Mary Go Round

Our office matriarch Mrs Weah (who is no relation to the new President George and is never addressed by her name Mary, by anyone, even our head of programme) joined me on a hunt around town for suitable lodgings. I'm in an overpriced hotel for a couple of nights, but it's not feasible to stay for long. At a stretch the budget could be found; the unfeasibility is the level of discomfort it brings. My colleague Colin, who's seen and done it all in some amazing countries - Nigeria, Nepal, Sierra Leone - empathised when I said that in expensive hotels I feel like I may as well as be standing on the gawdy balcony, lobbing fistfuls of dollars into the Japanese garden below.

Mrs Weah glowered usefully at hotel owners and managers as we visited. They were desperate for business. The UN Mission is apparently shipping out of Liberia, which will affect the local economy. Specifically where there are lots of UN personnel and a largely poor local population, costs of accommodation, food and entertainment are elevated as these services can be supported by those on wages from the UN and its associated paraphernalia. Costs may reduce in the coming years, but not before a hotel manager who thought he worked on Wall Street tried to sell us a suite for $450 per night. It would have been diabolical value for what was on offer and even Mrs Weah's steely demeanour couldn't really make us look like the type of people who could afford that, so we didn't stick around. Our search wasn't very fruitful.

The restaurant at the expensive hotel where I'm staying did serve up a very tasty burger, to its credit. Expensive hotel walls don't always block out noise as I could hear one of my neighbours crooning to Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran, followed by Shadowland, a track from Lion King the Musical.