If you thought you were having a bad day....

Hopefully a picture of these guys on the back of the dump truck we followed to school this morning will make you feel better! Watching Nigerian garbage men is a sight in itself. When they are unloading a garbage bin, they are actually wearing gas masks, and they use actual woven baskets to take the trash from the bins while they are half way in the dumpster themselves. The garbage trucks do not have hydraulics to lift the bins and dump them in the truck. Yep, I'm pretty glad I don't have that job!

When we crossed over the bridge, we were in some traffic and I couldn't believe it when I saw on my right a man who was pushing a generator in the middle of the street. My day seemed pretty good when I saw him out there in the heat with a generator in tow, no less!
I don't know if I have mentioned this in a previous post, but if you want to have pretty consistent power here, you need to have a generator. The power company of Nigeria which was previously called NEPA which stood for National Electric Power Authority ( a.k.a. Never Expect Power Always) is now called PHCN ( Power Holding Company of Nigeria) a.k.a Power withHolding Company of Nigeria. PHCN or NEPA as many people still call it, is completely inconsistent with its power supply. But, they are always quick to send bills for power which was never even supplied. Happiness told me that she gets a bill every month at her flat for 3000 naira...even though she may have only had power there for 2 out of 30 days!!!

Even our compound is hooked to a giant generator!!! Yep...and so is everyone else's . The hum of the thousands of generators being used in Lagos is everywhere...it actually becomes almost like white noise after you have been here so long.:) The one on the other side of the street from us is powering another compound, and I thought I would never get used to the sound...but now, I hardly notice it anymore. So, I guess the man in the picture above got tired of waiting on NEPA to supply his power, too. I hope when he gets home, his generator works and his day starts to get a little brighter! (pun intended!):)