The Happy Birthday Duncan Programme

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It was Duncan’s birthday on Sunday so we decided to have a little party, a fancy dress one at that. Parties, concerts and any kind of event are known as a ‘programme’ in these parts so it was ‘Duncan’s Happy Birthday Programme’ with the theme being, of course, The Gambia! It was a monumental affair with all four of us in attendance: Duncan of course, Me, Lilli and Sam. It’s no mean feat to come up with a fancy dress costume in Basse but we tried our best.

Sam came as the river Gambia! The river that, as you can tell, gives The Gambia its name. Around her waist you can see some of the things that you might find in the river Gambia: hippos, fish, turtles, and rubbish. Nice!

Duncan is dressed as everyone’s best friend the mosquito. Ever present they are always to be relied upon to make an impression on you; a nice itchy one that if you’re lucky, like me, will linger for at least a week decorating your ankles and feet with a lovely polka dot pattern.

Lilli is dressed as ‘Agriculture’, mainly the maize plant. It’s grown everywhere here and there are always women sitting by the sides of the road cooking them on little charcoal cookers and selling them for 5 dalasie. It looks like sweetcorn but it’s not half as tasty but weirdly, the dry, bitty, nuttiness of it is strangely addictive.

I doubt I need to tell you that I’m dressed as a 7/7 taxi. In the Kombos if you not lucky enough to have enough money to buy yourself a swanky 4x4 the usual way of getting around is by one of these. They are always painted yellow with green stripes down the side. Standards vary from being quite plush inside with an assortment of car air fresheners to practically just the shell of a car where you’re lucky if the door shuts properly. It’s a great system of set routes that are all 7 dalasie and people hop in and out of them, sharing them like buses. If you’re really Gambian then you use the secret hand gestures to flag them down to say which place you want to go to. I love this and just about got the courage to start using them just as I left the Kombos.

So there’s a little bit of information for you about some things unique to The Gambia via the medium of a fancy dress party. It was a good night. We made Thai green curry and attempted rum cocktails. We mainly sat in the dark as the power only came on a couple of times in ten minute bursts just to tempt us. Duncan was given fabulous presents including a pair of trousers (after he claimed he only owned 2 pairs), 2 melted twixs (a treat indeed) and from Sam, some homemade mars bar crispy cake. 10 mars bars and half a box of cornflakes chilled equals chocolaty, gooey heaven!

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Photos

DSC00452
The only picture I managed to get the timer working on and I've got my eyes shut.

Comments

[deleted_49612]

LOL
That second photo is hillarious! :D