Vignettes

Photo processing

Since I didn’t think I would need the International Driver’s Permit I decided to save myself the $15. Unfortunately SIL wouldn’t let me drive their cars without one, so Cathie Showalter, returning to the US, offered to take my completed application and 2 passport sized photos with her to speed up the process. Nothing is speedy here, it seems. I had gone with her to a small photo processing shop, “Mon Ami Photo”, for the two photos, since I didn’t have two on me. I was immediately ushered to the back of the shop to have them taken, and then told it would a thirty-minute wait. No problem. I knew it took about 5 minutes to process them, but the front counter seemed busy with photo pick-ups at the time so the wait time seem justified. Another customer kindly offered us a seat on a wooden bench, and we seated ourselves on the shady side, away from the open door.

One hour later I started to get impatient and asked if they would be closing for lunch. Would it be better if we returned afterwards—say, 3 pm? No, they insisted it would just be another 5 minutes. Suddenly an argument broke out between one of the customers and an employee behind the counter (a dissatisfied customer? I couldn’t tell as they were shouting in Mooré). The two of us decided it was time to leave when it got a little physical. . .

Going next door to the “Cybercafé”, a misnomer since I didn’t see any computers—just some plastic outdoor tables and chairs (I suppose you could bring your own laptop), we noticed that there was another “Mon Ami Photo” customer who had decided to have lunch there while awaiting his photos…After I had a soda and things had settled down next door, we returned to the shop and were told “just 5 more minutes” 3 more times. !@#$%!! An hour and a half later, we walked out with my 4 slightly underdeveloped photos, happy to be out of there. I can see why you are required to pay in advance!

Power outage

It is late Sunday afternoon. For some reason I decided to wash my hair earlier today and, a good thing, as it made the heat somewhat more tolerable. Maybe I should take another shower before it gets dark! Although there was no water problem at the moment, the power has been out for several hours. It had been relatively cool several hours ago, when I noticed that the refrigerator light was out and the overhead fan wasn’t moving in the dining room. Not a good sign.

I turned on a light switch. No power. I checked what looked like mini-circuit breakers inside the house and nothing looked amiss. So much for the carafe of hot tea I had just put in the electricity-powered refrigerator to cool. Now it was the hottest time of the day and no A/C. The sweat was just pouring off me. Even though there seemed to be a hint of a breeze outside, it was too hot and hazy to go out and sit on the porch. I had noticed some stronger winds earlier—the Harmattan? Probably not—it should have wound down by now as it was already March…

In the event of water main breaks and other water cut-offs, Fina always keeps a large 32-gallon sized garbage can filled will water in the bathroom, and has a small plastic bucket hanging from its handle. So far there have only been two such situations, and one was very brief. For power failures, on the other hand, there are only flashlights… And since I dropped one of the two known flashlights on the floor yesterday, there is only one remaining… If this outage isn’t over before nightfall, it is going to be a long, hot evening!



the disjoncteur is the white thing at the bottom

It’s not like you can just dial PEPCO or the WSSC to report a problem or listen to a recorded message citing local outages. I sent a text message to my neighbor Paule, to see if she had electricity, and decided to call another SIL colleague, Marilyn—not in my neighborhood, but maybe she had some suggestions. As I stood there, cell phone in hand, I gazed out the front window at the wall surrounding the house and noticed the electric meter. Beside it was the MASTER CIRCUIT BREAKER! I recognized it immediately as it was just exactly like the disjoncteur I had in Paris! And it was off!! All this grief and it was just a power surge!