her distance.  Home for the evening