Author Archives: admin

Being with your people

Posted on October 17, 2018 by admin

Last month we were in France to witness the ‘soutenance’ (thesis presentation) of our eldest daughter. M has now spent five years at the University of Angers in western France, and she’ll be able to stay a little longer thanks … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 2 Comments

A quiet morning

Posted on July 26, 2018 by admin

It’s one of the those mornings here in Lusaka, where you head out of the drive at the usual time, and within 5 minutes you notice that it all seems a little too quiet. It’s a sort of mid-week Sunday … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Politics | 4 Comments

A long complicated story told for no particular reason

Posted on July 20, 2018 by admin

Let me tell you the story of Edith, a woman in her late 30s who is a friend of my wife. The first time I met my wife, Edith was there. She was also there at our first meet-up after … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | 1 Comment

Abidjan v Lusaka

Posted on July 11, 2018 by admin

It’s been almost half a year now that we’ve been living in Lusaka, Zambia, and as with previous moves around Africa, I thought it would be interesting to spotlight a few differences compared with Abidjan. Development wise, there are a … Continue reading →

Posted in Tourism | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Abidjan taxis and other fragments

Posted on May 14, 2018 by admin

In April 2014, I made my first return to Abidjan after leaving for Dubai in late 2012. I published some blog posts at the time, but a few others sat in a Word document on my desktop, and four years’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A full house

Posted on May 11, 2018 by admin

It might be personal taste, but one thing I appreciate about our life in our particular corner of West Africa is having a full house. There are six of us in our two bedroom place – two small children, myself … Continue reading →

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Cocoa ramblings

Posted on April 28, 2017 by admin

The dust hasn’t quite settled, but it has certainly been an interesting season for cocoa in Cote d’Ivoire. Even just looking at the last few days we’ve seen the death of former all-powerful cocoa baron Henri Amazou, ex-boss of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Leave a comment

Boulevard VGE

Posted on March 5, 2017 by admin

I was a little taken aback yesterday reading in Fraternite Matin an interview with the architect of the new Azalai hotel in Abidjan, Ibrahima Konare, saying: “Personally, I consider the Boulevard Giscard d’Estaing as one of the most beautiful in … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Leave a comment

BRVM update and other economic notes

Posted on January 31, 2017 by admin

Twelve months ago, I announced the end to my series of annual posts focusing on investments on the Abidjan-based stock exchange. The posts seemed to be getting very similar – double digit growth reported, all in the (relative) safety of … Continue reading →

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7 things we learned from Didier Drogba’s ‘Commitment’

Posted on November 13, 2016 by admin

The other weekend I read a blog post about Didier Drogba’s latest autobiography ‘Commitment’, and after a quick Kindle purchase, the book had been downloaded and read by Sunday evening. I do have his previous autobiography (unread) on my shelf, … Continue reading →

Posted in Sport | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment