|
|
| ashley's Diary |
| Date |
Saturday, 27 May 2006 |
| Country |
Malawi (Lilongwe) |
| Weather |
Sunny |
| Diary |
A QUICK NOTE ON MALAWI: Everything works! The electricity is on 24 hours a day (Unlike Uganda, 8 hours a day or Kenya 15 hours a day) Water comes out of the taps when you turn them and the water looks lovely and clean and smells ever so faintly of chlorine. The people are lovely. The cities are sparkling.The roads are tarmac and smooth. The climate is perfect (at least at the end of May) I bet the trains even run on time! The phones work….Hey this is more like Germany than the UK. Why then is it so poor? I have no idea. If I was looking for a base for a big multinational anywhere in Africa I don’t think I would look any further…hell, even the “Big Five” vodka is only £1.50 a litre…..Wonderful, and they produce huge amounts of tobacco, so tabs are seriously cheap. Anyway well worth a look or two.
Rude, rude Dutch managers at Kiboko campsite ( I know they don’t mean it, it’s just a cultural failing) meant that we moved enmass to Lilongwe Golf Club (no shorts or head coverings) Had a chat with one of the caddies about Hastings Banda (the first president of independent Malawi) and what a fine chap he was and how this democracy is shit. Woke up the next morning to a man sweeping the grass outside my tent…”Sorry, did I tread on it?”
A Clare quote of the day was “Hmmmmm, 180 is a lot more than 60” C. G. Shearn B.Soc. Sci, MBA
Embassies – decided to go to the British one and I waited for two hours in the car whilst Clare was waiting for a one word answer “No” Really would like to get rid of them all and their 55,000 litre tankers of G&T (Gilbey’s) parked in the car parks. Lets have an EU foreign service and diplomats elected by the people instead of these grey, grey men and women we get. It would save us poor taxpayers loads of money. You don’t see the American States have separate embassies all over the world and neither should EU States. Another thing that really got my goat as was waiting for Clare, trying to entertain the kids outside, were the number of CD 2 (British Embassy Reg) cars that came and went and not a SINGLE British vehicle, all Toyotas and Mitsubishis….Made me feel like shouting “IF YOU ARE GOING TO WASTE MY BLOODY MONEY AT LEAST BUY BRITISH PRODUCTS” but didn’t as they wouldn’t understand anyway….I do seem to be ranting quite a lot at the moment….must be stressed) but then again British Embassies around the world are just TERRIBLE!!! Are you listening Gordon Brown, sack the lot of them and save us all a few bob!
PIC SHOWS: A VERY EXPENSIVE WASHING LINE.
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
