July '07 - We are a grandfather!

Hi everybody

Don’t know about you, but the months seem to be passing faster and faster recently, suppose it means I am really quite settled here – anyway I am now in my eleventh month, almost a year up!

June was an extremely busy and good month for a couple of reasons, one personal and one work related.

Taking the latter first, we finally have gone live here in Bafoussam, in two branches, with customers, fixed deposits and part of the General Ledger. To be honest it is all a little on a wing and a prayer, as we have been let down in a big way by our software supplier. We started the parallel run early in June in the expectation at that time that the remaining new function and fixes were due in mid June. WRONG – they instead announced midmonth that we might not get anything else until end August – sacre bleu, jings crivvens help ma bob, much gnashing of teeth etc - so we had a choice of stopping everything or pressing on regardless – which we have decided to do and try and work around the resulting rather less than perfect situation. Just as well I have been in rather similar circumstances more than once before! The job is proving a challenge because I have to think of everything from the physical infrastructure right through to how to migrate from a manual system and make sure the books still balance – with very little informed help as there is no one here who really understands the total picture, or who has done anything remotely like this before. As a final hurrah and beneficial use of all the knowledge I have accumulated over the years it is proving a hard experience to beat – but by the end I think I will be quite content to hang up my IT boots as it were!

The other work situation I have had to cope with has been a rather explosive staff confrontation between two of the guys that work directly for me – almost turned into fisticuffs – all about territory and who does what. Did manage to sort it out, but only in the end by threatening to sack them both – so much for just acting as a consultant here!

On the social front I took great pleasure in declining an invite to celebrate the Queens Birthday at a garden party in the British Embassy in Yaounde. The invite annoyed me by referring to me as a citizen – so my reply pointed out that until I did reach that elevated status, as a mere subject of her indoors I felt disinclined to celebrate. No doubt, I will not be allowed back into the country.

Nothing else of note this month on the Cameroon cultural front, apart from an amusing (in hindsight) example of how laid back things can be. My roof was leaking quite badly, so the work crew who turned up to fix it decided to strip all of the roof, then go off for the day, ignoring the fact that it is the rainy season, it duly rained and my flat was literally under 2 inches of water! Actually calling it the rainy season doesn’t really do it credit – it should be called the “total downpour, minimum 2 hours long, every other day, chucking it down season” – I will never complain about British weather again – although I see you have been having your fair share of the wet stuff in Europe recently.

Therefore, to the undoubted highlight of the month – I became a grandfather for the first time! My eldest daughter, Jacqueline, 2 weeks later than expected, and after quite a difficult delivery produced Esme Elizabeth Grange - isn,t she gorgeous!