Friday, October 24, 2008

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Hairdressers and the little things in life

Funny how small things matter more as I grow older, and probably more stuck in my ways, and maybe lacking the variety there used to be. It was time to cut my hair – I really shouldn’t leave it for more than four or five weeks, but sometimes I do for all sorts of reasons – including procrastination, feeling I have other more important things to do and/or spend my money on…

When I first came to Accra I asked a fellow obroni about hairdressers that did hair for non-Africans and basically settled on one at Osu. There were changes and a few times I went somewhere else, as one of the staff set up her own place. It was a bit of a pain though to go rather further, although the problem was more mine than anyone else’s.

Having decided it was that time, I called my usual place in Osu – on both landline and mobile, and no answer…. Did it again a few days later, and the same… So I decided to physically go there, which is what I would have done at first not so long ago when there weren’t mobile phones and landlines for the most part didn’t work.

It was all locked up, and no signs anywhere, and when I asked from the shops next door, I was told they had closed down – in September? Looking back, I guess I wasn’t too surprised, as there hadn’t seemed to be many customers around whenever I went. I guess there are more alternatives now, and perhaps different ways of being known – plus the lure of the new Accra mall does attract a lot of foreigners.

I was sad though, as I always found people there pleasant and relatively efficient. And A was always full of chat, which was rather nice… I wonder what she is doing – is she in Ghana? Or outside with her family?

Oh, well, found another alternative – again somewhere that was mentioned to me a long time ago, but I never followed up. Very convenient to work though, which is always a plus. And when I went in to make enquiries about making an appointment, they definitely won brownie points by suggesting that they could do my hair immediately. I emerged rather happier with myself, and as others were complimentary on the result, that made my day!