The Adventures of John & George

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Nigeria has a Rail System?

Believe it or not, this place used to have a thriving rail network... nowadays it's a great place for people to build, so slums have grown through all the rail land in the major cities and it's going to be interesting when they try and fire it all up again. But anyway, but when the Empire was getting rich off the backs of its colonies in Africa, the Brits built a line from Lagos heading up North to bring whatever wasn't bolted down back to port to sell back in the Motherland...

That was then, now the Nigerian Rail Corporation is probably the world largest owner of scrap rail parts that are useless to anyone. The good folk at the Nigerian Field Society organised a trip down to the old yards and HQ at Ebute Metta in Lagos (which was supposed to be on while we were in Kenya but had been put off due to the nationwide strike and petrol shortage). Unfortunately, being the wet season, it was absolutely pouring down and half of the rail yards were flooded, so we didn't get a chance to see the old steam loco's they still have sitting in a shed {this site has some pics of what we didn't see} - but they still had some amazing stuff, all just sitting there gathering dust. No one around here really gives a crap about history, and since Independence the military and various politicians have cleaned out every government owned company, coup after coup (which is why there's never any power or water here either...that's another story though)

So here's some pics of interesting stuff we stumbled upon as we wandered around on a wet Saturday morning...

The "new" NRC logo from the 60's when the Japanese
and Chinese brought in Diesel Electric trains

Unfortunately those diesel electrics didn't last too long...

This is an interesting one. Fingering through a bunch of old drawings, George & I found some drawings of the carriages that were built for the Queen's first visit to Nigeria back in 1956 (when she was barely 30)
Here's a little blurb from African Affairs, in April 1956

Royal Tour of Nigeria

The Queen, accompanied by Prince Philip, in February carried out a tour of Nigeria lasting three weeks which took them to all the Regions. It was a memorable visit, not only because of its unprecedented success, but also because it was the first time that a reigning Monarch had set foot in this, the most important of the African colonies. For a colony it still is—though one on the brink of self-government, and a country, therefore, which pretty well runs its own affairs already.
Lagos, the Federal capital, was first to welcome the Royal party on January 28, A political truce had been agreed to by all while the Royal visit lasted, and in place of politics, the people of Nigeria busied themselves with great demonstrations of loyalty and happy festivities. However carefree her subjects might have been in those joyful three weeks, the Queen herself laced a complicated and exacting programme. Her patience, charm and affection for the Nigerian people never deserted her.
Perhaps the most impressive and symbolic part of the Royal visit was the Queen's visit to the Federal House of Representatives. Wearing a gown of ivory satin embroidered with pearls, a diamond tiara and the star and sash of the Order of the Garter, her Majesty walked in procession to the House preceded by the Sergeant-at-Arms. She was received by the Speaker at the Bar of the House and conducted to the throne. The Duke of Edinburgh in white naval uniform, sat on her left, The Governor-General, the Chief Justice of the Federation, the Archbishop of West Africa and other dignitaries sat on her right.
The Speaker then read a loyal address, referring to the intense feeling of loyalty which the visit had created. The Minister of Transport, the Minister of Communications, and the Leader of the Opposition spoke in support of the address.
The Queen, in reply, spoke of "this most important stage of Nigeria's development." Nigeria was moving forward to what she was sure would be a happy and fortunate future and a place of increasing significance in the modern world, She regretted that difficulties of time and distance prevented her and the Duke of Ed arch from meeting more than a fraction of her subjects…”

The Office for Impractically Long Acronyms

The maintenance sheds are basically the same as the day they
were deserted (whenever that was...) tools are just lying around
as though they were left one day and no one ever came back.

If you're in the market for old train wheels, give me a call...

Friday, July 6, 2007

It's raining again...

Yup, it's that time of year again...

For whatever reason this year nobody decided to try and fix any of the thousands of potholes on lagos' streets. So now that the wet season is in full swing, it's all fun and games trying to negotiate a path through foot deep water hiding mystery potholes.

Here's a few pics susan took last week after it had rained for a few days

This excerpt from a recent article in the local paper This Day says it all....

All around Lagos during this rainy season, from the highbrow Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi through the middle class suburb of Surulere to all the adjoining satellite towns in the mega city, the tale of woes by the residents, have remained the same. Flood has laid siege on residents and it has also compounded the already deplorable road network that transverse the sprawling city. It is not uncommon to experience or hear of terrible accidents or crimes perpetrated by urchins as a result of traffic snarls orchestrated by bad roads and floods on rainy days.

