Money matter

There are genuinely very few things I miss in Ghana. The convenience of being able to make large purchases with a piece of plastic is, however, one of them. Fortunately, in Ghana it is quite hard to find a large purchase you want to make. I will be in the UK for a fortnight at the beginning of May and needed to buy a plane ticket. It is not possible to buy and pay for a ticket on-line from Ghana. The travel sites like Travelocity deny that Accra exists and certainly won’t sell you a ticket. The British Airways website allows you to book, but then politely sends you off to your local branch of Standard Chartered Bank to make the payment. Koforidua’s branch of Standard Chartered closed a few years ago. I tried a travel agent in Accra but they would only accept payment in US dollars and required just short of a thousand of them. I did not want to add a big currency conversion to the already steep cost. I reluctantly went back to the BA website, booked a ticket, twice, as the first reservation expired before I was able to get to the bank. When I finally found myself at a Standard Chartered in Accra with a valid reservation, I was presented with the improved choice of paying in US dollars or Ghana cedis. Fortunately I had sterling I had not been able to exchange in Ouagadougou (the pound is a very poor relation in Francophone West Africa), I withdrew the maximum I could from my UK account from an ATM and borrowed the rest from friends until I could make another ATM withdrawal. I exchanged the sterling for cedis and returned to the bank. I was directed to the top floor. I was given coffee while I waited. ‘Do you like my coffee, Richard?’ asked Mercy. We were quickly on first name terms and I now feel that, should I ever need another Ghanaian bank account, Standard Chartered is the place to go. As I handed over the handfuls of cedis I remarked that it was just as well the old cedi was no longer legal tender. I would have needed at least 456 bank notes. I learnt during the process that even the Ghana cedi is currently worth more than the US dollar.
I now have a confirmation e-mail from BA. I shall be flying into Heathrow Terminal 5. Surely by May they should have it working properly?