Shepherds - you have been warned!

The sky was a glorious red early this morning, shepherds warning! There I was jogging around the tennis court again, with DH and a visitor - Freda, the compound dog. Well she doesn't jog actually, she has a penchant for nipping ankles and heels which she thinks is great fun. When we try to chase her off, she thinks it's a great game and tears around like a thing possessed, putting our feeble efforts at jogging to shame.
In the end, the shepherds had nothing to worry about as it has been a hot, sunny day only just before dinner the clouds started gathering and we are currently being treated to a stunning lightening show! No rain yet though.
Today I made myself useful supervising the arrival of desks and chairs for DH's new office here on the lodge compound. Nice to feel needed. Having succeeded in this task I may be allowed out tomorrow to hunt for toner for the printer, oh joy!
See below, photo of crazy dog!

Quiet life?

Not written anything for ages, so does that mean I have nothing to say? Those who know me will know that that is rarely the case! I have been busy looking for a home/office/guest house. We have the idea to combine all 3 so we can pool resources, such as a generator, security and cleaning services. It would also mean I see more of DH during the day but also that we will have people around us almost constantly. We have seen a couple of good options and have begun negotiations on one of them but it's all sooooo expensive. So we are still in our nice lodge hotel (although the pool is rather green looking and not very inviting at the moment) which is ok. At the weekend we went to the house of a colleague so that I could do some cooking and we enjoyed a pleasant evening with our host who barbecued some large prawns he bought on a recent trip to Benin, lovely!
Yesterday was cool and rainly, today is hotter and bright so I might not go far, maybe a walk to the market to scare a few more babies!

Market

Today I went to the market for the first time. I cant believe I have been here a month and not been to the market! This one is just across the main road from the lodge where I am staying. It was quite an adventure. First of all crossing the road was a major undertaking! Traffic comes at you from all angles, regardless of rules, reversing, overtaking, speeding, you name it. So having safely negotiated that hurdle, I found my way through the narrow alleys into the heart of the market, passing ladies frying something like donuts in hot oil and a guy trying to fix a flat tyre. There were stalls selling fruit and veg, mostly each stall had the same fruit and veg.....then I came to the meat and fish section....wow so many flies in one space!!! Vendors were waving bits of cardboard over chunks of meat in a vain attempt to prevent them settling on their wares. There were bits of animal on sale that one does not see in Tesco! Lots of dried fish too. That brought back memories of Sierra Leone, when that was our main source of protein. In fact the whole scene felt immediately familiar and comfortable, like coming home. Life outside of my bubble.
I bought tomatoes and cucumber to make a salad back in my room. I checked out a few clothes stalls too, and there were 'proper' shops as well selling rolls of dust covered fabric or toiletries or tin trays. I managed to scare a few babies, not intentionally of course, but I guess they don't see too many white ladies in funny hats waving at them.
I made it back to my room safely and enjoyed my salad with some cheese, so all in all a good trip out.