(July 21, 2014, (The Iresh Times))--I was standing on the main street in a small town in Ethiopia, a few hours south of the capital Addis Ababa, studying a noticeboard outside a bar. It listed the times of what I imagined were football matches, probably the English Premier League. At 1.30 it seemed, the bar would be showing “squiggle” versus “squiggle”.
I knew a little bit of this strange alphabet and how its characters represented syllables and I was scrutinising the first fixture when a young boy, maybe nine years old, appeared. He asked me in English if I needed help deciphering the noticeboard.
I replied, somewhat defiantly, that I was getting on fine, thank you very much. “Look”, I proudly announced, “the first team listed is . . . Cheh-luh-see – Chelsea!” Read more from The Ireish Tiems »
I knew a little bit of this strange alphabet and how its characters represented syllables and I was scrutinising the first fixture when a young boy, maybe nine years old, appeared. He asked me in English if I needed help deciphering the noticeboard.
I replied, somewhat defiantly, that I was getting on fine, thank you very much. “Look”, I proudly announced, “the first team listed is . . . Cheh-luh-see – Chelsea!” Read more from The Ireish Tiems »
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