Saved (Twice)

Sometime in 2018, I was heading to work when I heard this knocking sound. It was coming from my car but I couldn't tell which part of the car it was coming from. All I knew was the intensity of the sound reduced when I drove fast (matter of fact, the sound disappeared when I drove like a maniac) and increased when I drove very slowly.

I drove from Amasaman to Cantonments and got to work incident free. The only problem was the sound (or so I thought).

After work, I had to pick my mum up from my brother's place at Korle-Bu before heading home.

The sound was still there but at a point, even when I would drive like a maniac, the sound was still unbearable (I honestly thought the solution to my problem was to drive like I'd been cast in Fast and Furious).

And then I decided to park and do the most sensible thing since this thing (sound) started. I decided to look for a mechanic to check the car or at least check the car myself.

I'd got to the Black Star Square area so I looked for a bus stop, parked my car, and that was when my tyre fell off. Apparently, the front tyre at the driver's side was being held by one bolt. When I parked, the last bolt came off and the tyre fell off. Two guys were passing by my car when this happened. They stopped, stared open mouthed at the tyre, looked at me and said, "God loves you."

Fast forward to 2021. I'm heading to church when I hear a knocking sound from my car. When I drive fast, the sound is barely audible. When I drive slow, the sound is unbearable. I am running late but from my 2018 experience, I park at a bus stop at Pokuase and I check all my tyres. All the bolts were in place so I figured it was another problem but since I was getting late and the car was working just fine, I decided I would have it looked at after church. I get onto the newly commissioned Pokuase Interchange and my driving would have had Vin Diesel wishing he could drive like me.

Somewhere on the Ablekuma road (church is in Dansoman and I was using the Ablekuma-Awoshie road) a taxi driver started honking behind me. I looked in my rear view mirror and wondered what was wrong. He kept honking and his honking seemed to be targeted at me. I kept driving (like a lunatic) until I got to a red light on the Awoshie road. Just as I was about to stop (with the knocking sound at an unbearable volume), the light turned green. I was just about to start accelerating when the taxi driver got close to me and it seemed he wanted to talk. I rolled down the passenger side window to listen and I heard him say something about my tyre. At this point, everyone behind us started honking. I had to move but now I was wondering, "could it be the 2018 thing repeating itself?" Thankfully, I got to another red light (the taxi was still following me). This time I heard everything he said. He told me to slow down because it looked like one of my back tyres was about to fall off. He said I should get to a safe place, park and have it checked. I thanked him and switched to the outer lane (oh yes! thus far I'd been in the speed lane).

But I was really running late and though I understood what was happening, the last time I checked, all the bolts were intact so I figured I had some more time before anything would happen (if anything would). I decided I'd get to church and then after church I would have the tyre checked. So I increased my speed (not to Fast and Furious levels but just a little bit) and then I heard someone honking. It was another taxi driver. This driver got next to me and was so livid. 

"Are you crazy? Reduce your speed now. Your tyre is about to fall off", he screamed when he got close to me.

"Thank you but another driver already told me about my tyre", I said.

"And you're still driving like that? You must be out of your mind", he retorted while shaking his head.

Now I was very worried. Maybe my plan to have this thing checked after church wasn't a good idea. But it was Sunday morning and everyone I saw by the roadside was dressed on their way to church. Who could I get to help me? I reduced my speed to crawling levels and just before I got to Dansoman, I saw a vulcaniser. I parked and asked him to check the bolts on my back tyre. All the bolts were loose.

Saved by grace is all I can say!

God loves me too much!

The next time I hear a knocking sound while driving, I will stop and tighten the bolts on all four tyres myself!

Praying and then Solving

How does that even work?
How does one pray for a solution to a problem, and then at the same time work towards solving that same problem? You don't believe your prayer will be answered?

At the tail end of last year (which really translates to last week) I was driving behind this car with a bumper sticker that had me in stitches.

I should probably add, ...and then have an accident

Chances are, you are running late for an appointment (hopefully, through no fault of yours), you pray asking God to get you there on time, and then you step on it, and drive beyond the highest speed limit in the whole country. How won't you leave your guardian angel behind? And if you end up in an accident, who caused it?

Time and time again we face one challenge or another, we pray about it committing whatever challenge we are facing into the hands of the Lord, and then we still spend countless hours worrying about  this very same situation. Why then commit the situation into God's hands if we have a better solution we intend to arrive at by worrying about it?

