As soon as you leave the airport at Entebbe you are greeted every few hundred yards by a face smiling down on you from a poster with the caption 'I'm ready for CHOGM'. At first we wondered whether this was a word in the Lugandan language, but soon realised that it was part of Kampala's preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting here in November.
In anticipation of CHOGM new hotels are being built and roads improved - and believe me, they need it. Driving through Kampala, you are soon aware that the road system and traffic jams are a major issue. Road signs are few and far between, road markings are even more scarce, and who has the right of way in any given situation is an enigma.
To avoid a traffic jam involves venturing on to the back streets, introducing a new hazard - a legion of potholes. Sometimes these can be avoided, but then only by driving on the wrong side of the road. Often you can't. If it's been raining potholes become invisible or of indeterminate depth, so you mustn't be too possessive about your exhaust pipe. 'Be prepared' is the watchword on Kampala's roads as, indeed, it is for CHOGM. The Queen will doubtless find her way pothole-free when she comes, but doubtless too, 99% of the potholes will remain. I think that maybe there's a parable about our Christian lives here somewhere.
Tomorrow morning we leave Kampala on the 6.30 bus, together with all our freight and luggage. Finally in Arua we will have to sort out internet access, so this might be the last blog for a while.
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