Another Sunday

Sunday 12 September: There was a further deterioration in the weather with clouds covering the sky when I got up and a strong breeze blowing. I tried a different church this week. I was offered a lift home last Sunday afternoon by a lecturer from the university and he had told me that I should have got a taxi to St Ignatius. So that is what I did today. The taxi driver described the day as cold and said the cloud cover might last until lunchtime – he got the second part about right. On the way there we drove past the National Assembly Hotel – an attractive looking development where, the taxi driver told me, Zambian MPs stay when they are in Lusaka.

St Ignatius is nearer the centre of Lusaka and in a much more prosperous area and was full of people from, I would guess, all parts of the city. It was much more the kind of service I was familiar with and one that would not have seemed out of place in almost any part of Britain. The church was in fact built in the 50s in the later years of British rule - and was full and had an enthusiastic choir. Its music style was British-ish, with a strong African influence supported by drums and saxophone. The photo below of the choir was taken after the church had emptied a bit (in case you think I am lying about it being full.)




After mass I walked to the Manda Hall (pronounced Manda Hey) shopping centre and crossing the Great East Road took this photo of the traders at the traffic lights.

Finding my way there, I also learned a valuable lesson. In most places I walk the sun at lunchtime lies in a broadly southerly direction which is useful for direction-finding However, this is not the case when you are south of the equator – or, indeed, in the tropics. In fact, at present, the path of the sun here appears as if it is moving from right to left in the sky – the opposite way from that in the UK. The sun is also much higher in the sky making the judgement of direction a little harder. On the way I took this photograph of these magnificent blue/purple trees which, at present, are flowering all over Lusaka.


Then on to the craft market at Arcade and an hour or so of entertainment haggling with the traders there. They are so persistent pursuing you round the stalls and even coming after me when I went for a drink.