A noisy night
We get a lot of noises at night. The continuous background to it all is the tree frogs. Our road is busy during the day, but in the evenings we have the occasional car flying past, and motorbikes rattling or squealing down the road. If there is something happening at the National Stadium, we will get an echo of music or someone on a microphone, at various decibel levels. Otherwise, a neighbour might decide to hold a party. Usually, these parties are more outside than inside, so the joy is shared with neighbours.
The dogs and I just jumped out of our skins when we heard a loud explosion a few minutes ago. Then we remembered that it is Diwali and that usually means fireworks.
Later on, we might hear a Barn Owl passing by with his creaking wings, if we’re lucky. I doubt that he cares for fireworks, though. But it is Hallowe’en, and the Patoo (as the Jamaicans name him) is associated here with all things ghostlike and deathlike, so white in the dark. The name originates from the West African Twi word “patu.” I think they are very beautiful birds, and they don’t frighten me at all. Besides, they catch rats. I wrote about the Patoo here.
So goodnight and goodbye to October. Oops! There goes another popping firework.