For anybody coming into Lagos for the first time, there are so many things that give the city a bad name. If it is not the heaps of refuse that liter the city or the unwelcome attention you get from area boys and armed robbers, it is the ubiquitous traffic jam most times caused by bad roads, flood or lawless motorists. Lately, one major challenge Lagosians have had to contend with is the poor condition of roads in the state made worse by the incessant downpour.

The rains have upped the ante on the debilitating road situation adding further misery to the plight of poor commuters who must get from one point to another to make ends meet. When it rains in Lagos, it is common to see hardship every where. Sometimes, cars are seen floating side by side with rubbish left behind by the numerous street hawkers who now govern almost every major city road. Vehicles become casualties of the flood, with stranded drivers and commuters seeking assistance from area boys who end up robbing these helpless victims. In truth, rain is not necessarily a bad thing at all. There are many places in the world where the inhabitants are literally praying for rain to fall. It's just that our leaders have managed to transform the heavenly blessings into a curse for residents.

The full article is at: http://allafrica.com/stories/200707091079.html

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Sayonara Maslina

It's the end of an era in Lagos. After plenty of ups and downs and a whole bunch of awesome memories, it's time for Mas to leave us... (insert sobbing noise here)

Mas is off to continue her plan of world domination over in Singapore, which is a little closer to home than Nigeria. So it's only right that we rounded up the posse (minus Ryan and Desi who are having a baby in Canada as we speak!!! CONGRATS on a healthy baby boy!!) and headed over to the ragin' cajun's (the TODD) place to christen his new BBQ and have an awesome meal! Ironically most of the stuff for dinner had been brought in from overseas, so it wasn't much of a Nigerian dinner - but a bloody good one nonetheless.

George and I had flown in from Nairobi that morning and had been to a supermarket the night before to grab some goodies that you can't get in Lagos like broccoli and green beans (man they were tasty) and we still had a couple of racks of lamb and some wine we'd brought back from South Africa earlier in the year. Todd also had a bunch of steaks he'd brought over from Louisiana, so it was on!! You really do have to laugh at the kind of crap you can take through customs around here, no-one gives a sh!t about anything...

Anyway, enough blabbin', here's some pics...

The last supper (l-r)
George, todd, john, susan, maslina, rachel, rob

Thanks to the nationwide strike, the timing worked out beautifully with
"dad" Marcelle (middle) flying into Lagos from Angola as well... nice one!

Another great meal at Todd's (Thanks buddy it's always a pleasure)

Mas and her Lamb, never try to separate them...

George made an awesome collage of photos of everyone
from Lagos over the last couple of years and put them
on strips of local fabric and everyone signed it for Mas.
The best idea for a going away pressie I've ever seen

So Mas, it has been great to have you in our lives in Lagos. You've saved both our arses on more than one occasion. We'll miss you, but see you in Singapore soon!!

xox John & George

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Kenyan Safari !!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have four little words for you...

KENYA IS BLOODY AWESOME !!!

I actually have more words, but most of them aren't fit to print, suffice it to say, Kenya is a great place to visit and boy do they have their sh!t sorted out!

It started off with a nice little touch of Nigeria, however. As the country had been under a general strike for a week or so, we were lucky that any planes were even flying! that said, after boarding, we sat on the tarmac for ages as the striking air traffic controllers wouldn't let Kenya Airways leave... then we had to fly down to Cameroon to get some fuel as they couldn't refuel in Lagos... Blah Blah the point is that a 5 hr flight turned into 9hrs and no one thought to put any extra food or a movie or anything on the plane.. ah Africa.

Anyway, George and I had arranged to meet her parents (who were on their way back to oz from Europe via Dubai) in Nairobi for a 8 day safari. We've never had a holiday where everything was sorted out for you (particularly travelling around Africa), but it was just so easy to hook up EVERYTHING before hand. Like I said, these guys have it sorted, a van picks you up from the airport and you have the same van and driver all week and then they take you back to the airport inc all hotels and food - we didn't have to think all week (awesome...)

For anyone who cares, we used a mob called Liberty Africa who maslina had used last year and they were really good.

Now, I could easily put up a thousand really good photos and spend the next five years detailing how we drove around Kenya and went to heaps of amazing different places and saw EVERYTHING ( I tell you David Attenborough would have been proud), but that's all way too complicated, so I'll throw them all on a DVD and send that around at some stage (we'll be back in the O Z in November so I can show everyone then)

Just to wet your appetite, here a few pics....