Good morning,
today is Tuesday and it isn’t raining, a good day to have the fundi (repair man) to come and fix the ever determined leak in my roof. I have already had 3 try to fix it but guess what, it still leaks.
Ailsa my friend from Scotland arrived on Sunday unfortunately I had had a bad night with terrible diarrhoea but by the time she arrived in Nakuru I was up and about and Nick collected me with his boys and we picked Ailsa up from the Mololine shuttle. As it was now lunch time we decided that we all needed something to eat so off we went to …..GUAVA café. Ailsa said she had heard so much about it that it was time she tried it for herself. The boys eagerly tucked into sausage and chips, Nick had chips, Ailsa had a tortilla wrap and chips and I ate 2 pancakes with maple syrup which was all that was on the menu that my stomach didn’t do a mad flip at the thought of.
Nicks two boys had been to early church service and were in their Sunday best, white shirts and 3 piece suits, they looked lovely and were so cheekie with it. We chatted and Ailsa re acquainted herself with Dickson who used to serve us at Sweetmart before it closed……. Guava is so much better and we enjoyed our chat and lunch.
Nick and the boys headed off somewhere and Nick left us with the car to take us home. The plan was that he would call later in the day to collect it or to get me to pick him up……. Problem……. Shaffer (Nicks youngest) had been playing with my phone and slipped it into his breast pocket to pretend he was cool. Guess who forgot it was there until we got to the house and I had no phone. Ailsa was going to use my spare sim, but we couldn’t get it to work so had to walk to the local duka (shop) to ask the lady to help us get the credit accepted, she did this and we eventually managed to call and tell Nick to retrieve my phone from his son. Many hours later and still no sign of Nick we called him and he decided to leave us with the car until the next morning. Suited us nicely, but meant that I had no phone!!!!!
On Monday (yesterday), Ailsa, myself and Henry (my askari/Guard) headed into town, Henry had an interview at a café, he is looking for another job while I am in the UK. Ailsa and I met up with Nick and busied ourselves with tasks around town. We went to our friends club called Garden Villa to say hi, had some lunch and a ‘couple’of Tuskers…. Well we may have had a few more than a couple. Veronica who owns Garden Villa was the lady I first stayed with when in Nakuru back in 2006! We had a lovely catch up and I was still mindful of my grumbling stomach and realised that the Tuskers probably weren’t doing me a lot of good, but by that time it was a little late. We called Nick he collected us and we decided that neither Ailsa or I were in the mind to light the jiko and cook so we phoned Guava and ordered steak and chips for dinner, just before they closed for the night. Dickson kindly cooked our dinner as the ‘ladies’ had already packed up for the night, it pays to have good friends around town who go the extra mile for your. We got home, had a warm drink and wandered off to another early night.
So I find myself at home giving the fundi a watchful eye, I think he thought I was joking when I told him I would be on the roof later to check his work…….A woman on the roof is something unheard of here, except me of course! The crazy lady in Teachers hits the headlines again! Ailsa has gone off in a matatu to visit Mama Sweetie for the day, hopefully to catch up on stories and check things are going Ok with their project.
Yesterday was my uncles funeral and my thoughts were with his family and mine who had travelled to the funeral. I heard from my brother and my daughter in the evening and know it was not an easy time. My cousin has since been in touch via Facebook and I look forward to taking time when I return home to the UK to visit my family in the north.
I will be busy tomorrow as The Chairman of Scann has just called to say he has been given many items of clothing and toys and he wishes me to pass by his office tomorrow to sort them out, take them to Scann and distribute (never an easy job). I also want to pass on some messages to him that I have kindly received from the BBC crew who came over to do the filming of Taking the Flak pilot that the boys were in. I notified them of Yasmine’s death as I know they spent time with her here and thought a lot of her and the work she was doing.
I am trying to mentally prepare myself for my return to the UK but it has been hard with everything that has been going on here. It was nice having the two IKEA friends over to talk to and now my friend Ailsa, it doesn’t lessen the feelings but it is good to share them and the company is good.
Ailsa, unfortunately is only here for a short time, she is leaving on Monday as she has only managed a short time from work. I know Ailsa will be busy catching up on old friends and acquaintances here in Kenya who will give her such a hard time when they find out she is only here for such a short time.
My love to you all and thanks for the words of support and comfort that you are sending.
Susannah
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