June 11, 2009
The police in the UK like to think they have a hard time - protecting MPs from airborne eggs, dealing with naked pensioners protesting at the loss of their rights - but even a hard-hearted wretch like Guru shudders with sympathy at the plight of the local police force in Gerihun, Sierra Leone.
Their station has been occupied. Not by protestors, but by snakes. (They may be protesting snakes, but only Harry Potter, with his command of snake language Parseltongue, can tell). And we're not talking about a handful of adders - an estimated 400 snakes, mainly cobras and vipers, are slithering around the station.
But unlike the British police, their Sierra Leone counterparts are not a bunch of whingers. Nor have they called in their unions, or gone on strike. That's not to say that they're not scared, however.
"We constantly hear hisses and weird sounds from the roof and we are always restless," said one police officer, who asked not to be identified.
Fumigation having failed, the authorities are bringing in the sharp-shooters. Guru can but bow in awe of such real men.
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