The epic journey to work

My journey to work deserves an entry of its own. There is a hint of irony in its contrast with my route to work at home! Leaving the house, I have to trudge through a road of red earth, or red mud if it has rained, hugging the edge of the road so my toes don’t get crushed by the heaving taxis and tro tros that are negotiating the irregularities of the path. In a couple of minutes I reach the top of the street, my face already coated in a film of dust and perspiration. From there I’m confronted with a quarry of a road with standstill traffic, tros completely full as I have to shout my desired destination in the hope that they’re going there and have a spare seat, which others on the roadside are also clamouring for. The odds are against me as there is only so much risk and aggression that I’ll employ. This part of the journey can take either 2 minutes or 45 minutes. It’s all about luck, speed and dexterity as I race between lanes of moving traffic to climb aboard.

The first tro takes me down the road to the bus station, where I wait for a second tro. Here there are orderly queues of people. Sometimes the line moves quickly, other days it extends indefinitely and I have to weigh up the advantages of waiting in the heat or opting for a cab. Either way, we twist and wind around the suburbs of Accra. The tro deposits me at a place called Atomic Junction, from where I walk a short distance to take a shared car that drops me outside work. The whole thing takes about 2 hours. On public transport, it costs the equivalent of around 60 pence. In a cab, it’s closer to a day’s allowance which rules it out as an option for anyone on a local salary...