Christmas, Kenyan style

We've had a lovely, very relaxing family Christmas at our home in Nairobi. It's been much less of a consumer experience and much more about time off together than we have been used to. And Jamie very sweetly reassured me that it was his best Christmas ever, with great presents. Clearly my efforts to manage expectations weren't completely wasted.



Some things have been very similar to previous festive seasons. We've eaten lots of turkey and mince pies.

Our 3 Father Christmas refusniks were transformed, with a bit of NORAD santa tracker and some philosophical debate about how, if mum and dad are father christmas they can get to all the other childrens' homes - katie had no answer to that - into very excited children up by 6am and ripping open stocking presents. Presents that appeared straightforward took longer to set up than anticipated not least because Matthew decided that the only way to really try out his new camping plates, cutlery and scouts pen knife was to set up the tent and have a picnic - he took more of an executive role in the former.

Some things were a little different. Kenyan Christmas crackers came with morals rather than jokes - "the ballot is stronger than the bullet" seemed a very appropriate message to be sending out in advance of March elections here. On Christmas Eve, carols from Kings College accompanied our evening meal. The carols at tea time, with christmas cake and mulled wine, were a more local affair with the kids joining in happily (particularly in cake consumption) and the weather significantly sunnier than we are used to at Christmas.

And some things were very different. An afternoon swim at a local pool whilst the Turkey roasted.


A boxing day breakfast with friends in the national park.

We have had torrential rains the last few nights (which made us all glad that the kids had eventually opted out of spending Christmas night in the afore mentioned tent) so the park was pretty muddy and we were briefly stuck at a spot called lion's corner. Luckily our friends were close behind and towed us out. But that did necessitate both Tim and Steve getting out of the cars to attach ropes and issue instructions. In the midst of this activity our friends' 13 year old son pointed out a male lion slowly heading in our direction. I was a little distracted and failed to get a photo. But believe me it was very real and unlike any other Boxing Day search for fresh air and exercise we have had before.




Anne

Out and about

We have had granny visiting for the last couple of weeks and school broke up on 7 December so we have been taking the opportunity to get out and about a bit and show my mum life beyond Nairobi. We have stayed in a couple of great places and seen loads of wildlife as well as learning about the tea industry here and seeing some more of the countryside. Highlights have been a getting up close to giraffe and zebra in the garden of the lodge we stayed at in happy valley country just north of Nairobi.

Watching the boys see how close they are to Samburu manhood by trying to throw our guide's stick over a large tree - one of the traditional rites of passage which our guide demonstrated with ease - was very amusing for me although I think Tim was more interested in the arrival of Saba Douglas Hamilton (of big cat diary) and her dad in their small plane and her tales of similar efforts as a teenager to be a Samburu warrior.

Standing on the Equator and watching Lion and Rhino lounging around and wandering close by in a conservancy called Ol Pajeta was pretty special too. And for granny and Jamie, seeing cheetah in the wild and a lion catch a warthog on a night drive was up there with the top wildlife experiences so far - I had advised against taking a camera not realising there would be a massive torch to light the scene so was briefly in Jamie's bad books as he's really keen on his photography just now (and lots of the photos in this blog are by him and Matthew).

New folder View photos    Download all You are invited to view anne's album. This album has 12 files.

And for all of us, getting out of town, leaving traffic jams behind, walking (and running) in the fresh air and spending some very nice time with granny has been a lovely start to the Christmas holidays. We were all very sad to see granny go but her next trip is already being planned - the Mara for the migration and the coast because its great - and we have lots of lovely memories (plus a huge suitcase of UK goodies) to keep us going.


Anne

Christmas spirit

I have been finding it a bit tricky to get into the Christmas spirit without the nights drawing in, the Christmas tunes blaring out everywhere and the temperature dropping. Of course there are santa's grottos appearing in all the shopping malls and decorations and Christmas marketing opportunities everywhere but that just feels a bit surreal rather than festive. And Father Christmas popped into the school "stocking filler" sale, on the back of a major 4x4 -apparently he's come by helicopter in previous years. Only in Kenya!

