Broken bikes

Pete bought a bike, but the pedal fell off so he took it back to the shop to get it mended. And then the other pedal fell off. And then the saddle fell off.  And then the wheel broke. My bike has fared slightly better, with only the handlebars coming off. However other things are thwarting my cycling career, namely the change in weather. When we arrived we were warned not to cycle on the main roads, which are not safe. (In fact, two people I know have been hit by cars since I’ve been here, and I don’t know that many people.) But it was not a problem as I kept my cycling to the back roads. I say back ‘roads’ in the broadest possible sense, since almost all the roads here are unmade, except for a couple of major thoroughfares.  Anyway, I was happily cycling down these back roads when the weather turned, and it stopped raining, and now all the paths which were previously wet sand are now very dry and very thick sand which is impossible to pedal through.  And it’s not just my cycling which has been affected by the lack of rain (which, so you get a picture, only finished three days ago). We now can’t direct anyone to our house, because we used to say we lived just beyond the two massive puddles (and when I say massive, they had tadpoles in them).  Now they are gone so we will have to find new landmarks to mark where we live. (And where are the tadpoles?) The roads round here don’t have names – I have absolutely no idea what my address is. So you have to describe where you are going by using landmarks, and the main landmark in the capital, where we live, is the traffic light.  Yes, that is correct, there is just one set of traffic lights in this great city.  But as Gambians aren’t all that keen on using the definite article, the correct way to arrange to meet someone is ‘at traffic light’.