A few days later I met my mum at Heathrow and together we left for Cambridge. Gosh the National Express coach took so long… almost 4 hours, we stopped everywhere: Gatwick, Stansted, Hatfield etc. It was a good way of seeing England but I don’t we appreciated it at that time, we were so tired we wanted to get straight to Cambridge and rest.
Now to the crux of this post, before going to Cambridge I hadn’t arranged any sleeping arrangement (big mistake) but my mum had somewhere at her conference venue. So from her place I made calls to a couple of B&Bs but most were fully booked or expensive. I was also nervous because after 2 years back in Ghana I had reverted back to my heavy West African accent. So as I was calling I was wondering what impressions I was creating on those B&Bs operators. One man was quite rude but one lady was so nice. Even though she couldn’t offer me some days at a stretch she said she had a room for that day. Finally my mum and I decided to go to her because she had been sooo nice on the phone. She and her Husband were even nicer in person and their B&B was lovely. I enjoyed my room so much. Let me do some free marketing for them, if anyone is in Cambridge and wants to stay in a B&B please check out Worth House. At breakfast I saw so many ‘thank you’ cards from customers from round the world and the guests that day were also from all over. This lady later went beyond duty to made calls on my behalf trying to get me a longer time at several B&Bs. I later left for the conference venue and managed to get a room near my mum’s (sigh of relief). Let the shopping begin. Funny thing is that the rude’s man B&B was near Worth House. But the owners of Worth House made me forget that unpleasant event.
On our first day which was a Sunday we decided to walk to the city centre and get food. Any random person we stopped to ask for directions was nice and spent an extra minute to guide us further. I decided to purchase a laptop and was told to go to a center where they had a big PC World, Argos etc… Complete strangers told me which bus to take (it was quite far). At the bus stop I met a lady who decided to show me the way since she was taking the same bus. At Argos and PC World the sales people were nice. I even met a UK born Ghanaian girl at Tesco who worked there. A couple of days later we went to Huntingdon to another Argos. The taxi driver advised us to take a bus instead of a taxi or train. On the bus back to Cambridge the driver was Ghanaian (we are everywhere).
The porters’ lodge staff at the conference venue were charming. I had to go back to Soton and I decided to take train. I had been on the London underground on a few occasions with friends. Using the train meant using the underground and since I was alone and wasn’t familiar with the city I was a bit unsure. But the residence staff were nice they printed out a colored map took their time to explain things to me. Due to this, I easily found my way to Soton and back to Cambridge. I have countless stories where everyone including sales assistants, drivers, cleaners, waiters, passersby were helpful and polite (we ended up giving lots of tips, these guys are smart). I will just include one last instance. On the day we were coming back to Ghana we decided to use the National Express. Even though we were quite loaded (you how we Africans travel) the driver gently chided us and let us off the hook. Contrast this to two years ago in Soton where a National Express driver insisted our bags were over 20 kilos (he estimated by just lifting the bags with his hands) and so took a 10 pounds fine from us. We knew our bags weighed less than 20kgs but because of his behavior we started doubting ourselves. Lo and behold when we got to the airport and had our bags weighed, they were far below 20 kilos. Just thinking of that day makes me angry again.
Anyway Mum and I while in Cambridge got talking about how most people we met were nice. She said the people she attended the conference with were friendlier than on other conferences she had been to. We have travelled quite a lot so trust me when I say we found something rare. The only downside we agreed was the weather lol. I had to layer up more than in Soton. We also agreed we could pick this virtue and take that back with us to give better customer care (Lord knows we truly lack that in Ghana) in our workplaces/businesses. I admire the pride in which everyone did their job and the courtesy they extended. I pray the good Lord helps me to act in the same way. Generally niceness pays off, would it not be great if every service provider in Ghana strives to really be courteous and helpful? Instead of giving the proverbial retort ‘you kraa you are too known’ or 'fa ne saa' (take it as it is). I think our economy would really benefit since productivity would be high.
P.S- Soton is short form of Southampton
P.P.S- Unfortunately I didn't go punting, how i wish i had... :(
Enjoy these lovely pics I took while there.
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| Cambridge |
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| punters on river Cam |