Let's not forget Abraham and Sarah. They had a problem, no children and they were getting old. They commit the problem to God's hands, and they must have run out of patience waiting for the answer. Why? Because they took matters into their own hands and chose to solve the problem on their own, even after God had promised to them what seemed impossible. End result? Their solution seemed to work out at first, but it turned out not to be such a hot plan in the end. And then, God delivers. He solves the problem, but they had already created another problem with their solution.

Is anything too hard for the Lord?
When we commit a situation to the Lord, may we truly commit it to Him and refuse to worry about it.
Happy New Year!

Adventures in a Foreign Land - Hitch Hiking

I can imagine the look on my face if I wasn't me and I was reading this. The expression that readily comes to mind is, "this one too?"
But I am me so yes, this one too. I just had to try everything (blame it on too much television, curiosity or something like that). But really, it was very necessary (I would like to think).

It's Sunday. I plan going to church. It's a 20 minute walk from where I live to the bus stop (I was 100% sure of that calculation) except that I hadn't factored in snow. That calculation I was 100% sure of was done in the summer and it worked quite well in the fall. It'd just started snowing and I didn't think (I wonder why) I'd need to revise that calculation.

It took me twice as long to get to the bus stop.
It's Sunday morning, the roads had been ploughed but the sidewalks hadn't. Obviously, I missed the bus. Rather than walk back home (forwards ever) I decided to start walking to the bus terminal where I'd still have to catch another bus to church (2 buses I needed to take to get to church). It was quite a long walk, but I'd done it before (in the summer). It still hadn't clicked that walking in summer is totally different from walking in winter. Did I already say it was 15° below 0°C? Guess not. It was 15° below O°C.

I'd been walking less than 5 minutes (after I'd missed the bus) and I was already tired. But there were so many cars bypassing me, if only one would stop and give me a ride just to the bus terminal. And then I remembered I'd seen in movies people walking and lifting a thumb up to vehicles passing by indicating they needed a ride, so I did same (at least I started to until I realised the futility of what I was doing). Needless to say not a single car stopped for me. Occupants of some vehicles looked at me like I wasn't quite okay (more like, like I was crazy), some didn't bother looking at me and others slowed down (mostly ones with nice granny-looking-like occupants) and then they just continued on their way.

After a full minute and a half of trying to hitch hike, I just forgot about that and concentrated on walking. With just about 2 blocks to go to get to the bus terminal, I saw a bus headed there and boy did I stop it and enjoy the warmth of a 2 block ride.

Moral: just because you've seen something being done elsewhere (television) doesn't mean it'll work for you. You don't exactly have to try it.
Yeah, forwards ever, but really it doesn't hurt to turn backwards every now and then (it totally wouldn't kill you neither would it cause the world to end).
Yep, racism exists (of course that thought occurred to me), but really most of the people that sped past me had same skin colour as me. Those that slowed down were so much lighter than me (at least they slowed). Besides, had I been back home, driving, trust me, I wouldn't have stopped to give no stranger a ride just because they look like they need it, even if they were from my hometown (and could prove it).

That said, I reevaluated my calculation and all was right with the world again (meaning, I never had to and I never ever tried to hitch hike again).

"Baby on Board." Princess! Really?

I always wonder what I'm to do when I drive behind a car with the sign, "Baby on Board". Finally, (after months of debating with myself), I decide it means I should drive extra careful behind that car and not get annoyed when that car goes too slow (are drivers supposed to be paying attention to babies while driving? just asking), honk unnecessarily etc. (meaning I can do the exact opposite behind a car without that sign). Wonder why they didn't teach me that in driving school (maybe these signs hadn't been invented then).

Sometime last week, I was driving behind a car with this sign:

Really?

First time I ever saw one so I took a picture, but forgot about it, until I saw the same car again this morning.
All I can say is REALLY??? (there wasn't even anyone in the car aside the driver, humph!) Totally getting/designing an "Amazing Diva/Superhero in Car" sign (not that I need one though).

Pet Peeves III!

And picking up from Pet Peeves! and Pet Peeves II!

10. Water.
I am back on the subject of water. No, my taps aren't running (still). Well, the Ghana Water Company after 3 days of no water decided to turn the taps on yesterday at about 11am (like most people weren't at work) and turn them off again at 10pm. I get home like 6pm and the water is barely trickling through my taps (it took about an hour to get a full bucket of water) until the taps eventually stopped running at 10pm.
Ok, ok, ok, I now know it is very possible for me to actually take a bath with a bucket (more like half a bucket) of water. I promise not to use like 10 (that's if I can quantify how much water I use) and I promise not to wash my hands like 15 times everyday (it really doesn't matter that I have a very mild OCD). I promise, I'll conserve water (even though I pay for all the water I use and don't cheat the system). Now please let the taps flow!
On my way to work this morning, I'm seeing people washing their cars and I'm thinking, really? And then I could have sworn people were fetching sea water. I saw a truck with barrels of water on it being pushed by 4 men and they were coming from the direction of the sea (I used the beach road). I hope they aren't drinking it. For cooking, washing and bathing, I guess it's ok (not 100% sure though). But really, that's how bad it is. Sea water. Hmmmmmm...

