The rainy season

The rainy season has definitely begun. Traffic is unbelievable, there is water everywhere and sadly there have been some fatal flash floods across the country. 

Tuesday was particularly bad. I met Richard for a coffee after school as we were both stuck in traffic and when the traffic calmed down we decided to go to mine. It was about 7pm when we drove up my drive and were greeted by a rather large tree! It had come down from the neighbour's compound, broken through the wall and was stretched out across almost our entire land, completely blocking access. I rang my landlord who came quickly and was surprisingly good humoured about it all. He seemed pleased by all the fresh firewood!

Surveying the damage

Sadly, this was the day when I wore a fitted pencil skirt to work. I gave up on my heels and went barefoot, hitching up the skirt to climb over the fence and go across the rather boggy lawn to get into my house to retrieve clothes and things for the next  few days. We were without power for 48 hours and the wall has only just been re built. The joys of Africa in the rains!

Shortages

There have been various shortages in Nairobi since I've lived here...petrol happens every couple of months and is always a bit of a stress, but after a day or two the queues clear and we all realise sheepishly that there is petrol everywhere. Sugar is another one that happens quite regularly and they have to ration the number of bags of sugar people can buy. Why you'd ever need more than one bag anyway I am unsure of-but I don't have sugar in my tea nor do I bake-I have only bought one bag since moving here.

Rather concerning a few months ago there was a Diet Coke shortage. This was when my alcohol consumption was still not quite back to its healthy level so this was quite upsetting. Regular Coke was everywhere, but Diet Coke was missing from all the supermarkets and most bars. Tough times.

The current shortage is butter. Apparently Norway went through the same thing at Christmas and found it rather distressing. I thought I was just being clueless in the supermarket (things look different here, so I often ask just to check that I am actually buying what I think I am buying-has been some embarrassing incidences with lemons), but when I asked someone for help they reported the sad news. That was nearly three weeks ago. Prefer it to Diet Coke but it is strange. A friend owns a bakery here and has given up on making croissants!