I can see clearly now the rain is gone...

One interesting thing about living in Ghana is that one can see ‘flashes’ of Jamaica almost everywhere:

– It’s the road from Accra Central out to Kasoa that reminds me of driving down Spanish Town Road;
- It’s going to Makola and being transported back to the days of going with my Mother to Linstead market; granted the pigs’ feet in Linstead market aren’t dyed fluorescent pink!
- It’s the expression on a face or just the body language that conveys the undeniable physical and cultural linkages;
- It’s just driving a long the road and a curve here reminds you of a curve there.

Last night (or as most Ghanaians would say 'yesterday night' )was no different, however the flashback was one I would have preferred not to have – it was of hurricane Gilbert.

The day started off quite calm – nothing significantly different. Had a friend over for lunch and afterwards decided to do some of the usual weekend-is-finished-getting-ready-for-Monday stuff. Was about 7 p.m. and in the bedroom doing all this while watching TV in between when the lights flickered and went out. Damming the electricity company for yet another unscheduled power cut, just thought it was the usual routine when the wind started to howl and then the rains started. It was the first serious torrential rainstorm that I have experienced since moving that made me thought of hurricanes in Jamaica. For the next hour and a half to two hours Ashes and I blocked, mopped, dried, shifted, prayed, checked and waited for everything to finish.

The state of the roads this morning perhaps tell the tale better than I can write: almost five out of every ten billboards were toppled or ripped; roads have disappeared under a sludge of garbage, mud and muck. Some road side stalls were just not existent any more. One news commentator liked Accra to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Will read tomorrows papers to see what’s what.

The sky looks pregnant with rain this morning – its more overcast and gray than it had been in weeks. We are supposed to be approaching the start of the rainy season so one guesses there is more like last night to come. Just hope it’s heading to the dam as well, though a friend of mine told me it would take at least 2 months for any rainfall in the north to have any significant effects on the level of the dam. Hmmm, there is no reporting on the level of the dam this morning in the Daily Graphic.

NB Football fortunes: also heard on the news this morning that the team that won the football match last week 31-0 actually scored the first 30 goals in the first 30 minuets of the match! That must be a world record in it self. Both matches have now been referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Football Association for review.

The games continue.