June 17

He just stood there like an imp staring at me. But I really wanted to know. Why does their GhC5 dish of fufu come with one piece of chicken, and an extra piece of same size chicken cost GhC2? So what, the fufu element of the dish is GhC3? That morsel! Ok, and the service, but come on! Bro Nii, the lad introduced as manager, didn’t have any answer, or explanation, or comment, or excuse, nothing for this aggrieved customer! O, I felt so like a customer; bruised, used, abused and exploited! I had had quite a good reception at ‘Le Jardin’, this cozy ‘green’ eatery next to Jack & Jill School at Airport Residential Area. It’s so nicely tucked behind plants and shrubbery you tend to forget there’s traffic nearby. And I had a Muscatella! It was ice cold and refreshing, reminiscing. That drink is so ‘Ghana!’ I know people abroad who hide some under their bed and drink it only on rare occasions, and they make such a moment of it too. I savoured the one I had here, as well as their groundnut soup. It was nice, but never again will I subject myself to another such thievery from this ‘Le Jardin’ place! I don’t mind paying a fiver for a meal, but I do mind, when portions just don’t add up! And Bro Nii offered no reprieve for how I felt, he just watched me walk away, a very unhappy customer!
The music was nice and loud this Saturday night. It was after the blessed showers in the early evening that had cushioned me into bed I found myself gravitated once again to Rhapsody’s! Mia, their charming Supervisor who ensures everybody is well looked after, smiled at me again today. She’s always floating around the place, clearing tables and checking on her customers, making them feel like clients! One moment she was here, serving a Long Island cocktail, the next, she was over there, handing over a shot of something swig to someone, and giving them also a smile!
And I was in great company tonight, sipping a mix of cocktails with Rachael, Joel, Theresa and Iyiola! The room was buzzing with a mill of people, all happy faces, animated, eyes telling wild stories that evoke belly-deep laughter. Everyone was holding one interestingly sculptured glass or the other, or one filled with contents that begged to be licked!
Apparently, it was the ‘official’ opening of the joint that’s livened up the north-east end of town in the last several weeks. I gate-crushed!
Now, those living at the Spintex and East Legon areas can have somewhere fabulous to hang out. Like I said the other day, this joint is so retro in style, and attitude, that you cannot be ‘stiff’ - you know, pose and poke your nose in the air as if your mouth reeked of some bad odour - for more than five minutes once you are here. I saw many of our regular ‘stiff’ set loosened up considerably, laughing and even bopping their head to the wacky but utterly appropriate tunes being churned out by Rodney Savage and co, the Soul n Motion crew. The selection was so apt, so cosmopolitan and multi ethnic, like the atmosphere, for a moment I thought it was DJ Blow at the ‘turn-tables’! It turns out freewheeling Blow - after his debacle with Atlantis, - was actually swigging it out at Champs inside Paloma on Ring Road, holding another bunch of happy people hostage, subjecting them to the Saturday Night Fever jig, and singing along in loud Guinness banter! Apparently, he does this there, courtesy tiGO, every other Saturday and its all fun with wacky antics! I’m there next Saturday!
But back here at Rhapsody’s, I see the room is filling up more, and people are having to brush against each other to pass. It didn’t take long for me to become tipsy, from downing some of the innocent looking Long Islands – iced tea laced with some polite unsuspecting intoxicants – and needing to use the loo, I’m calculating how many steps and maneuvers I must make to get to the washroom. After gauging cautiously, I move, with military precision, hoping no one notices my uncommon sways, - or if they do, they were all in the same mode - and advanced gallantly.
As I zip up, I find myself in front of the curious looking aluminum fountain that stands as the basin for washing hands! It has a dedicated ‘manager’ and, trust me, this ‘manager’, if she were not available would cause many of us to become yokels! And it would be particularly those ‘stiff’ ones among us who would look most sheepish for not being able to operate it. The thing looks like a space ship, with buttons and protruding taps dispensing soap, and holes flushing water, all confusing, and if you ask me, most impractical. It’s so not functional. It’s nice, good even, as a decoration but not so much as a device for washing hands!
So earlier in the day last Saturday morning, I ventured at the Holy Spirit Cathedral for the funeral of my friend, the late actor Owusu Ansah. His was such a hard one to take. Death! It’s so final, with no chance to re-play, re-think or re-late. I was sorry I didn’t hold the last conversation we had beyond ‘Hi, hope you good!’ Maybe, I could have made him know how much his friendship meant to me too. Alas, I have no other chance to show this now. That’s what hurts.
here were so many people at the funeral. Indeed, many of them were the inquisitive lot, people who just wanted to be able to say they were there too. Many were also just ‘Star gazers’, so that when Jackie Appiah, the actress and Face of IPMC branding, came to hug me hello, several pairs of eyes shot stares at me, wondering who the ‘ell I was! I stepped away from her, and gave her back to ‘them’ to feast their curiosity! But the stares didn’t stop!
Have you ever done the ‘Fete de la Musique’ celebration at the Alliance Francaise? You’ve been missing one of the most culturally uplifting events in Ghana. Live band music, a colourful array of people, and at the Paillotte –the bar – grills and cold beers!
This year, the lead performer is the inimitable Sydney who will be splashing out ‘Africa Moniee’! Neo-traditional music group Hewale Sounds, the celestial Tema Youth Choir, sultry songstress Bebie Brew and Legal Stranger Black Prophet are all on the bill. Now, take that for an amalgamation of music styles and it’s on this afternoon from 4!