Christmas Eve 2010
7am: sat at Nairobi airport, having had a very smooth journey out of UK – can’t believe how lucky I have been with my travel given the chaos that hit UK and Europe this week. And, just managed to get on an earlier flight out of Nairobi (originally had a 12 hour wait up here for flight down to Mombasa), so will be back in the apartment soon (which will be empty bar me……which out of the 10 bunk beds will I sleep in tonight then I wonder?).
My 48 hours in the UK were brilliant…my birthday just got better and better, seeing the boys, and Megs, and loads of my close friends and family– it was so, so special. My day with Jacky yesterday was frantic but still great – lunch with Dad was priceless….we took to him to a local restaurant which is a real step back in time, a bit quirky and but food is good (yes, I had turkey and all the trimmings). Jacky and I were the youngest there by at least 25 years ...the rotary club were having their annual Christmas dinner….hadn’t realised that it was a ‘boys only’ club, but we were sat in the room with the ‘wives’ whilst the ‘boys’ had another room with the door firmly shut….mmmm. Jacky and I had great trouble not giggling all the time listening to some of the not-so-interesting conversations that are clearly had when you reach a certain age… and we had a waitress who had the highest, squeakiest, most annoying voice ever, which she increased in volume every time she spoke to Dad (nothing wrong with Dad’s hearing before the lunch, but with her screaming at us, think we all have hearing problems now.) We had to listen to a few speeches by the ‘wives’, and, big moment of suspense when they were announcing their thanks for the fundraising done for their local charities…especially as charities were suffering due to economic climate etc etc…. and a grand total of £12.11! Well, you can imagine Jacky and I dissolved with surpressed laughter, completely out of control, now both looking out of the window, trying to stop our shoulders shaking. We must learn to grow up!
The laughter didn’t stop… trying to get Dad back into the car to take him back to the home, he now has to kind of reverse into the car seat, and then we swivel his legs into the car….. well we got it totally wrong, Dad wasn’t quite sat in far enough, and he ended up sprawled across both front seats with Jacky and I on either side completely beside ourselves with laughter, but the best bit was Dad was laughing as well. Then cavalry arrived from inside restaurant as they had seen us out of the window…..clearly alarmed that we were in trouble (or judging that we were not capable of looking after Dad), only to find all three us incapacitated with laughter.
So after a quick dash back to Jacky’s to pack copious amounts of deliveries from Amazon that she had received on my behalf into my suitcases, all important stuff…. Tap shoes for me and Cherry (yes, learning to tap dance is on my ‘must do in 2011’ list, [along with learning to sail], slow cooker for Cherry, quiche dishes for Cherry, new charger for my camera etc etc), and loads of other important bits like knickers, bras, kinckers, t-shirts, knickers, shorts, knickers, face creams, knickers etc, etc, etc. Everything de-packaged to see whether I beat the Kenyan customs…. Just one more leg to go and hopefully will get through without any ‘let’s make up how much tax we’re going to make you pay given that you’re a mzungu [which will go straight into my pocket]’ behaviour from Kenyan customs men.
12pm: back at apartment…. Oh bliss…all to myself. And yes, made it through without any backhanders having to be paid. Kaftan on as am sweating buckets, already been bitten about 5 times, but oh, so happy to back to here in Mombasa. Sweat and mosquito bites win hands down over snow, ice and winter colds! Happy Christmas everyone! Xxx
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