The things that puzzle me…

There are some things in Kampala that leave me puzzled. Of course it could also mean that I do not know enough of the city, especially the central business district, enough to be puzzled.

Selling saucepans on the street: It makes sense for hawkers to sell saucepans along the roads to the taxi and bus parks. They would obviously be targeting people making their way home. Evening is a time many people stop to pick up groceries for the home, a snack or two for the children, or an object they want for their house. But along a busy road in the middle of town, in the morning hours? Who honestly is thinking of buying a saucepan at that time? A lovely looking cup, maybe. A cute set of crockery, perhaps, because these appeal to people’s emotions. But a bland looking saucepan?

The way taxis manouevre their way out of the park: Every time I go to a crowded taxi park, I am constantly amazed (not puzzled actually) at the way the drivers are able to make their way out of there without hitting or even just grazing the next car to them. The taxis are parked at such tight angles. Many look squashed in one place, you wonder how the taxi you are sitting in will exit without four of those ahead of it, pulling out for it to pass. And yet, once the taxi is full, the driver gets in, starts to work the brake and accelerator pedals so hard, driving through narrow spaces, dodging people by a whisker and cars by an even thinner whisker and eventually getting out. I want to learn to drive and be able to get out of the tightest corners, without scratching a thing, like they do.

Past the last minute: I will not claim to be a saint. I have many times done things at the last minute and been mightily relieved when I have been able to get what I needed or wanted. But some people take it too far.
Case in point was the day the children returned to school last term. The school had clearly told us at the end of term what to buy for the children and when we should return holiday homework (about a week to beginning of term). And yet when we arrived, I saw a mother having done hardly any of that.

When the class teacher asked her for the pens, she looked blank. When he asked for the ruler, she asked her daughter if she had one. When he asked for a set, she said she was not aware it was one of the requirements.
Finally, when he told her she had not brought the homework earlier and asked if she had it then, she still looked blank. We had had three months of a holiday and she had barely done anything asked of her. That really puzzled me.