Anthony sent me this photo today, entitled "My arrangement - the poppies didn't like it inside"
Love it that he is doing a bit of flower arranging in my absence
Very sad to be missing our little garden at this time of year

African Renaissance

Another Dakar outing was to the African Renaissance monument. Here are some facts according to wikipedia:

• It is 49m tall, making it the largest statue in the world outside Asia and the former Soviet Union.
• It was built by the North Koreans (random... more on that below).
• It cost over $27 million (USD)... one could very well question why money is being spent on this when there are malnourished munchkins and people dying of malaria... but I suppose that question can be asked of all governments. UK included (we don't have malaria... but there are hungry kids).
• It is located on top one of the twin hills in Dakar known as Collines Des Mamelles (or Hills of Breasts as they would be referred to in English).
  

As you can see it really is quite something.

Just in case we needed proof that the North Koreans were involved... we actually met one. This was SO exciting. We saw some Asian types operating a large crane and cleaning/ painting the statue. Hilary the brave/ mad went and spoke to one of them. He seemed not to really speak English but did confirm he was from Pyongyang. It was SO exciting we just had to take photographs to prove our 1st meeting with a real life North Korean. It would be interesting to know what he makes of Senegal... and the big statue... and the breast like hills... and whether he still loves the dear and great leaders... and whether he would rather North Korea or Senegal... oh the questions...
This is the list of Heads of State attending the (most likely lavish) opening ceremony... DRC, Zimbabwe, Cote D'Ivore, Gabon... mmm something seems a bit wrong about all of this...

Big Fish

Before Spearsy's wedding we enjoyed a trip to the big fish restaurant in Dakar.
The attached photos amuse me. Mostly because the plates were actually shared between lots of people... but the photos tell a different story!

Wedding Day!

At the hotel... all ready for the Spearsy-Sophie wedding
The best men - Pete and Arthur

The church at 4pm (official start of wedding ceremony). The people on the left hand side are the amazing choir... so as you can see very few guests were on time! Of course us pasty faces arrived far too early... I think it all got going properly around 4.45!

I didn't do a good job of photographing the bride and groom. This is coming out of the church, where they were surrounded by a fantabulous brass band... a real celebration. Spearsy was draped in traditional necklaces at this point (I think).

After the church ceremony there was obligatory attendance for the Bride, Groom and A list guests at the B list reception. The 2 tiered reception approach is an interesting one. Basically Bride and Goom show up there for about 30min and then leave the B listers to celebrate all night whilst the A listers headed for the fancy restaurant!

Pete and Misty were not quite sure what to do with themselves...
Anthony on the other hand enjoyed playing with the orange "jewel" table decorations...
Me and Marthe
Then it was off to the A-list party... Mr Geer was very pleased with himself
The MOST incredible wedding cake ever...
Deserts to end all deserts
Me and Anthony with the most lovely Habib and Habib's deuxième wife. Habib is Alex's loyal driver and is super nice, and actually I was quite distressed he had taken a 2nd wide since seeing him last. The 1st wife has 7 or 9 children... poor thing... left at home whilst wife number 2 gets to go out to the fancy parteeee.