11. Ludacris.
What has he got to do with me? Nothing, except that just about every barber shop in Accra (not sure about the rest of Gh) has to have this particular picture on their billboard/signboard/something.

I got curious about where the people were getting the picture from so I Googled him and voila!

Is it about the way his facial hair is cut or what? I'm sure he's not the finest, most popular guy in the world. Aren't there any Gh men who qualify to be used to advertise a barber shop?

One example of a thousand other barber shops in Accra

I'm sure when he came to Gh, organisers of the concert didn't take him on a tour proper of Accra. If they had, one of two things might have happened.
a) He'd have freaked out and left Gh that very instant, concert cancelled.
b) He'd have stayed for his concert and stayed after to be king of Gh. Oh yeah, his face is more popular on the streets of Accra than it ever was in any family album of his.

12. Gh Police.
Is it just my overactive imagination or is there always extra traffic when police officers are directing at a traffic light (faulty or just cos they feel like it)?

13. DP and DV number plates.
I was under the impression that DP plates were issued usually at the ports (for imported cars) and expired 15 days from the day of issue.

How have you been doing it? Avoiding or palm greasing?

So why am I seeing a 2013 DP plate a month and a half into 2014? Even if the plate was issued on December 31, 2013, I'm sure we're more than 15 days into 2014.
Then the DV plates. They last longer (a maximum of one year) and are supposed to be used on a car after the DP plate expires, until the car is registered. There are a whole bunch of rules as to how they are to be used (as in cars with DV plates). Eg. you can carry only a certain number of people in the car, the car can only be used from 6am to 7pm, the car can't be used for funerals, weddings etc. DV plated cars really are to be used for testing by potential buyers. So I ask, what is a 2013 DV plated car doing in 2014?

How are you also doing it?

And I had to end at number 13. Then again I am from Gh and the number 13 really is not supposed to have any significance for me (yeah, just like it wouldn't make much sense to sit here in Gh and celebrate Thanksgiving).
But seriously, Ghana Water Company, I really can't do the one half bucket of water no more!

About To? Seriously?

I have heard of, I have seen "Just Married" on the cars of newly weds.

Saturday, I saw for the first time "About To Wed" on the back of a car. The front of the car was decorated with ribbons.

Just wondering if the wedding was going to happen that day and the notice was there for the before the wedding and then after the priest says "I now pronounce you husband and wife", the notice would change to "Just Married".

Forgive my ignorance but this was just the first time I saw this:

Fender Bender - Seatbelt to the Rescue!

Sounds dramatic enough? Good. I'll make a swell Gh journalist :D

I never thought the day would come where I'd be promoting the use of seatbelts. Yep, that day is today. I'm not much of a seatbelt wearer but lately I wear mine religiously, why? (ummmm... why am I asking a question I'm gon answer myself?) Cos I got tired of parting with my money anytime a cop stopped me cos I dint have it on. Plus I'm pretty tired of hiding and trying to avoid cops (as though I were a criminal). It's worked well thus far. My money's being saved up for more Kwaku Doe interogations and I'm not into hide and seek no more. Basically, I feel free.

Now, I have another story to tell. Wearing my seatbelt saved my life (well, that is kinda exaggerated, but it sort of did). I'm driving home from work one day and I have a passenger (one of my work colleagues). I of course have my seatbelt on but she doesn't. I'm not particularly bothered cos I know the cops are not going to hustle me if my passenger doesn't have their seatbelt on (pretty selfish huh?). I have sat in cars where the driver insisted I put on my seatbelt, but like I said earlier, I'm not much of a seatbelt person and I know seatbelts weren't invented for the reasons why I even put mine on.

Ok, so we are headed home and then we get to this roundabout. Like I was taught in driving school, I give way to traffic on my left, but most of the cars on my left were just going straight (i.e. to my right) and the cars there were kinda backed up. I on the other hand was going round the roundabout and the cars weren't backed up there. Of course, being Gh, the cars to my left wouldn't stop so those of us going round could move. It was more like "if I can't go, then you won't go too. besides, I have the right of way". Finally, there was an opening, so I made for it as fast as I could before the car on my left moved to block me. The car to my right moved forward fast and in my haste, I dint see he had come to an abrupt stop. Alas I drove right into him. I hit his bumper real hard (I think). I say I think because I honestly don't think it was that hard and neither did the driver of the car I hit (I'll get to him in a bit) but my passenger thought otherwise.

