On the way to purchasing a coconut after picking Catherine from school, a lorry carrying folding tables, chairs, and awnings was loading in a driveway between Gracie’s fabric store and the coconut stand. As it pulled slowly away, the gulley at the end of the driveway caused long, two-inch diameter steel poles (for the awnings but sticking dangerously out the back of the truck) to scrape the driveway, causing quite a racket and gouging the cement. Clear of the gulley and wanting to minimize traffic delay, the driver accelerated at the end of his left turn into Lagos Ave. Three tables, a dozen chairs, and half of the poles clattered loudly to the roadway. The two guys sitting atop the tables were thrown to the pavement, amidst all the traffic, pedestrians, and bystanders at one of the busiest intersections in East Legon. Fortunately, and by some miracle, no one was hurt!
Victor (the coconut vendor, below) is always accompanied by several friends beneath his shady tree, and everyone resting there was laughing and yelling in Twi to the driver and his sprawling mates. You would have thought this was the funniest thing to happen on the corner of Lagos and 1st Lagos Avenues (remember, street names mean little) in a very long time! Not so. Victor said he often sees entertaining happenings from his front-row seat to the madness that is East Legon.
After the hilarity and the coconut, Catherine snapped this photo of Victor and me.
—Matt