The children, of course, are having no such difficulty and are revving up for Christmas with advent calendars thanks to granny, nativity plays, Christmas parties and lots of discussion about where to buy a Christmas tree here - most plants come from roadside nurseries and the closest i had seen to a tree was a small ornamental cyprus type bush. But after I had been told that pine trees do appear and having almost certainly spotted a couple up by the US Embassy earlier in December we set off for some Carols by candlelight last week via the roadside nurseries. And after some negotiation (both between the kids and with the trader) we settled on a local, straggly tree which smells nice but is struggling a bit with the weight of our decorations and a splodgy giraffe print pot to keep it in. And our sitting room now feels a bit more festive.

So with only five more sleeps to go till Christmas morning I am beginning to get there. Cards are written and were dispatched to the UK with my mum when she flew back on Tuesday night. We've tried to manage kids' expectations of presents - although Tim's suggestion that we would only get gifts available in Kenya led to some urgent calls to go back to the UK for Christmas after all as the boys are really hoping for a wii sky landers game which they have seen costs the equivalent of half a year's local salary here. I've ordered a turkey - we spotted some being fattened up on the side of the road when we went out of town with my mum a couple of weeks ago and whilst i doubt this is a traditional Kenyan food there are enough Americans and canadians who celebrate thanksgiving here and enough Europeans and others looking for Turkey at christmas to help the market thrive. I've made my mincemeat (with thanks to mum for some of the ingredients and with the addition of fresh mango to supplement cooking apples and quinces that I tend to use in the UK) and Matthew has asked to make a first batch of mince pies today, assuming our power comes back on. Fingers crossed its ok for Christmas day otherwise we will be working out how long a turkey takes to BBQ! At least I've restocked our drink supply so that bit of Christmas Day should be fine.


Anne

Wild weekend

Ray Mears style rather than 3am girls.....

The rains are passing and the weather is really warming up now so, with a friend staying last weekend, we thought we should make the most of the great outdoors here in Nairobi. Matthew started us off in the right mood by staying overnight on the school field with his scout troop. I'm not sure he is really getting the full camping experience as some nice blokes put up and took down their tents and built the huge fire (the tall thing higher than the tent next to it)

But he had to peel his own potatoes to make chips and provide his own marshmallows for toasting so its not completely glamping. And they apparently talked into the night, found it pretty uncomfy to sleep and woke up early with the light and birdsong so I collected a very happy but very tired 8 year old we on Saturday morning. Our day was therefore very gentle, popping in on the elephant orphanage for our dose of wildlife and having lunch at a local cafe at the flip flop factory - a place where broken flip flops are turned into all sorts of wonderful colourful things - toys, Christmas decorations, door stops.

Sunday saw us up early to get to the National Park for first light. We were hoping to be as lucky as some friends who had seen lions at this time a few weeks ago but even the smell of our bacon cooking on the camp fire didn't tempt them out. We did get a very close, brief glimpse of a black rhino and its baby and saw plenty of gazelle, birds, some buffalo and lots of giraffe. One came to check out breakfast.

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And with or without big cats, a mini safari half an hour from home is always fun so the kids are planning a re-run with granny who is visiting now. I'm not sure if its the wildlife they love or the treat of toasting marshmallows for breakfast. But either way its great to have something for everyone.

Anne

Settled yet?

The other night Katie announced that she didn't "quite feel settled in Kenya yet mummy". I think her comment was prompted by her desire to have a bedside table and a sense that she hasn't quite nested yet in her room here with some of her favourite things still waiting to find their place. But, coupled with a few other things she prompted me to wonder how settled the rest of us are.

After 8 months of living here the kids and I are now formally resident with stamps in our passports to show it, just in time for my multiple entry visa to expire. This latter means it was almost exactly a year ago that I first visited Nairobi on a whirlwind trip with Tim - it was his final interview for the job and we wanted to see if we thought living here would work for us as a family. Clearly the interview went well and we (with thanks to a few great friends who helped us think through the pros and cons) decided we could happily live here, although I'm still slightly suspicious that we were influenced by the thrill of a couple of nights out without kids or babysitters to think about.

