Male Anxiety!

Irene has had a bit of a tummy upset this week. We are not sure how she caught it, but she didn’t want much to eat on Thursday. Fortunately these problems are fairly quickly recovered from with a bit of care and attention. Malcolm could tell she was recovering on Friday when she said she fancied some meat for tea. However, he was a bit alarmed when she suggested that he go and buy some of the pieces of goats meat which are barbecued over charcoal at our local ‘chip shop’ – so she had toast and jam instead.

One of our treats, about once a week, is to buy a bag of chips each from the local chip shop. The only similarity with those in England is that they are potato slices fried in oil. However, the chips are cooked in large pans of oil over a charcoal fire in the street, and served in plastic bags along with a portion of cooked cabbage and with a meat sauce. They are very tasty and remarkably free from fat, and at 30p for a large portion are good value.

Another concern for Malcolm this week was the training book-keeping arranged on Thursday for Parish Treasurers. About 40 treasurers and priests arrived and benefited from discussion and presentation not only from Malcolm but also the Diocese Secretary and Treasurer. Unlike some groups we’ve met here who can be reticent in interactive sessions, the 40 or so delegates were very forthcoming and there were lively, productive, exchanges of views.

Friday was the deadline for Malcolm to renew his 90 day visitor’s visa. This involved the short drive to the border to leave the country and then re-enter. Jenny Green took the opportunity of giving Malcolm a lift, and they continued to Kigali in Rwanda to do some Christmas shopping.

Christmas has not yet had any effect on Kisoro, so it was in Kigali that Malcolm saw his first artificial Christmas tree and a (talking) mechanical Father Christmas of the year. He decided he hadn’t missed much. What they both enjoyed was lunch of an ‘All Day English Breakfast’ of bacon, sausage, fried egg, baked beans and hash brown – lovely. The last cooked breakfast they will have for some time. Then back to the border where a new visa was successfully granted. Jenny has done the journey on many occasions, and is now on first name terms with immigration and police officers on both sides of the border. Hopefully this will be the last time Malcolm or Irene will need to renew their visas as they expect their applications for two year resident’s permits to be approved soon.

So what else has Malcolm got to be anxious about? Well, Saturday is his birthday, when it is rumoured he will be entering his 60th year – Oh dear!

And, oh yes, he noticed that ‘Nairobi Flies’ are attracted to the lights in the lounge at night. These small ant like insects contain acid in their bodies which burns skin badly if they are squashed. More alarmingly, when he turned the lights off to watch a DVD on his laptop, he noticed they had now been attracted to the light from the screen and were crawling across it.

There is no sound of any new arrivals yet from the nest outside Malcolm and Irene’s office. However, the husband was seen pacing nervously near the nest this week.
The following sign caught our attention because of the name of the Hair Salon. We fully support the need to get ‘Back to the truth of the Bible’, but not sure how it applies to a hair-cut – unless your name happens to be Samson or Delilah. However, we are a bit concerned about at least one of the services on offer.

You know you live in Africa when…

… you use a toilet in an up-market hotel, and find that because the w.c. has been fixed in the centre of the cubicle, it is almost impossible to both close the door and sit down – especially with feet size 11.

… you find out that a ‘Nairobi Fly’, which can burn you with its acid, has no wings and can’t fly