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| Borrowed Without Owners Permission. Thanks |
I was exempted from work yesterday
from 1400 hours to 1800 hours. This was due to issues that needed sorting off
course especially the standing issue with my service provider. Domestics… or so
they are called.
I spent an entire hour and several
minutes at the lobby of Safaricom’s I & M shop. This has been the trend for
the past 2 months 3 weeks now. By the end of the day whoever was to sort my
issue ended up in a meeting. I was disappointed beyond measure! But psychology
is a mmmmm! Somebody I had also been watching for those few months ‘I almost
got employed’ at this shop came and gave me her business card. This was so that
I would call her up incase I wasn’t called by the end of the day. I left the
building, doing my usual 100 count – anger management 101. As I write this, I
haven’t been called yet. I walked out of the building with no definite plan.
Anger had derailed it all. To make it worse, it started raining I couldn’t help
but curse!!! Just a little. Pollution is real. I was in a white T – shirt &
the drops stained my T – shirt! The stains looked like I spilled Guinness on
myself. The issue was not the spill. The issue is how I would go around high on
Mr. Arthur at that hour on a Wednesday, in a T – shirt!!! How worse could it
get? I had a few mails to post the old school way and I headed to the post
office. Its quite disappointing… actually it’s a shame Posta – Tom Mboya
that the most current directory is for 2001!!! Or it’s just me? They haven’t produced
a recent one? Not really! I have a 2011 one back at home. Shame shame!
In line to vision 23, I wanted a
little overhaul but it never happened. The rain this time was even worse. I was
however expecting it since ‘sitrep’ from Embakasi had infoed me that the rain
was one to document! I was a bit confused since Wednesdays is my day for
entrepreneurship, mentorship & training. Today I was not in a good mindset
to attend. The anger form Safaricom, my dress code, and the last minute resort
plus the evening was already planned out – kinda. I decided to head for “The
Cave”. The cave never happened with all the rain et al. I didn’t get rained on
as such but I got to a bus in good time, just as it was leaving. The traffic
was bad! It took me an hour where I do with 35 – 45 minutes.
I don’t know why some Kenyan ladies
(Yeah I am in Kenya that’s why) behave like they came from an angels rib. At a
particular bus stop, some ladies entered the bus. The seat next to me was
vacant by the time we reached there. So I hesitated to move to the next seat.
Like a second or so. So I moved. The lady (Avoiding some very derogatory term)
was *** enough to touch - touch the seat and pad it as if I had laid an egg on
it. (The way a mother holds a baby’s rear to check for wetness via the diapers)
Even as she sat down, she shifted her ass from side to side searching for signs
of a pool or something. I was getting pissed!!!
“Nini Mbaya?” (Definitely she
wasn’t the English speaking kind. Such primitive behavior cannot handle such
lingua)
“Naangalia kama kiti iko na maji”
“Ikiwa imetoka wapi?”
“ Mvua tu!”
“Sasa kwa sababu basi haijatoboka,
mimi ndio nanyesha?” “Madharau ndogo ndogo urudishe Imara Ulikotoka!”
“Pole. Basi” “Ah!”
“Mimi sitaki pole!” “We we ndio
umetoka nje alafu sasa ndani mimi ndio nanyesha hapa?” “Si ungeenda ukasimame
na konda huko mbele bass”
“Ningejuaje kiti haina maji?”
“Mimi ningekuwa nimekaa hapo
nikifanya nini basi? Kunyonya?” (Since the traffic was getting heavier, I
noticed a Range Rover, outside, in the same soft voice that I had let out my
previous stresses to her, I poked her and pointed outside) “Unaona ile,hiyo
ndio unapanguzanga ivo ukiingia…! IKIWA YAKO!!!”
“Songa nishuke!” “Next time,
Heshima kidoooooooogo tu, hautaumwa”
She couldn’t even look at me, I
didn’t even let her speak, but it taught her a lesson, or it didn’t, I didn’t
care. There is that breed of women that is just hard to tame. Still thinks that
men are wusses to treat like trash. I alighted at Taj mall where I had plotted
to have a stop and have coffee, or more. I was also to catch up with a great
friend of mine who is a pastry chef at Erick Cookies. Here my evening happened.
Actually I wrote this while sited
at the hall way… is that the right word really? Or open corridor. I was
thinking of coming up with a eatery review thingy but, I realized I am yet to
refine my taste buds and start travelling again so that I could be able to
write a comprehensive restaurant review. So I will just do a paragraph the
rookie way. Erick Cookies is on the ground floor of the Taj Mall Plaza at the
Junction of the North Airport road and the Outering road. It’s a state of the
art mall with modern style shopping malls. I won’t try to whittle words here.
