Chapter One - The end!

That slowed out Journey somewhat. Tyre brand new as well!

Back on the coast tonight at Luigi’s complex, Kololi, just outside Banjul  at the end of the first part of my “Project Manager Saga” Am I relieved? Well, no actually, I feel rather like I have jumped ship halfway through the voyage; left my comrades at the peak of the battle; only run half the race… Whilst I have every faith in Morro and his Merry Men, there are a myriad of silly little things that crop up virtually every day on a project like this and I guess it has become a matter of personal pride to me to make sure that the small details are not overlooked and as was demonstrated very well only a day or two ago, you take your eye off the ball for a second at your peril. It was a tiny almost insignificant detail but not easy to change once it had been done and I KNOW that every time I walk into the ward it will haunt me. I don’t suppose anyone else will ever notice, but I know it’s there!

Morro's Merry Men with Morro Kneeling 3rd from left

It’s always nice to hear so many people saying how much they will miss you when you leave Bansang, but I know full well that an equal or probably larger number will be sleeping a little easier tonight knowing I’m not going to be around tomorrow. Whilst I think I get on well with virtually everyone ( even he who must not be named…) As Julday the plumber so eloquently put it to me with a big grin yesterday,  “Dennis, you are the cat, I am the rat” Personally I think he was being rather hard on himself, as whilst I do chase him and the others around a bit, he is one of the growing number of the maintenance team with whom I seem to have built a successful working relationship and it gets the jobs done, many of which have sat unattended to for years. The guys are for the most part, great, they are just lacking leadership.

At the moment Julday is building a much needed Manhole at the rear of the Female ward to try to stop the drains from continually blocking up. In any event it will make clearing the blockages a whole lot easier… and you thought I was just overseeing the rebuild of the Paediatric ward…. Some hopes that the Boss would let me off that easy! And even now I’m not really finished, as tomorrow morning I have to head across town, possibly carrying a large baseball bat, to sort out the window manufacturer who has seemingly decided that he really can’t be bothered to travel to Bansang or even answer our phone calls, inspite of having a contract from us worth nearly half a million Dalasis.  If he had taken the trouble to stay just a little longer whilst he was at Bansang a few weeks ago he could have counted up just how many windows there are in the hospital that are going to need replacing at some point… It would almost be worth setting up an Aluminium Window company in Bansang ! But then some people are just so very short sighted…

Julday with a nice new tool kit courtesy of Nick Folley

Julday, specially for those who like the pics of sleeping builders

So what next I hear you cry? Well, tomorrow I jump on the 4pm Monarch flight to Gatwick where I will be collected by my niece Helen and her hubby, Saturday I hope to catch up with one or two potential riders for this years scoots trip before either heading north or west… Either way I’ll be popping in at Worcester to see my old mate Freddie complete with his new pacemaker, I just hope he has a turbo charged one that will be able to keep up with him… By Sunday next (ish) I aim to be on my way back down to Gambia on the Airhead. Hopefully, Andy will have worked a little of his magic on it whilst he has had it in dry storage, Slimbo will fill my tyres full of gunge to stop them puncturing and the mice haven’t chewed holes in all my kit ! However before then I have a mad whirlwind of visits to make to try to catch up with firstly family and hopefully some friends who I haven’t seen for far too long. I guess that is the one down sides to traveling, even in this day of instant global communication, you still can’t quite take them all with you !

Our Superb Tilers - I have no doubt they could easily work for any UK building Company