The choice of staying at the place of work/study until after dark in the city is a mixed blessing. The advantage is that one could start the day later but often this is not the case, in fact to beat the jam, it is customary to leave home before 6 a.m. making the day a really long one! What’s more the disadvantage of staying at work is that the wait in the queue extends even longer (until after 8 p.m.). Often alternative modes such as bicycles are “faster” but then in the dark (especially in the city) are they safe? In fact how safe is it to stay out after dark?
This is an area that is of great interest to me, especially the persistent traffic jams in Dar es Salaam. Come to think of it, these survival tactics: cycling to and from town! The cyclists not only get home earlier than their 'rich' neighbours but they also get home healthier from the exercise...only their safety 'is at risk!'
ReplyDeleteVeronica time has become such a scarce resource in life we must just utilize the night as well. People can work during day then travel to places at night, or attend night classes,or have meetings, then get some four hours sleep before beginning again etc. This way one maximizes on time utilization. After all we do not need 12 hours sleep. As for security, the days are just insecure as well.
ReplyDeleteVeronica, to answer your question directly, the safest time to stay out is at night because nobody can see you. Even if anybody did, they would not be so sure. I have ridden bicycles on terrible roads and or footpaths in many African villages and one thing I can confess is that at night, a bicycle has better eyes than the rider for only rarely will you hit an object or enter a ditch. That just the dark secret of the night.
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