There is a theory that if a butterfly flaps its wings in China it affects the weather in New York – which is why when the French go on strike it means I get to sit on the runway at Heathrow for an hour – the cause and affect theory!There were also traffic jams on the M25 but I am not sure I can blame the French for that – although it was probably a French lorry driver involved – well it would have been if they weren’t all on strike and if they are not on strike they can’t go anywhere because they have no fuel."
We left home at 5am – and Linda was on time. Although our flight was not till 1020 (or even later due to the French) It is the wrong time of the morning to travel so I wanted to leave plenty of time.
It was a good thing we did as we got to junction 28 on M25 and a traffic jam, overrunning road works, accident, the French – I don’t know. So I ended up going through Collier Row, Loughton to join the M25 – and then there were no more hold ups.
With all the items we had collected we had a bag each of our clothes and then 3 bags of things to give away – we had been busy packing for the last 2 days – and checking the bags weight to make sure it was under 23kg. I had to pay extra for one bag but it was cheaper to do it online before we flew. We have pens, pencils, Bibles, books, jumpers, cameras etc. I dropped Linda off at the Terminal about 0645am so we had made good time and then went to the long stay car park to deposit the car. I didn’t want the hassle of lugging the bags on to the bus and off again.
I was back at T5 by 07.15 so plenty of time. I don’t know why BA call it a fast bag drop – its wasn’t fast and plenty of queues, even if you have checked in on line – probably the computer system is French and on the go slow!
We then queued at the security by finally go through and had a walk around. Now I have an IPAD I don’t buy books I download them so no need to spend hours in WH Smiths, there was a queue for Starbucks, so I have to go downmarket and have a coffee and sandwich at Pret Manger – not as good as Starbucks.
We got on the plane on time and then sat on the runway – all because of the French!" The flight was ok, a bit bumpy in places but with my IPAD I could read the papers, watch videos, write my blog – so I was kept busy. The food wasn’t that great. We arrived in Nairobi and we met by Kibinge and Mike at the airport, the bags were along time, must have gone via France! We then got to the Stanley Hotel and booked in. As this is a Police conference the transport is a Kenyan Police minibus – so they either thought we were someone important or criminals.
On Thursday we were involved in preparing for the conference, African style. It is a bit disorganised - although for Africa it is organised! We are still not sure who is arriving, when they are arriving, how they are arriving – its a bit like the second coming – we know its going to happen – just do not know when, but we have to look for the signs.
We went out to the conference centre and had a look around and then there was a rehearsal for the opening ceremony. We found the canteen by the swimming pool and sat there and did some work whilst drinking tea. We got back to the Hotel in the evening and then went to the Java coffee shop for coffee. I was working till 1am on various spreadsheets for the conference. Linda had gone to sleep a long time ago.
On Friday Linda was having a day out - visiting the elephant sanctuary, shopping and the bead centre whilst I was stuck in the office at Provisional Police HQ. Kibinge was called away for a meeting so I am working in the office alone – had some dinner with Mike in the Police canteen – a varied menu of rice or rice. It rained in the evening and I mean rained - there were floods in the streets, people were building arks - no-one wanted to go out - well apart from us as I needed some shopping. We got wet! We had dinner at the hotel - out last meal - only rice to look forward to now!