But on top, there is a great club overlooking the Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport. Spectacular Landings here I tell you. Then on Sundays we have fun
activities up there too… Bouncing castles, merry go round, Roller skating is
what I wanted to say, on the roof!!!!!. Hmmm now I can continue… Erick’s is on
the right wing of the large building. At first I thought it’s a cake &
cookies place but it’s more than just that. It’s a mini lounge of sorts. It has
a variety of fast foods, pastries and ‘snacks’ for the urban & modern
lifestyle. I had a beef burger & fries (I am coming to hate the other forms
of red meat I consume in my daily lifestyle.) I haven’t had fast food in a
while. But considering the circumstances it was worth every bite. It was
expressly prepared by my friend. I was lost for preference for the varieties of
coffee on offer but the ‘House Coffee Pot’ made my evening. I learnt of this in
Mombasa where while on one of ‘morning after’, I badly needed coffee to give me
a soft landing. I discovered that the price difference between two coffee mugs/
Sachets and a coffee pot is marginal whereas the quantity is amazingly
gigantic!!! Besides for the coffee pot, you get to quantify your own coffee –
read over indulgence on my part. Here it’s a bit different the coffee is
pre-made, though I requested it to be concentrated. I was sited outside the
main eating area on these high arm rest woven couches of sorts. I just don’t
have a name. I never give the door my back. That’s another long story. I sat
facing the main entrance of Taj Mall. I love watching people. That was the best
I could do then and since it was outside. An amazing feature of this place is
the gargoyles – some as the 3rd floor
high, and then water comes out of it. Makes you feel like you are having a
picnic at a waterfall… or as if it’s raining outside. You know the feeling this
gives majority. But it depends what you are doing… at the restaurant, it may
feel like a picnic, but the others like banking halls, the jewelers store etc
will lead to different perceptions. Again this was the highway, everybody was
passing through there. That didn’t seem to disturb me, maybe coz I was alone at
that moment. For a date… we would certainly be inside.
As I was just doing my ‘things’ on
the phone, there comes this very exciting lady who I was sure had a spontaneous
crush on me… or was high on something prohibited. Before I could fully analyze
the situation, she’s like…
“Oh My God!!!” “Tell me you are
real…!!!”
I go like, “Hi…” (This definitely
goes unnoticed.)
By now I was sure this lady was
crazy. She was fine-looking; I really avoided classifying the behavior under
the natural balance of resources, you know… brains blah blah, brawn… I was sure
I had never met her before. I am not a publicity figure as such… so I waited
for her excitement to calm down…
“What’s up?” I ask.
“You work with A.T.N.S? (Air
Traffic & Navigation Services)”
“Oh…” “The t – shirt!
“Yeah, yeah”
“No, no, my dear. What’s up with
the t – shirt?” (Then the story began)
“You know I had a friend there
called ….” “… so when he gave me his number…” “… I lost it with my phone in
Westie…” “… I had sent my CV’s there & he had told me he will hook me up…”
(My mind was so, so far away. I was only gathering bits & pieces of the ka-
speech)
“My dear, listen” (Guess coffee
gave me a high – I was so hands on, ‘literally’ on this one) “I don’t work at
A.T.N.S, neither do I know someone there. This is part of souvenirs we exchange
at aviation symposiums.”
“Ooops. I’m sorry” “My bad. Am so
embarrassed right now…” “…oh No!”
I wanted to laugh… it means that I
would be an employee of each and every brand in my wardrobe. To make it worse a
casual laborer for that matter coz there is no way I can be working in all the
aviation related companies I have collected t-shirts, unless in the casual
capacity.
“Relax” I said, “No problem.
Mistaken identities, order of the day.”
“Nice Evening”
“To you too…”
She stood up with the perfect demo
of embarrassment. She was close enough for me to register everything – physical
in my mind. And since we were practically in the same neighborhood… Some day I
would be having more of that interesting “Brain”. Quote, quote, quote!
I went ahead to have my coffee… the
coffee pot comes in style so I was like someone waiting for a business contact
to appear or a date. But for my dress code, a date was more like it. Around ten
minutes later, one of my superiors & lecturer passed by with his wife. They
are pretty young. I was shocked at how he called my name. To be very frank!!! A
majority of our superiors never care about the names of their “Team players”.
My surname just warmed my heart. He came and shook my hand which again was so
unlike the rest of them. I was to wake up but he signaled otherwise. I
complied. Those are the people I respect from the deepest of my heart.
For the record he has a Masters. That’s what makes him very different for the
rest of them. I need not say more. Anyway, he was quite observant & was
wondering why I was alone. I told him that I was waiting for the one inside. He
was quick to point at the table & say it didn’t look like it was for two…
“True.” “But I am okay this way sir”. He wished me a nice evening &
proceeded to the parking lot in the basement. That basically topped up to the
muse of the evening.
Besides coffee & burgers I was
here for the chef who by now had finished her duties and was ready to go home.
It wasn’t easy to tell if the rain had stopped or not, since the fountains were
still diligently working that waterfall/ rain effect. We walked together
outside and fortunately the skies were clear. The evening was made.
Hi. Same Old Drama, Different Day. This blog is about me and others, nature, life, blah blah and why everything I like is great even the hurting - still great. If you disagree with anything you find on this page, Well. . . You are probably right..
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