Taxied

I've passed the last 90 minutes alternately playing mahjong and refreshing the Heathrow departures screen to see if Jen had finally got airborne. I'm still unsure as the BA site says the flight has departed but the live departures still says 'taxied'?! Jen is heading out to Ghana with a small group of colleagues to visit the Kuapa Kokoo Workers' Cooperative which produces fair trade cocoa. If you have ever eaten gorgeous Divine chocolate then the company was set up by kuapa Kokoo. Our Jen is a member of a workers' cooperative too. I use the word 'member' because all of the workers own the company and there is no hierarchical structure. All members make business decisions collectively and are multi-skilled. For example, Jen has two main responsibilities which are managing the frozen goods and buying chocolate and ice cream, but she could also spend her day picking goods and loading up the trucks or manoeuvring them around the yard! Whilst in Ghana she will be visiting the cocoa farm but also the school which has been set up by the cooperative, so she left with a suitcase full of pens and pencils! I'll just be glad when she is down on the ground in Accra.

I took a walk out this morning and passed a group of girls up to something around the war memorial in the centre of the village. As I passed by on my way home I spotted their handiwork - this snow animal. I love its expression.