Cornishmaninafrica

While in Lomé, I went to see my GP. At least that’s what she says she is, but I know she is actually an angel. During the two 1½ hour consultations, the conversation ranged from mitral valves to contemplative prayer. Evidently in her mind they are inseperable. You wouldn’t get that on the National Health. The upshot is that she sees no problem with me continuing my mountain-top existence, 250 miles from the nearest cardiologist.

Since returning home last week, I have been out walking in the village for an hour erery day, which improves not only the heart but also my language skills. Such a shame that roller-blades and terraced hill-sides don’t easily mix, but the spectacular views in all directions more than make up for this.

Recently I left job advertisements in some of the local hotels in the hope of recruiting a cook. I had replies from twelve candidates, and interviewed them all in the course of one marathon morning. Of course, the real challenge is that no one has all the requirements. It would be quite nice if you could combine the best attributes of each of them into one super-duper-cook. But life isn’t like that.

One guy was so nervous he couldn’t stop talking. Then there were eleven. Another hadn’t done any cooking since the end of his apprenticeship ten years ago. Then there were ten. One young guy, 19, turned out to be Moba and didn’t speak Kabiye. Then there were nine.

And so it went on. After sleeping on it, I made a short-list of three candidates who were invited to come for a two day test-run. Two days might not seem very long, but when it is something as important as food, two days can seem like an eternity if it is not going well.

I am sitting on the veranda and the countryside far below has a well washed look about it for the first time in months, because the rains have finally come. The relief is enormous. It is cool (I guess about 23°c), and now that the accumulation of six months’ dust has finally been washed out of the atmosphere, I can see right across to the hills of Ghana. I never tire of this view.