An Ex
I landed at Kotoka International airport and “Boatman” was there to meet me, and he looked a hot mess! No longer the well-polished slick businessman, he looked tired and wizened, wearing a faded shirt with much worn elbows; he had clearly stumbled on hard times.
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| Driving conditions |
I smiled sweetly as he embraced with me, and I made a big show of air kisses trying to keep my distance. After lots of faffing around we got to the car and loaded it with my back- breaking suitcases, and I delicately placed my well-travelled birthday cake on the passenger seat. And then spent the best part of 20 minutes trying to figure out how the vehicle worked. As always, Boatman didn’t have a clue; Boatman doesn’t drive as he has a penchant for “grown up juice.” It is probably for the best; he is a functioning alcoholic and would put all our lives at risk.
In hindsight, perhaps my peace offing of a 20-year old single malt whisky was not the best idea. I had already figured that out when on receipt of the gift he said he would stop off at the filling station for some Coke. Anyway. I finally managed to get the car going and made my way home.
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| Local Pub |
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| The staff! |
Disaster
When Barry’s big day arrived we had planned to spend the day at the beach with his cousins whom he hadn’t seen for a while, but unfortunately the day before I was taken ill. Whilst at the airport I had been bitten by a few mosquitoes; ordinarily this isn’t a problem, and to be honest I never take anti-malarial tablets simple because I fly to Ghana on average 4 times a year, but this time it was different.
Prior to my trip I had watched this heart-wrenching BBC movie “Mary and Martha” starring Hillary Swank. This mini-movie was based on a true story about two mothers who lost their sons to malaria.
I was inconsolable by the end of the movie, and I found the newspaper article which told the story of one of the sons who had travelled to Ghana to teach children in the village schools. After seeing how ill the children were getting he gave his own tablets to the children as he felt their needs were greater. Unfortunately, on his return home he had flu-like symptoms and died shortly after.
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| The main town |
So, when in the morning I felt a little heady, and by evening the ache had developed into throbbing behind the eyes, I didn’t hang about. I went straight to the pharmacy and got myself some malaria tablets. The only thing is, they make you feel so much worse! They brought out the fever - night sweats – and I got so hot I had to sleep on a mat outside (with even more mosquitoes).
On the morning of Barry’s Birthday I was a sweaty heap of body parts lying on the veranda. This put a halt to all birthday celebrations, which made me feel even worse.
I have some major making-up to do!
The bottom line is: malaria is no joke, so be sure to take precautions!!!!
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| Landscape |
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