Home Sweet Home

My new pad

Well what a nice surprise, a flushing loo and a cold shower, what more could a girl ask for! My new pad is a des res. I have my very own outside tap to do all my washing up and clothes washing, never again will I moan about my washing machine back home for taking too long and remind me again what is a dish washer?


Brikama is a busy little place it seems to be the transport hub for Gambia. You can catch a Geli Geli (minibus type thingy) to anywhere. Whenever you venture towards the market if you don’t have your wits about you, you could end up being stuffed on board with goats, chickens and the odd three piece suite and transported off to the back of beyond. Once you have negotiated the hustle and bustle of the Geli park the market traders hit you head on. Not being a natural shopper and used to Mr Sainsbury very kindly dropping off my groceries every week, having to bargain for everything from an umbrella to an egg is exhausting. I’d rather run a marathon any day! I’m sure it will get easier.

Our compound is a little oasis. Mr Touray is our guardian angel, caretaker, security guard, local teacher and keen gardener, he manages to keep the garden looking like a tropical paradise. We have lots of colourful birds visit and I will eventually learn their names but at the moment they fit into three categories; cute little ones, colourful medium sized ones and big loud ones that wake me in the morning when it’s the cockerels day off. We also have a few night visitors. I did think someone was breaking in the other night and just as my pounding heart was about to explode through my chest cavity I thought I’d better get up and confront the villain head on. When I looked out the window there were giant bats the size of pterodactyls flapping around in the mango tree and banging on the window. For one minute I thought I’d ended up in a scene from Jurassic Park 4.

State of the art cooking facilities

All smiles before we are shipped off to all corners.