Hi this is Felicity, Stephanie's sister I have been appointed as the new chief blogger.


So carrying on from where Steph left off with slight despair creeping upon us from the previous day. Here is take two in the bustle of the downtown market for another search for African materials. So down the alleys we proceed with a new member to our group joining us today called Mr Palley who is a lively chirpy tailor which made things rather pleasant. Steph and I were very excited when we came across lovely dark authentic prints for the new winter collection.
So on and on we went from one material shop to another. Eyes had to be alert so we did not miss any shops,which might bring us closer to the actual prints we were looking for. Bargaining is very important so alot of bartering went on as Steph purchased the material. Of course they assume we have lots of money which makes it difficult. But Steph got a compliment today for knowing what price things were and of course a slight smile appeared upon her face!! Among the fabric stalls are a mass of other market stalls with people lounging on there goods waiting to pounce on the passing customer. We treated ourselves to some "Hollywood" chewing gum on a passing young girl who was selling it. We passed a bowl of PIG CLAWS being sold which made me and steph laugh as that would only be in Sierra Leone! We slowly lost momentum and asked John what the time was, it was 4.clock, with an empty stomach and sweat seaping everywhere we decided to end the challenge for today and head back!! So we joined the main Street which was complete mayhem cars, motor cycles, horsecarts, pockets of small fights going on here and there we shoved oursleves in a taxi and chatted away. To those of you who don't know taxis in Sierra Leone everyone piles in with the taxi man shouting on the odd occasion "Aber Deeen Aber Deeen" which is the place where we stay. Taxis are almost like a chat room where you find out the latest happenings, or the politics of the country,you could almost write a book of the interesting conversations as everyone is friendly and exchanges there knowledge of their day.


We ended the day with me and Steph and the taxi man left and we got on the conversation of driving which then ended up with me driving the taxi myself and becoming the taxi women. People on the side of the roads looked very confused and amused with shoutings such as "White girl driving a taxi" It was very amusing not mention a little bit scary on the mad roads of Freetown. We had a much more productive day and things were finally beginning to look up!!