B for Bored.

After how these past few weeks have gone at the workshop, and how tired I am typing this, there's no better time for Mr Adjei's (chemistry teacher in Accra Academy) mantra; ''to be a man, na waa oo'' to pop up in my clogged head.

But I'm not talking about work today, even though I started my day by re-watching Alain de Botton's TED talk on ''A kinder, gentler philosophy of success''. 

I had to do a quick round trip through town to get a few things to finish a job at the shop. I had to do the bank first then do tip-toe lane then back home; to the shop. I just realized how bored I was when I got to Mallam and decided to do something to cheer a bored soul. I took out my BB (which has has seen it own share of the harshness and old age) and started taking a few shots. It just happened that I decided to take photos of all bus terminals I would go through throughout the day.

Cab section of Mallam station, Mc Carthy Hill in the back.

 Above is my first shot, took it while in the queue waiting a for a troski to Kaneshie.

Trotro section, of course there should be queues in the morning, sigh!

West wing of Kaneshie market

East wing

Main Kaneshie market troski station

Circle Station

the Willow Brook bus I boarded to Odorkor

3 white troskis in a row; thought 'twas interesting

Willow Brook cockpit

vrooom!!!

What are We?

What are Ghanaians? Accommodating or hospitable. I'm asking this question as a result of a few rather interesting things that happend in a couple of trotros I took yesterday.  However you look at it, being an Accraian (shout outs to @AntiRhythm for that word that describes someone who lives in Accra), I am a very experienced troski customer. They've been my main source of transport for a good amount of my life, from my basic school days right till now as I try to make some sense out of this life and some money along the way.

the long bus I boarded on my way to the Chale Wote street festival

A young drunk man happened to join the first bus I boarded at Kaneshie to Odorkor. Chale, the guy was mad drunk and was literally melting down his seat. The troski was full of funny comments about how drunk he was on a work night and if he could find his way home. nobody really seemed to insult him or say anything bad about him; just funny 'ol comments about drunks in local languages.

Then I get to Mallam to pick the last bus to my hood, Gbawe. A lot happened in this one. I wonder if I have the dexterity with words to be able to  paint a good picture of them all. First, the troski mate was as funny as hell, even from the way he welcomed passengers into the bus et al, one would know this was going to be an interesting ride. Then the journey begun. Even before the bus moved there was this chic sitting in the corner seat behind me. 

A few minutes into the journey the driver stopped by a popular drive-by bakery along the Mallam - Gbawe road to get some bread. You should have seen how much murmuring and ''what-kind-of-service-is-this-?'' chants he earned himslef from the passengers. The driver seemed a nice guy as he didn't respond to any of the ''blastings'' from the passengers. Back to the chic, she might probably have been returning from some mid-week church service of sorts. She was singing slow gospel songs as spiritually as one could sing them. Not quietly ooo, loud enough for the driver and the others in the front seat to hear her.  But nobody complained, even though it was clear that everybody didn't like her disturbing the peace in the troski. So why didn't anybody just ask her to STFU? Is it because we like people to feel comfortable at our expense or we are afraid to stand for what's ours? why did the driver get the bad treatment in this case?

But then like a few minutes more than half way through the journey, the singing chic got down. You should have been there to hear the comments and humor created out of her sing-aloud-troski-venture. People were clearly not happy with what she was doing and yet allowed her to continue...hmm..Ghana!

Things like this confuse me daily about who and what Ghanaians are and what they really stand for and believe in.

And I'm pretty sure this piece could have been written far better and have been made more interesting by a better writer..I just hope you get the message I was trying to put across though.

Have a great day!