My commute to work on Friday was again disrupted by an Ethiopian Orthodox saint. Given that every day of the month is a special day for someone or other disruption is fairly likely, but this was Tekle Haimanot whose church is right on my route. Both the church and the road was thronging with white-clad people coming to honour him. Some 800 years ago towards the end of his life Tekle Haimanot hung out in a cave a couple of hours’ drive north of Addis and brought a new meaning to the concept of getting legless. He stood up for so long (apparently) that one of his legs fell off, and he then stood on the other one continuously for seven more years. For four of those years he didn’t drink anything, and all he ate were leaves at the weekend. So I think his special celebration was well-earned.