Water, water - not quite everywhere...

Last week or so was kind of a landmark: we got our first bill from Ghana Water Company in nearly two years! And surprisingly, or maybe I should say, not unsurprisingly, we were still in credit! Probably the latter actually, as we've had to buy water almost every week or ten days (the latter if we are lucky) for more than eighteen months, but for several months I paid something on account.

I had had actually had "Go to GWC and find out about bills" on my To Do list for quite time, but in the way of things, I hadn't done anything about it! Mainly I admit because our local GWC office is only open when I am at work, so if I really wanted to go there I would have to leave work early, and knowing my luck, I would get there only to be told that they had closed!

Together with the water bill, last weekend the pressure was sufficient for the water in the mains to actually come to the tanks on the top of the house - which was the first time this had happened in several months... and it actually happened twice. Unfortunately our tanks are a bit old, and the mechanism to stop the water coming in when they are full doesn't work properly, so usually I will hear the overflow and then go and turn off the tap - not too much fun if one is only half awake though! Not terribly efficient, but it does do the job. The question now is: should I get the plumber to come and see what he can do about making this automatic rather than done by a human being?

So, did we all think that our water problems were over, and that we would just have to monitor the days on which the mains served this area? Yes, of course... but we should have remembered where we were, because over the last few days, it doesn't look anything has come up so we'll probably have to order the tanker again...

Oh well, he will be happy.

Electricity palavers

If it is not one palaver about electricity it is another one!

Friday evening I came home - late, as I went somewhere - only to find the house in pitch darkness. The lights had been off since 3pm, and of course in typical style, all sorts of stuff had been left unwashed and un-put-away, as if the fact that there is no electrical power means that every single chore should immediately stop until daylight! And the power stayed off all of Saturday and all of Sunday, by which time I had to totally clean out one fridge, as the water was dripping out of the freezer all over the floor! [That should tell you something about the floor and how flat it is!] I was definitely in a bad mood by the end of the weekend, and did not feel at all relaxed, even though I probably slept more than usual!

Some members of the household went to neighbours and friends to recharge phones - the most urgent priority? Personally I was more worried about R at night; the rest of us could manage with torches or flashlights (depending on whether I am speaking British or American English) or the odd candle or the security lights from the next house - which is on a different line from us!

Monday morning saw three of us carrying rechargeable lanterns plus mobile phone chargers to work and school in the hopes that at least those venues would have light. They did, and sod's law also worked, the lights at home came back on. Big relief though.

What I did learn is that I could have phoned the ECG (Electricity Company of Ghana) call centre - whose number I did store on my phone - even at the weekend! I was quite shocked to hear of this, on Monday afternoon! Next time, not such a long wait, before complaining!

Traffic lights

I think non-functioning traffic lights are one of my real pet peeves about life in Accra. I know they run on electricity, and seem to be particular prone to short out or whatever anytime the electricity goes off, but I am continuously amazed at the cost in terms of property, and possibly lives by their not working.

I know some trotro and taxi drivers believe that traffic lights hold up traffic, but at major intersections, or when there is a lot of traffic trying to turn, I continue to think that they do have a positive contribution. How many times have I seen an accident which is often because someone misjudges a turning which would have been much clearer had the lights been working.

I know what it is like. It is really, really tempting to see if one can go quicker than someone else. But the consequences are not always pleasant! And let's face it you don't really save that much time when the lights are not working.

And what about all the police who have to be on traffic duty - or the National Youth Employment people (who used to be called Kufuor police)? Couldn't they be better occupied? Or maybe the feeling is that labour is cheap and if it is not there, the fittest will survive?

Fuel situation back to normal?

I should have written about getting fuel. In the end it wasn't that painful, even though I had armed myself with newspapers and two books - just in case I had to spend a really long time in a queue. Amazing what the distribution of 200 tankers can do to bring chaos back to the usual "situation normal". I wonder whether the impending arrival of Obama had anything to do with the rapid reaction?

Maybe I shouldn't be counting my chickens though, and should get my act together and make sure that I have a full tank for the next week or so of driving.

Will I get to work tomorrow?

I am not sure I will get to work tomorrow because of the fuel shortage. Yesterday there were queues (in some cases), agglomeration of vehicles (mostly) in the few stations that had fuel. Today there are the same, all in anticipation of getting fuel.

I filled my tank last Friday, and as usual I need to fill up... mainly because I put on a few more kilometres this week than usual.

Grrr... it just makes me so mad

NB photo is credited from the Myjoyonline website

Long queues in petrol stations - AGAIN!

It irritates me no end when I see long queues in petrol/gas stations - and know that these are almost always artificially created. Have we not got over this panic buying in anticipation of fuel price increases? Well, I guess we haven't...

But don't those responsible for setting the prices - the National Petroleum Authority (or whatever it is called now - I seem to lose track of all the incarnations) - know that in this environment you cannot let speculation take hold, or the rumour factories will immediate start operating, and then we the motorists and the users of any form of transport are once again "up the creek, without a paddle" or more appropriate with no fuel in our vehicles.

And will those who set policy and prices suffer, or spend time in queues? Not on your life. Those are the very people who have drivers who will go through the back door to make sure that "their" vehicles have fuel. After all, that is part of their job. Or rather it was in the bad old 1970s and 1980s.

Is it so difficult to monitor the world price of fuel on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, and just act accordingly? Or is it such a political risk?

Ghana cedis NOT cedis

It really bugs me when I hear reporters/commentators/newspeople on local/Ghanaian radio and TV stations expressing expenditure in terms of cedis - and usually this is not millions, but billions, or even more.

Ghana switched currency from cedis to Ghana cedis in July 2007, and I would have thought that two years on, the media especially should be consistent in how they express amounts of money.

I suspect a lot of the time that this is done on purpose? perhaps to try and entice listeners, or readers (in the case of newspapers)?

A typical example [see Daily Guide of 18 June ]came up this morning allied to discussions about the amounts spent by the Ghanaian transitions teams earlier on in 2009.

If the media continues to use the old currency - and many are constantly putting over their roles as educators - when will the rest of us feel comfortable using the new one - except physically of course!