A developing country

I try hard to like Addis. It's a busy city, growing in size and population and full of vehicles spewing fumes and dust and noise. The price of growth and development is that building is going on everywhere. The pavements are half-made and piles of sand and gravel cover the other half. There are ankle breaking holes everywhere, made worse by poor lighting (or the power cut we had last night).

Buildings are put up with in concrete which is then faced. The scaffolding is a sight to behold - an intricate framework of eucalyptus. Eucalyptus was brought here from Australia in 1894, as a useful, fast growing building material but as a thirsty plant, is now causing problems with soil erosion. You can read more about ithere

The good news is that the economy is growing and progress is being made towards fulfilling the Millennium Goals. A bit of dust and discomfort is a small price to pay for progress...