Monday, May 9, 2011

Living Close Together in the City of Accra

South neighbour’s cooking Rice-Water for breakfast again. East neighbour’s warming her palm soup – at 5.55 am, would you believe? She’s a single girl living alone. I can tell by the unchanging sound of clicking heels the same split seconds apart every day. She cooked the soup during last night’s storm. I’ve never seen her, but I know she’s short because the heels never slip off. West neighbour’s sousing himself in his strong fragrance again. I wonder why he’s wearing his Tuesday-and-Thursday scent on this Monday morning. North neighbours are a little far off. The street divides their line from mine. At 6 am, the wife starts her Corolla – never 6.01 or 5.59, I’ve checked. The husband won’t come about for a little longer. Luckily, I’ll be long gone before his daily sinus evacuation starts at 6.15 – 6.20.

Semi-detached little houses huddling together. Anthropology.

19 comments:

  1. The spy who lives next door!

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  2. Anonymous10 May, 2011

    The description here is so vivid.

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  3. Note to self: Don't buy a house or build one close to neighbour's; neighbour could blog about activities. Check. :)

    Careful, you might get immersed in the studies. Anthropology?

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  4. Stalked right down to his daily scents. Sinus evacuations? Nice one there.

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  5. Anonymous10 May, 2011

    Slightly stalkerish really.
    Especially if I were the short-palmnut-soup-loving girl next door.

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  6. Kwame Mensa-Bonsu10 May, 2011

    If only the neighbour in the centre minded his own business. lol

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  7. Eerily reminding me of Arlington Road.

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  8. Anonymous11 May, 2011

    I live in a neighborhood where I see my neighbors maybe once a month if I'm lucky. I have never been one for neigbors getting into my business and vice versa, but right now I'd give an arm and a leg just for one of them to get into my biz big time. I hate this isolation and silence. Nana Yaw, you lucky son of a gun! Want to trade places with me?

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  9. Anonymous11 May, 2011

    Hahaha....@ Anon directly above:

    Do you happen to live in Downtown Brooklyn, red-storey building. You must, to have been able to so-thoroughly describe my current living situation.

    Seriously though, I think as humans we are just kinda fickle in this sense. I could just as easily see myself complaining about having "overly-nosy" neighbours as "hauntingly-silent" hallways.

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  10. @ Abeeku:

    The spy who lives next door? Lol.

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  11. @ Anon 1:

    Thanks. Sometimes, you just get the description right and real.

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  12. @ Tetekai:

    Do not take your note to self too seriously. About anthropology, maybe not, but people-watching is one of my favourite things.

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  13. @ Asomasi:

    Thanks. These things happen with the subconscious, no?

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  14. @ Anon 2:

    The short, palm-soup-loving girl and I will likely never be introduced.

    You know, when we watch tv series and suchlike, that's slightly 'stalkerish' too. :-)

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  15. @ Kwame Mensa-Bonsu:

    The neighbour in the centre does mind his business. For example, the palm soup whiff came over to my house, no?

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  16. @ Kissi:

    Arlington Road? Then I guess I did not do too badl on this post. :-)

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  17. @ Anon 3:

    No, I will not trade places, lol. But I can people-watch for you and report in this space if that helps a little. :-)

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  18. Kwame Mensa-Bonsu21 May, 2011

    lol...time you told your neighbour their freedom to cook is interfering with your smelling rights! Correct?

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