On my visit to Kenema a few weeks back (see Rhythm 14), after a few near misses I was finally able to indulge in one of the more intriguing social hotspots in the town, known only as ‘Total’.
To clarify, that isn’t a name of a jazzy club or bar – it’s merely a set of tables and chairs surrounding the forecourt of the Total petrol station, where you can drink to your heart’s content from the fridges inside the adjoining shop.
In addition, music is predictably blared through creaking speakers. It’s the usual combination of Salone classics and the latest favourites – including the omnipotent hit of the day, P-Square’s ‘Chop My Money’...which everyone is singing and dancing to right now. We’ve heard it up to ten times in one day, which is actually no bad thing.
Drinking and dancing in a petrol station took an interesting twist when we looked up at the signage on show at the Total. On one side, there is the predictable word ‘Shop’. On the other, however, we noticed that the word ‘Lubebay’ was directly about what is ordinarily known as ‘the pit’ in modern parlance. To those not quite with me, it’s the hole that mechanics work on the underside of the car from.
My only real memory of a pit is from Eastenders, when Grant pushed Phil down the one in The Arches after he found out that his brother had ‘screwed’ his wife Sharon. Poor Grant.
We made our own memories on this occasion, when we decided that the only option was to dance in the Lubebay. As you would, when nobody gives two hoots if you get in there or not. You can do allsorts in a Lubebay – six people can dance snugly, three less snugly, and you can even do a modified but equally titillating lap dance above someone in the Lubebay below.
Like anywhere in the world, Sierra Leone throws up random opportunities for fun. However, if you’d told me before we arrived that I’d dance in a Lubebay with a beer in my hand, just metres away from a petrol pump, I’d have laughed at you.
