As promised, here is some more info about the amazingly un-African coach I caught in Benin last week…

What a beauty! A BRAND NEW bus - in Africa?!? It just doesn’t seem right! And air-conditioned with reclining leather seats and a TV on board. I almost had to pinch myself. The coach is made by Wuzhouling, a chinese company. Have a look at the interior upholstry - nicer than many I’ve travelled on in England:

The coach can be caught from the Etoile Rouge roundabout, Cotonou at 7:00 each morning (along with about 10 other buses of varying quality!) I was fortunate enough to get one of the last available seats on board, so it may be advisable to book ahead.

Here’s the Intercity Lines website, with all the info you need, if you’re travelling north in Benin. The journey from Cotonou to Djougou (461km and 7 hours) cost a mere 8,000cfa - that’s less than nine pounds! (I can’t even get from Flitwick to London that cheap!!)

So, what are you waiting for - book your journey today!

Which hazardous and fibrous material derives its name from the Greek word meaning ‘inextinguishable’?

Answer to last week’s question: Tiger Woods’ real first name is Eldrick (not Tiger!)
And the winner was the inimitable Tim Robinson.

As you know, I’m teaching the ATP ‘Music and the Arts’ course in Kara at the moment. Look, here I am:

Well, the other day we got talking about tongue-twisters, which also exist in Africa. Here’s an amazing Hausa tongue-twister which one of our students taught us:

Ƙato ya yi ƙoto
Ƙwado ya yi ƙoto
Ƙato zai ƙwace ƙoton ƙwaɗo koko
Ƙwado zai ƙwace ƙoton ƙato

Here’s what it sounds like: hausa-tongue-twister

It means:

The strong man has pillaged
The toad has pillaged (or pecked!?)
Will the toad grab what the strong man has pillaged
Or will the big man grab what the toad has pillaged.

So, it makes about as much sense as most tongue-twisters then! Here’s another one, this time in the Peulh (Fulani) language. Go on - try saying it:

Nyaamo nyaanya nano
Nano nyaanya nyaamo

It means:

The right scratches the left
The left scratches the right.

Fair enough! I found this great website which has over 2,000 tongue-twisters from all around the globe. There’s also this YouTube video of tongue-twisters spoken by people all over the world. Enjoy!
Whilst we’re on the subject, my favourite French tongue-twister is:
Le chasseur sachant chasser sans son chien est un bon chasseur.

And my favourite German one is:
Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid.
(translations upon request!)

Now get those false teeth into gear and see how you do!

…I just wish my family could be here with me!

Hey, nothing against good old England, but to see all those smiling black faces again literally brought tears to my eyes. There’s just something about Africa - once you’ve been there once, it just keeps on calling you back. The wierdest thing was that arriving in Cotonou felt more like ‘coming home’ than arriving back in the UK did. How strange is that?! Unfortunately (and somewhat ironically) it poured with rain all day in Cotonou on Saturday, whilst back in the UK Lois and the kids sat out in the sunshine in a friend’s garden! That can’t be right!!

Here’s a brief low-down of the trip so far:

Thursday:
Fly from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle and stay the night with my friend Tom in Paris, but arriving very late at night. Hence, very little time in Paris the next morning - just long enough for a coffee and croissant and to take this rather atmospheric photo:

Friday:
Check in around midday and fly to Cotonou, arriving early evening. Meal with my mate Bill, then we watch the excellent and moving film Goodbye Lenin together before hitting the sack. (I’m glad Bill has a/c in his house!)

Saturday:

Here’s what the weather was like all day. I had various little jobs to do - picking up some transcriptions for the thesis, sorting out our shipping goods, visiting friends and giving them chocolate/mince pies etc, and all in the pouring rain! In the evening, it’s time for a curry with friends:

Sunday:
Up at the crack of dawn to catch this bus at 7:00am to Djougou in the north:

It’s a new coach company, and this was an amazingly comfortable, spanking brand new bus. In fact, it was such an uncharacteristically African experience, that I think it warrants a separate post at a later date (watch this space…)
Arriving in Djougou, I was taken to where the taxi’s leave for the border, when suddently an amazing thing happened - who should drive past in a car but BONI YAYI (formally known as Yayi Boni) the president of Benin!!! Of course, he wasn’t driving, and there was a whole convoy of vehicles, but did give us a wave out of his window. Wow!

Finally, I had a very bumpy 90 minute journey westwards on a dirt road to the Togolese border in this rather clapped-out taxi:

TWELVE people on board, bald tyres, no interior upholstry whatsoever (apart from seats) and a windscreen with so many cracks it looked like a map of the Nile Delta. Also, they had to tie my door shut with string so that I didn’t fall out en route! The weather up here was much warmer (maybe 34 degrees C) and the sun was shining at last! Across the border with ease, then a nicer taxi on a decent road, all the way to Kara, arriving at 4pm Togo time (5pm in Benin and England). Out for a meal at the ‘Centre Grill’ - the best place to eat in Kara (and very cheap too!)

