Big smoke
on Thea's Blog (Uganda), 04/Aug/2009 07:25, 34 days ago
Does time move faster on the equator? It really feels time is accelerating here. I’ve been in Fort Portal for over a month and I hardly noticed the milestone pass. There are a few other odd things going on like the fact that my fingernails are growing so fast I’ve already cut them twice since being here, and my body clock seems to have taken on a strange new and rigid regimeof zonking out at precisely 9.30pm then clicking into awake mode at 6.45am on the dot. I guess the extreme regularity of the sun’s comings and goings has something to do with the latter and perhaps its reliable intensity something to do with the former. It seems the sun plays a very dominant rolein human activity at latitude zero.Had a brief trip to the big smoke (or maybe big smog is more accurate given the pink haze resting permanently over the city centre) last week. Having become very quickly accustomed to my comfortable rural existence, I was a little overwhelmed by the immense bustle of the metropolis and felt glad and relieved I would soon be returning to my cosy village out west. Officially I was there to attend a fundraising workshop, but unofficially I was snatching some time with Duncs who is on a trip here and also going on bended knee to my VSO programme manager to ask for a loan to keep RFPJ afloat for the next five months. Luckily this was agreed so the office will stay open until December by which point we will have hopefully found a way to prop it up for the longer term.