No tarantulas and Marks and Spencer's
on Mischa in Cameroon (Cameroon), 24/Jun/2010 11:25, 34 days ago
The rainy season has come to Maga. The electricity and water are cut, the streets are becoming impassable because of the mud, and the route to Maroua looks more like a swamp than a road. One of my schools has already been flooded by the rains, and another has had the roof of one of its two classrooms blown off by the high winds. On the other hand the rice is being harvested, so people have more money than at any other time of the year.But I am not there to see all of this- I’ve just got back to England for over two months of summer holiday, and am getting used to exciting luxuries like having a sink in the house, not having tarantulas in the house, internet that I don’t have to travel 85km to use, and (the absolute highlight of my time in England so far) being ableto go to Marks and Spencer's.My father is very happy with the gift the Sultan sent him: two sets of Cameroonian robes. I suspect the Sultan had an ulterior motive for sending my father presents- the week before I left Maga he came round to my house and announced that he was going to buy robes for my father. Later that day he suggested that instead of going back to England I could stay (permanently) with him in the women’s quarters at Pouss.“No, no, no,” I replied virtuously, “You must think of what my father would say. He would not approve of me being taken to live in the women’s quarters in another man’s house.”“But Iamthinking about what your father would say,” responded the Sultan. “So I’m sending him a present.” I’ll be heading back to Cameroon in the first week of September, but in the meantime please get in touch if you’re in the UK- I’d love to see you.