Three Zero

It’s getting to the end of my birthday week, yes, I choose to consider the whole week a celebration of my existence! This year I enter a new decade, the thirties! Although I’ve displayed only mock horror at this fact, I have had some panicky moments in the past week. My birthday was last Tuesday and I woke up feeling extremely old and tired. Could this be because all sleep training went out the window once we got to London and Em kept me up all night? Probably.

Wednesday, and my joints were feeling a bit stiff and achy, a symptom many geriatrics complain of. Could this be, because I was still adjusting to UK temperatures and again hadn’t slept well? Possibly, but in that moment it felt like my youth truly was gone, forreva!

Saturday night, as I was threading a sewing machine for the first time in two years (why is another looong story), suddenly my 20/20 vision failed me and it took five blurry attempts before the thread made it through the eye. At this point I was really close to breakdown: is this what being thirty means? A few minutes later I remembered that I had been awake for twenty hours and hadn’t eaten for the past twelve of them. Here’s hoping that was the reason, as my perfect vision is extremely precious to me.

Some people get depressed about turning thirty, but I guess I’ve hit most of the milestones that can cause anxiety. Profession, yes, job, yes, home, yes, marriage, yes, children, one. So far, so good. And yet on Friday I felt a slight panic that the fun and wild twenties were over forever, had I made sure I had enough fun? Then I remembered, my twenties have been a blast!


(Pictures from my low key birthday party at Prampram yesterday.)

Last few days of Swedish summer

So at the end of my stay in Sweden I did complain a bit much about the state of the country. It may all have been true, but I also had a good time there, with family and friends. Here's a few pics from my last few days in town.

There was a lot of cake-eating, with five birthdays in the last thirteen days it was almost an every-other-day feature. Most cakes prepared by yours truly, here a raspberry gateau.

We spent the last ten days in a family friend's flat, enjoying most of our time in this cosy North African inspired room with a decaf cappuccino...and some leftover cake!

On our way out for a last minute errand on the last night, we saw this:


an amazing testament of the power of nature. This tree has been there long before the 23 years I have spent in this neighbourhood and yet a windy night has managed to pull it up from the roots.


Not only is nature powerful, but unpredictable, how else do you explain why all the other trees surrounding it remain standing?

Birthday blogging

Was going to write about the team building day, but the day has been too long and now it's too late for that, will have to do it tomorrow. Today, although I've been out, I feel I've been quite isolated, mainly driving around in my car. I'm waiting to hear who went to the Zain concert and what it was like. Did Wyclef, Eve and the rest show up?

Anyhoo, without much to say I still felt I should write on my special day. After a rather busy day (emails, emails, emails, taking braids out and re-braiding hair), a delicious birthday dinner at Le Must in Cantonments, and now with Virgo snoring beside me, I am feeling more tired by the second!

So here I am, a year older, none the wiser, and without the one thing I wished for for my birthday...still no mangoes!!!

Banku, bereavement and birthdays

What an enjoyable weekend!

It started with an evening chat in Cantonments at my cousin's house on Friday night. Saturday was spent visiting a recently widowed colleague, then off to Virgo's friend's house for (delicious!) groundnut soup and fufu. After that a quick trip to the in-laws turned into a 5-6 hour discussion on politics and the upcoming elections.

Sunday started with a church service in Korle Gonno for my aunt who'd been buried on Thursday, followed by the usual family gathering with 'small chops' and banku and tilapia.
(Picture from Virtual Tourist)


After a rest at the house with no electricity (or generator), my mother, Virgo and I then joined my uncle and his family for a lovely birthday dinner at Imperial Peking and to my surprise I had never noticed Granada hotel, which it is part of.

It was a weekend full of Ghanaian food and family values. The nicest part of it was seeing how people actually come together when someone has died. In this case, Mrs. D's husband, her husband of approximately 38 years, who passed away just a week ago. During our visit which lasted an hour or so, about five other people stopped by. Rather than creating an intrusion, which I had always assumed it would, it seemed to create a nice opportunity for her to speak about what had happened and for the visitors to praise her husband, without anyone putting pressure on her to serve drinks or food.

However, the 'light off' (that's power-cuts to you non-residents) in both Accra and Tema during the weekend lead to memories of load-shedding days, which I hope, nay, pray will remain a very distant memory!

Fourth of the fourth

Yesterday's post never came up due to internet problems. Here it is:

Today is a day of celebration and remembrance for many. Happy birthday to the lovely Maya Angelou who turns eighty today, hope there are many more years (and books to come). My friend H also has her birthday today, haven't spoken to her in ages but sent her a text. It seems there are many birthdays out there that fall on the 4/4.


Today is also forty years since Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. The article mentions that for years Maya didn't celebrate her birthday because her dear friend died on it.


What a wonderful legacy Martin Luther King Jr. left behind him, do you think he could imagine that already, in less than half a century from when blacks and whites could not sit together on a bus, we are on the brink of (possibly) having a Black president of the United States?

Today would also have been Heath Ledger's 29th birthday. Do you think he imagined in mid-January that he would not make it here?






And there sits a two year old girl who'll sadly not remember much of her father when she grows up. Hopefully watching his movies, that showcase his wonderful talent will help keep that memory alive.

Today I also took a step towards the end of a short era in my life. The letter was handed over, now time will tell what the future holds.

Spent the evening at H Lodge where auntie M had a little get together to celebrate her latest purchase. Just home now, feeling very tired. After shivering so much at work to the point where I earned the nickname Benazir Bhutto (how could anyone be offended by that?), because of how I wrapped myself in my pashmina, and feeling as exhausted as I do now, I just hope and wish that it is not malaria. Will see how I feel after a good night's sleep tomorrow. I say a good night's sleep but unfortunately the frog/cricket sing-along has already begun.