The works minibus

A special mention should be made of the works minibus, an experience that most people remember. The fabric seating and the ubiquitous Ugandan dust ensure that if your trousers were clean at the start of the journey , they will not be at the end. I've learnt that my light coloured trousers were a mistake when packing to come here,and have since purchased a dark pair.(take note any of the Ingite team planning to visit soon)The driver is a man called David (not me) who evidently has the necessary advanced training in electro-mechanical engineering which is required to drive this vehicle.An ignition key is not  needed to start the engine, but leaning inwards through the passenger window and connecting a thick bare ended wire with the
 battery terminal under the passengers feet seems to work wonders.With a lot of rattling and clouds of black smoke David encourages the vehicle to move after several attempts to persuade first gear to engage.Sadly on several occasions it has all been too much for the engine which jolts us all to a halt after a short time.Sometimes an alternative vehicle has been required. On one such memorable occasion having driven several hundred yards down the road the engine conked out and refused to function again unless the reverse gear was engaged. On that occasion we returned back to base backwards. Interestingly, driver David has a cap he wears on which is written "never say die", which is a bit of wishful thinking on his behalf, as clearly, when driving he is keen to go faster than 5 mph, and when following a slow vehicle he needs to hurry the driver along using his horn for fear of stalling.Using the horn involves touching another smaller bare ended wire with the steering wheel to complete a circuit that only electrical engineers can fathom .

Fortunately the drivers vision is not obscured by a considerable star shaped crack on the passenger side of the windscreen.For health and safety reasons the sliding passenger door must be kept closed at all times, which is hard to achieve as the runners are very worn, one one occasion the mechanic applied grease to make it easier to close, sadly we were not aware of this and closed the door with the same force, resulting in the door parting company with the bus.

Needless to say everyone except David, who has to struggle with the buses eccentricities, finds a ride in the works bus a source of amusement.Most journeys are achievable but the deeply potholed and rutted dirt roads that David skillfully negotiates are not especially comfortable as the bus has no surviving suspension. The driver is relatively comfortable as he can adjust his seat according to his height by propping the back of it up with the spare wheel and clinging on tightly to the steering wheel.The passengers have iron bars and each other to cling on to, but the privileged few in the back seat are bounced around like rag dolls. Its definitely "the best ride in the park"!

What about the scariest ride in the park? A once only and never to be repeated ride ,I hope, was a couple of weeks ago when returning from doing physiotherapy in the community. I should tell you that the journey involves crossing a very deeply trenched railway line as there are no formal level crossings on the road, and most vehicles struggle to negotiate. I was told  that the trains travel very slowly but never stop for anything, nothing ; motorbikes , people carrying beds, children, walkers ,because the railway lines are used as an  alternative road. Trains are not very frequent and I had never seen one before, until that day, David was slowly encouraging the minibus across the railway track and we noted to our right side a train blaring its horn and flashing it's light.By the time David had managed to extract every last bit of knackered horse power
out of the engine,which mercifully didn't stall, we had cleared the line with only about 20 yards between us and a rumbling fright  (freight) train .