Morning all,
We poured our final pad today, and plenty going on as we catch up on boxing/shuttering/steel tying etc. Will start pouring strip footings again tomorrow.
The container (number 9) has been tracked down, almost accidentally. Our shipping agent advised it was still at Gaya yesterday so we were somewhat surprised when the truck driver turned up on site today, having been sitting at customs here in Niamey since last week apparently.
We are trying to get to the bottom of exactly where it is, and more importantly, when we can get it here.
Up till now, we have been involved with all the customs buggaration, but Al is now dealing with it on our behalf and I’ve also involved the client to try and stop the endless round of customs checks and delays we seem to keep having. Under our agreement with Government, they are all supposed to come straight to site, we then call the customs people who come out to witness us opening it. This has only happened once out of 8 so far so we will keep trying to apply the pressure. Un peu un peu as we say here, a little at a time...
Stan and Lindsay arrived last night. Unfortunately they didn’t have their visa documents with them.
This could have been very serious and they were very nearly sent back on the return flight to Casablanca.
Fortunately the guy in customs allowed Lindsay to leave the terminal building to come and find me.
Even more fortunately, on the offchance it would be required, I had a copy of their visa letter with me.
We were able to go into the terminal show the letter, sort out baggage collection and get the process underway. And I didn’t even have to bribe anyone which is always a plus.
It was quite a stressful and tiring experience for them given that neither speaks French and that it was about 4am before we were able to get back to the villas. As Stan says, it was like something out of the movies and they were expecting to be marched back out to the plane or, worse, marched off to jail at any point. Lindsay’s bag also stayed on plane after the Chch to Sydney flight so while he was in Dubai, it was in Bangkok.
Considering all this, and the fact they haven’t had much sleep, they’re in excellent spirits.
Anyway, all sorted now, as are our systems to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Only in Africa- See attached for a photo of the front of the Enitex textile factory just up the road from the site.
We’ve been trying to work out what was going through the builders mind when he put up either the gates or the wall, depending on which came first.
Probably nothing at all looking at the end result, but suggestions on a postcard.
Also attached is a photo of some of the extensive rice paddies which line the Niger river. Some is for local use but a lot apparently gets exported to China as well.
We tried out our first chef in the “Niger kitchen” series tonight. He has spent 100,000FCFA on food which is huge- our normal supermarket shopping with wine is around 50,000 but it was quite good.
We invited Jim, who is currently staying in villa 3 on his own, round for dinner tonight, and we have awarded the cook 8out of 10.
In spite of the started being lasagne and not soup like he told us.
We’ll get a different one in tomorrow, and the day after and whoever comes up best overall, and doesn’t steal anything like the last guy, will get the job.
That’s all for now,
Me