Monday:
Meetings with my two ethnomusicology colleagues to decide who’s teaching what from tomorrow. Lunch with students who’ve already arrived, then a much needed siesta. Finally, getting this laptop ‘internet-worthy’ so that I can write this blog post.

Thanks for reading. More soon!

Q: What is the real first name of golfing champion Tiger Woods?
Answer to last week’s question: Octopuses’ blood is blue (read about it here).

Hi folks! I’m back in Benin, just for 2 days, then off to Togo!

Wow - it’s good to be back but, rather ironically, it’s cloudy and rainy here whilst (I’m told) it’s sunny in England: Typical!!

Journey here was good and I even got to see a bit of Paris. I’ll try and upload some pictures soon - watch this space. Meanwhile, my time slot at the cyber cafe is about to expire…

Benin may have had lots of lovely trees (such as this one), but one we certainly didn’t have is the horse chestnut tree.

It was therefore a great joy for Lois and I to introduce our kids to the delights of conker fighting! I’m not sure whether other countries (US, Australia) have conkers or conker fighting, so I’ll briefly explain how it works:

(i) Find a horse chestnut tree (less commonly known as the Aesculus hippocastanum).
(ii) Open one of the spikey seed pods to reveal the brown conkers (or horse chestnuts).
(iii) Make a hole in your conker and thread string through, tying a knot in the end afterward.
(iv) Time for battle! One person holds their conker on the string, whilst the other uses theirs to hit it.
(v) Swap roles, so that the other person gets to hit.
(vi) Battle ends when one of the two conkers breaks and falls of the string.

Here are Ruthie & Micah having a go for the first time in their lives:

I’m so glad they could experience this bit of British culture for themselves! We always used to play at school, but overly-keen health and safety regulations these days have meant it is now banned in most schools (whilst bunsen burners, rugby and javelin-throwing are still ’safe’ in many schools!)

For all you need to know on conkers and conker-fighting, visit this excellent site, which also talks about conkers in other parts of the world.

Happy conkering!

We can - because we all have new glasses now!
Hope you noticed! Mind you, with the current fashion in bold, dark-rimmed frames it would be tricky not to notice, I think. We’ll probably look back at photos like this in 10 years’ time and think “Why ever did we wear those?!?” (rather like our parents did 10 years after the 1960’s). Still, one has to try and keep up-to-date with current trends as much as possible (except if it means doing away with those loud shirts, of course).

The best bit is that Lois and I both went to Specsavers, where you get a free second pair. So here we are wearing those - suitable, maybe, for slightly more civilized occasions:

That’s all for now. No takers on the trivia question yet. Come on - you must know this one!!

I LOVE music of all kinds. But when I think of some of my favourite artists and albums, it’s only because of others’ recommendations that I’ve ever got into them.

So here’s a wee tribute to some of the friends who have introduced me to some of my most cherished recordings.

Thanks to:

* Mike Simpson for introducing me to the crazy but musically brilliant music of Meredith Monk.

* Liz Henderson for introducing me to the legendary African Horns album, which I listen to regularly and play at virtually every party I throw.

* Clive Anderson (no relation) for introducing me to the powerful, moving voice of Eva Cassidy.

* Mike Webb for introducing me to Steve Reich, my favourite composer EVER. Fantastic music (if you like that sort of thing - and I do!)

* Dave Robinson for introducing me to the crazy world of Mika. Thanks Dave - my kids love him too!

* Irma Piet for introducing me to the inspiring, contemporary choral music of dutch musician Remco Hakkert

* Nick Worley for introducing me the hypnotic, intriguing music of The Orb (esp. the monumental “Little Fluffy Clouds”)

* Neil Breakey for introducing me (via his blog) to Duke Special and, in particular, his wonderful song “Our love goes deeper than this.”

* Julie Taylor for introducing me to the wonders of Tuvan Throat Singing (after which I rushed out and bought this album).

* And, finally, thanks to Lois for introducing me to the incredible singing and jazz piano of Harry Connick Junior and to the neo-classical delights of Rondo Veneziano.
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There you go! My hope would be that, through these recommendations, I am able to introduce YOU to some new music you’ll love and enjoy too!

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And finally…

The surreal genius of Meredith Monk - not one you’re likely to rush out and buy, but it might just make you smile!

If so, you’ll LOVE this:

Amazing! I never realized there were so many possible palindromic sentences! Wierd Al has a number of amusing songs but this - but this one has got to be one of the most ingenious. Enjoy!