"Oh Jesus, oh Jesus, Dentaa, oh Jesus, Dentaa, Oh my God" - this was coming from my passenger. And I'm thinking, why is this woman over reacting? I turn to tell her to stop being so melodramatic only to find half her body on the floor of the car and the other half sprawled on the dashboard (seriously, I am not being melodramtic). That was when I understood all the drama coming from her. Me, I was where I was supposed to be, in my seat supported by my seatbelt. Since I was the culprit, I found a spot, parked and waited dreading how much I was going to spend fixing the guy's car. Actually, it wasn't damaged. No dent, just a bit of his paint job came off. I'm parked thinking the other car's going to park so we can decide on what to do but no, the guy just drives off. And guess what? He was talking on his cell phone the whole time, (no headset. he had the phone to his ear) but at least he too had his seatbelt on.

Always wear your seatbelt (where it's available) whether you are drving the car or just a passenger. Drivers, insist your passengers put on their seatbelts (for thier own sakes). Gh cops, hustle drivers when their passengers don't have their seatbelts on. Don't talk and drive especially on a cell phone (even if you have a headset on. It can be distracting).

I checked the front of my car and it was fine. No dent, no nothing. Just a bit of the other car's paint job stuck on my car. And now I'm praying he doesn't read my blog and find out I'm the lady that run into him (just in case he got home and decided I should pay for his bumper to be sprayed).

Feel Free To Die If You're Not A Driver

I really don't get this and maybe someone can explain it to me. For some reason, Gh cops are so interested in drivers putting on their seatbelts when driving, so much so that they'd arrest drivers that don't have theirs on (I'd know. Yeah, I've been caught a couple of times for that offence). They don't bother when a passenger doesn't have it on. There've been instances where I've been stopped and asked to put on my seatbelt when I've had someone in my front seat who clearly didn't have one on. And trust me, a driver putting on a seatbelt does not in any way motivate passengers to put theirs on (at least not my passengers) and I know lots of cars don't have all their seatbelts intact especially commercial vehicles, but is that an excuse? How do these vehicles get passed as being road worthy?

So, I guess a driver with a seatbelt on can prevent an accident? Or passengers are not in any danger when a car crashes? Or passengers can just go ahead and die? Or passengers can just get out and walk away from a car that's not theirs while drivers would most likely grease the palm of a cop in order to keep their car?

I know there are countries where drivers are fined when they or any one of their passengers don't have a seatbelt on. What's happening in Gh? I wonder if Gh cops know they can also arrest or get more money from a driver whose passengers don't have their seatbelts on (imagine the prospects. unless that's not an offence in Gh). Seriously,  these cops got me so jealous of passengers. I don't particularly like wearing a seatbelt but I got to if I don't want to part with my hard earned cash (motivation if you ask me. now where's the motivation for passengers to put theirs on?).

No Truck Pushers!

I'm loving these new road signs which seem to be made for Ghana by Ghanaians.
Seriously, I'd love to see them all over the place. At the moment, they seem to only be in bougie places where visitors to Gh are likely to pass (well, I get that) but what about the other places I pass eh?

And oh, I'm loving the fact that all "trucks" are getting registered by the AMA as well. I wonder if they have to pay anything cos when they get in my way on the road, I usually scream at them and ask them if they also pay road worthy fees (got that from a friend's mom) like me. Since they don't and I do, they should just get out of my way. Now, what am I gon scream at them eh? I am hoping though that the registration will bring some sanity into the truck pushing business in Gh.

NO TRUCK PUSHERS!
(I hope that's what it means ooo. When I was taking my driving test, this road sign hadn't been invented)

Car Decor

I see a lot of cars around with interesting decorations e.g. flowers and stuffed animals (that's for the private cars). As for the taxis, their decor tend to border more on over eccentric if you ask me, from the paint work on the outside to the assortment of decor options inside.

One thing that always gets to me is, how do drivers of these extremely interior decorated cars see through their rearview mirrors (I mean the mirrors are there for a purpose right?) as most of these decorations sit in the back of the car against the rear windshield.

Funny thing is most of these flower, stuffed animal decorated cars tend to be owned and driven by women. Imagine my surprise when I spotted this car being driven by a man.

 It is of course possible that he was driving his wife's/gf's car or he's the driver driving the madam's car or something. I refuse to believe a guy had that flower arrangement in his car (way too girly).