Unexpected Sign

People collect all sorts of things – stamps, mugs, registration numbers,…… you name it. One of the things a number of people in Africa do is to collect pictures of slogans on the back of public transport vehicles, or (unintentionally) comically worded signs. One of my favourites is one I saw in Ghana, while travelling from Tamale to Accra in 2000. We’d stopped off for a natural break, and at the gents’ and ladies’ urinals (yes, the ladies had urinals too!), were greeted by a sign proclaiming that this was ‘A Special Place to Free Yourself’!!!

I don’t however generally expect to see such things in the UK. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t normally happen. So, imagine the amusement a couple of friends and I experienced a few weeks ago in one of the UK’s oldest universities, when we happened upon this sign on our way up the stone staircase to the dining hall. It was just at eye-height, and to these visitors at least, its apparent meaning was very clear. The only place downward of the downward pointing arrow, was clearly the base of the wall! However, maybe it was because we’d all been in other parts of the world where that might be the case. The guide to the college could not see our point at all, and was clearly baffled by our mirth.

Texas Living

I’m currently in Dallas for 2 weeks of meetings at SIL International’s headquarters. As well as being able to meet with Finance colleagues here, and discuss some of the current issues that we’re dealing with in the accounts in Africa, it’s a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends, most of whom are now working here, but have, at some point over the last 7+ years, been based in Nairobi.

Coming from Nairobi’s ‘winter’, followed by a few weeks in the UK (where temperatures were on average cooler than Nairobi’s!), it was something of a contrast to be greeted by a wall of heat at Dallas airport. Temperatures that day reached 42C (106F)! However, it has cooled down since, and we’re now enjoying relatively cooler days ‘just’ in the low 30Cs. Not that I really notice, as most of the time, I’m indoors in meetings, and generally reaching for my cardigan due to the air conditioning!

Over the weekend, I was given orientation to Texan living, though, bizarrely, this was done by a couple of New Yorkers who’ve spent the majority of their adult years in Africa! However, Rob is an anthropologist so that probably qualifies him! We visited a ranch belonging to friends of theirs on Saturday. ‘Ranch’ to me conjures up pictures of horses and cows. However, the only animals I saw there were a couple of domestic dogs and a baby squirrel that had been rescued! This was more of a weekend getaway house. It was big though (pretty much everything in Texas is), the land spanning over 220 acres. I got to see a fair bit of this on an ATV (all-terrain vehicle), ‘whizzing’ (I made it up to 25 mph!) up and down trails, through copses, across fields, and along a creek bed. It was fun. Steering round corners was a bit of an issue at times, but I only once nearly didn’t make it, and didn’t come off at all.

On Sunday, I went to a Texan barbeque with them. Barbecued meat here is smoked rather than cooked over charcoal as I know a barbecue to be. And, rather than being outdoors, which is how I think of barbecues, this was indoors. All very bizarre – but very tasty!