We left home about 4.30pm on
Tuesday afternoon as I am not allowed to say who I was waiting for. The roads were not that busy, must be all the
cold weather. We arrived at the travelodge
approx 6pm. Last time we came here we
couldn't find a parking space, but this time there was plenty of parking but it
was very cold, in fact Linda's teeth were chattering very quickly. We have six bags, although only two are ours
the rest are full of books, pens, dresses, cameras and other bits. As we are travelling business we can have six bags
and they can weigh a maximum of 32kg, a couple are near the limit. We booked in at Travelodge and then we decided
to have dinner. The meal I had was chilli beef on a rib with noodles, and
Linda had fish and chips. It was very nice, although the noodles with the
chilli source was quite hot. We went
back to the room and did some work on the Internet as there was nothing to
watch on the television. We had to be up
at 5.30 so we went to bed early, although the bed was terrible so we didn't
sleep very well.
We got up at 5.30am and then
dropped the car off at the car park and then went to the terminal building. We are flying business, thanks to an upgrade
using our Avios miles, so we could use the lounge and enjoy free Internet and
more importantly bacon rolls! We had
three hours before our flight so plenty of time to get stuck in, before
boarding. I did have a bowl of fruit to
counter the impact of the bacon, so I feel healthy now. We did our emails,
Linda played on farmville and we just relaxed. The plane was leaving from
C55 so we had to take the train, which was working this time. There was a Starbucks outside the gate, so as
I had my tumbler with me, it was rude not to take advantage of this and have a
last decent coffee to drink on the plane.
We were one of the last to
board and find our seats. The plane left about 45 minutes late, evidently there
was a plane behind us that could not move. The flight was a bit bumpy in
places, Linda was fast asleep. The food was good and plentiful. We landed about
10pm (7pm UK time) and were off the plane quick, and first at passport patrol.
There was no queue this time and they were not even fingerprinting or
photographing people, probably because they want to go home. We had to wait for the luggage, it wasn't too long
and then we cleared customs and Kemal our driver was waiting for us. We loaded up the vehicle and then drove off to
The Stanley, it was now gone eleven. It
is rather warm here, no sign of any snow! So warm we needed the air conditioning on in
the room. I used the Internet, it was
free, and Linda went back to sleep.
On Thursday we got up about
8.30am, we have a slight touch of jetlag but not too bad. We had to do some
shopping before we left for Nyeri. First
stop was Safaricom, as it was 10 months since our last visit we needed to get some
new sim cards, especially for the iPAD! Then
it was time for breakfast Linda had pancakes with a latte and I had a bacon and
guacamole omelet with cappuccino . After this, there was some shopping to do,
before wandering back to the hotel. Linda did find it strange that one person
bought a re-cycle friendly bag and then put it in a plastic carrier to take it
home.
We left Nairobi about midday,
it is very warm here and sunny which pleases Linda. The journey was about 3
hours and we stopped at Karatina for a coffee. There was a sign for a Starbucks hotel – which
was not a real one – I would know being an expert in these areas. They did not even do latte’s so I had to do
with a back coffee, no muffins, only samosa. Linda had left her tea bags in the car, so she
had coffee as well but with alot of milk.
She is the only person I know that bring tea bags back to the country
they were made in – rather than buying some here.
We were staying at the same
apartment as we were last time. We
settled in and then James arrived and we went out to have a drink. He has now officially retired so has spare
time. He is a member of the Nyeri Golf
club (although he doesn’t play golf – yet – slight problem with a lack of
clubs). We had a drink, although it
takes five minutes for Linda to order as she is very particular with the way
she wants her tea made, I just have it
as it comes.
James has bought some land
and he is building a nice house on it, even has a room for me when I
visit! Its coming on well and should be
finished in a couple of months. There
are nice views of the countryside – and only 10 minutes from town.
In the evening we went to
James and Grace’s house for dinner, it was very nice, although they were
concerned that Linda didn’t eat much, no problems for me. We had a nice time
chatting and keeping their granddaughter amused (she is five). Although once she has seen iPAD2 she was well
away and I had trouble getting it back.
Linda was tired so she went
to bed early, but I was wide awake so I caught up on some work for next week.
On Friday Linda went out with
Grace to the Aberdare’s elephant hunting. I am staying behind as I have work to do –
prepare for next week at college, sermons for Sunday and tomorrows youth
seminar. It means I get a day of peace
and quiet! Also I am not into all this wild animal watching – seen one – seen
them all. They were out all day and didn’t
see one elephant! Plenty of warthogs,
buffalo and butterflies, but no elephants. They saw elephant dung, but that was the
closest they got! She returned at 6pm
and was exhausted. Linda also called in at the Golf Club on her way back, and
sat in the same seat Her Majesty did when she visited in 1983. James and Grace were coming over for dinner
and we had fish and rice. Linda just had boiled eggs and rice. Then it was an early night.
On Saturday breakfast was at
0830 hours and was eggs and sausages, there is electricity today which is
better than yesterday. Linda had boiled
eggs and cereal. We left at 0930 to go
to the Church in Nyeri to do the youth seminar, but no one turned up so we went
to Nyeri golf club for a cup of tea, I have been there several times but never
seen anyone actually play golf. We
stayed and chatted and then went back to the church just after midday and some
of the youth had turned up- a bit late. So
I did a 2 hour seminar on leadership. Linda then did some card making with them.
They were rather shy and did not interact very well, but seemed to enjoy it.
We were hungry by now, but
there was no time to eat as James wanted us to visit his pastors fraternity a
few miles away. We dropped Grace off at
the shop and made our way towards the location. There were 6 couples plus a single male at the
meeting, all squashed into a small room, however we arrived just as lunch was
being served, rice, beans, small pieces of meat followed by a cup of tea. We then did some introduction and I gave a 10
minute talk on leadership and answered some questions. It was now after five. The weather has been hot today, although not
in the UK according to the comments on Facebook. Trying to explain minus twelve
to people here is difficult, they think 20 degrees is cold, and tonight there
were several people with coats on. We got back to our room about six o’clock,
had a little rest before we went out for dinner with James and Grace, at the
Golf Club (still no-one playing – but it was dark). We had a nice dinner, Linda had vegetable samosa
and chips, I had beef with chapatti. It
was nice and then it was back to the room, to pack as we have to leave at 7am
to go to the National Police college as I am speaking there in the morning .
The time has changed several times, it did start off that we had to be there at
0630 for a 0700 service – but that has changed (Linda is pleased) and now there
is just one service – starting about 0800 African time.
There are some photos here