Early October is a beautiful time of year here. The weather is getting hotter but not yet blistering. The sun predictably shines every day and the trees produce a profusion of blossoms, from the pink, white and yellow frangipani, the deep red bougainvillea to the utter ebullience of an avenue of purple Jaccaranda trees. There is a particularly beautiful avenue on my way to work, unfortunately it is on my right when I am turning left and I have been known to spend a bit too long at the junction until an overloaded truck bears down on me and forces me into action.Many a time you will be walking or driving down the road here and you will see something you have never seen before. Such as a police officer giving his friend a backkie on his 150cc motorbike, a local car with a roof rack fitted for skis (in Africa?), a woman carrying a folded up umbrella on her head and men on bikes with four or five crates of coke-a-cola stacked skywards on the back. Not to mention the signs: God’s Will Hair Salon (in other words: it isn’t our fault you now look dreadful); Winners’ Chapel and my favourite: a hospital up in Lilongwe named after its Korean sponsor: The Dae Yung Hospital. I’d like to have a look at their morbidity and mortality outcomes.
