Through the eye of a needle

It felt like we were trying to pass through the eye of a needle this morning as we drove to church. For the past two days, there has been some sort of religious meeting at the next-door polo field, blaring words that are unintelligible to monolingual ol' me. It went on all last night, too. I know because Timothy woke up screaming and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I was up at 2am, and the loudspeakers were still on full blast.

We left for church at 9:40, which would normally have gotten us to Hillcrest five minutes before the service started, with plenty of time to take Timothy to the nursery and sit down in the chapel. But by 9:55, we were still stuck in traffic around the roundabout by the polo field. Only once before have I seen such a to-do there. Nine years ago, on a religious holiday, my friend John mis-stepped into a 10' hole, breaking his arm and a rib, plus banging up his face pretty badly. On that day, it took us an hour to get from Hillcrest to Evangel Hospital--a distance of about 3 miles. That's the only time I'd ever seen it like it was this morning.

Vendors, hawking cloth, food, shoes, clothing items, etc. More motorcycles than I've ever seen in one place, and that says a lot. Vans full of men and women all trussed up in their best. People in brown uniforms and green berets directing traffic. Thousands of people on foot thronging the street. Noise everywhere: loudspeakers in cars reciting passages, people yelling, the loudspeakres from the polo grounds, policemen directing cars, horns blaring. David saw vans from at least three states, and I saw ones from another three. There were buses, lorries, vans, trucks, cars, taxis, motorcycles, and pedestrians--all congregating at the polo field. Cars were double-parked all along the main road and in the roundabout, barely giving room for moving cars to pass single-file. The van we were in was hit once by a motorcycle and then rear-ended by the car behind us. But we just kept going, inch by inch, until we were finally through the congestion. We arrived at the chapel only ten minutes late, which is actually quite amazing. I was glad, at least, that we were in time to hear the sermon by a special guest preacher (the man who officiated at David's and my wedding, in fact).

Needless to say, we took a different route home.