Apr
21
Filed Under (General) by Rob on 21-04-2007

Aaarrrgghh! We’ve had SOOOOOO many power cuts this week – it’s been almost unbearable!!!

Our friends the Vickers said that the power outages were one of the worst things to deal with here. However, since they left on Sunday it got worse and worse, with a total of around 59 hours without electricity in five days!

Here’s a brief low-down:

  • Monday – The electricity went off at 6:00am and did not come back until 9:00pm. We ended up going round a few shops in town, which have generators and good aircon.
  • Tuesday – First day back at school. Power on and off a bit during morning, then cut from 1:00-3:00pm. Another twist: our freezer door has broken – the lower hinge has almost completely rusted off, so it no longer shuts properly.
  • Wednesday – Luxury: NO POWER CUTS all day, until 11:00pm!
  • Thursday – Bad night’s sleep due to no power all night. I have work to do, so take the laptop round to the local cyber cafe, which has power and internet! The air-conditioning is also nice, with midday temps well over 30 degrees C. It finally returns at 2:45pm after almost 16 hours, but the lights are very dim, the fans hardly moving and various appliances keep going off and on (spooky!) Off totally from 3:30-5:45pm, then back again…until 10:10pm. The water is also cut by bedtime. Can’t get to sleep until early hours. No cool water left to drink, only mango juice! Our kitchen reeks of rotting flesh as the meat in the freezer gradually goes off.
  • Friday – Get up and remove ALL meat from freezer and mop kitchen floor. Still no power. I spend an extra long time at the gym as it has good aircon, then hit the cyber cafe. NO CONNECTION! Aaaarrgggh! Finally, at 9:50pm, the power returns and hasn’t gone off again since (and it’s now Saturday evening).

Phew! Let’s hope this is the end of such a long spate of power cuts!

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Other News:

  1. Micah lost his first tooth the other week:

first-tooth-out.jpg

  1. We have the school summer fair on Saturday, right at the start of rainy season. Let’s hope it stays dry (and there’s power!!!)
  2. Rob’s next workshop is from 3-5 May in Togo (why are there never any in Benin?!?)
  3. We have a new CREEPY CRAWLIES album on the photo galley, which includes this fab photo of a grasshopper, taken by Madelaine:

Grasshopper (Taken by Mads)

(click to enlarge)

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Over the months several hundred photos have accumulated on the gallery (any idea how many, Reg?) In case you’re new to this malarky, here are the albums. Click on any one that interests you to see its photos:

Cotonou Photos

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Benin Photos (general)

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Wild animals at the Pendjari National Park

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Togo Photos – a very pretty country

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Rob’s Ethnomusicology experiences

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Creepie Crawlies – cockroach, mosquito, millipede, and THE moth!!

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African people – some great shots of a variety of people.

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Birds of Togo and Benin – this one’s for you, Steve P!

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Rob’s shirts – it had to be done. They have become a tad legendary of late!

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The ‘Touareg Trail’ – some crazy guys in Citroën 2CV’s drove across the Sahara and finished up in Cotonou!!!

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Friends and Stuff – Jon Assheton, the Vickers, Clive Rahn…etc.

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Birthdays etc. Blowing out candles, parties, food, balloons etc.

That’s all for now. Thanks for visiting – please leave a comment if you have time.

Rob et al



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