And whilst the anniversary of our decision making trip, formal status here and a bedtime observation from my daughter might anyway have caused me to vaguely reflect on our general state of settledness, it was coffee with a friend a couple of weeks ago that crystallised this theme. This is a very good friend I made soon after we arrived. She too had just arrived with her family and we shared the ups and downs of landing in a new country together, fortified by coffee and occasionally something stronger. Our kids played (and fought) happily for our first few months here and she and I compared notes on our house hunting efforts. We both found houses at the same time and moved in the same week. But we live in different neighbourhoods, with kids at different schools and so we have seen much less of each other as we get increasingly settled in our lives. So we were both eagerly anticipating a long gossipy coffee. But her news was very different to ours.

After 9 months of trying to expand into East Africa her husband's company had decided it wasn't going to make business sense so our friends had been told they would be out of here by Christmas. This position has since changed and our friends (and we) are very pleased that they will now be staying - the kids are so settled here and the family is thriving on the life they are building together. But the challenges of doing business here are very real and impact on Tim too. They will ultimately influence how long there is a role here for him. We've always seen our time here as a temporary adventure and are certainly no way near wanting that to end (which I take to mean we are all pretty settled) but this timely reminder that the adventure might be ended prematurely by others has got us wanting to make sure that we make the most of being here. So Katie now has a bedside table and we've said yes to Matthew's request for his birthday to be at the beach. We are still resisting the daily pleas for a puppy though.



Anne

Things that go bang and bump in the night

I wrote this post a little while ago and if you read on you will understand the delay in getting it online......


Last week was one of Halloween and bonfire night here. These are not, of course, traditional Kenyan celebrations but the kids are at a British school and have lots of British and American friends here so we have been carving pumpkins, sticking hands into cauldrons of "blood and guts" (cooked spaghetti and jelly) for lucky dip and stocking up on sweets for various Halloween themed parties. The pumpkins are tougher to carve here, the halloween tatt is just as tatty and Trick or treating has been organised and pre-arranged between friends - Nairobi is not a city where unexpected knocks on the gate by groups of youths in the dark are welcomed. And the kids have all made pretty impressive hauls of confectionary which they are gradually getting through. They have worked out that I'm quite susceptible to an argument for a couple of sweets after breakfast to keep them occupied during the road chaos that is their journey to school at the moment. Its not ideal for their teeth I know but at least they are still asking before helping themselves.

Halloween error #1: apple bobbing before the flour game... http://t.co/H0Dj4LUk (https://twitter.com/HCCTurner/status/263657707129667584)

The final party was a school bonfire/ Halloween event last Saturday. Its the rainy season again and a torrential downpour earlier in the day apparently put an end to the planned bonfire. And fireworks are banned here on account of some people being a bit too keen to blow up others. The authorities have made an exception this week for Diwali as long as the fireworks are silent (do such fireworks exist?). But this didn't extend to a several hundred year old celebration of the capture, torture and ultimate death of a Catholic anti parliamentarian plotter (which is how we ended up trying to explain Guy Fawkes night to Australian and belgian friends here). The kids seemed very happy despite these notable absences from bonfire night and made the most of the neon lights, sparklers, candy floss and Halloween games.

As well as putting a damper on Saturdays bonfire the rains have, as they did in March, brought traffic chaos, some amazing storms and proof that the builders who renovated our house were rubbish as water came in through various places in the roof. The roof is now fixed but a storm earlier this week brought down a tree and a mass of power cables, including Internet access for the whole area. My neighbours and I have all been reassured that the company is working flat out on restoring services but given that the tree is still blocking half our road and there is very little sign of movement anywhere near it I suspect it might take some time. Matthew gently observed that he does miss the fact that things had worked in England. but we then agreed that our situation is nothing compared to Sandy and its destruction in the US. And it's all useful material for his current geography project on extreme weather. Jamie is also keen to use it for his geography project, if only as an excuse for why he won't be able to hand his work in on time!

Anne

A helping hand (and feet)

Inevitably our lives here are getting busier, juggling play dates, sports fixtures, homework, a growing social life and work with a shared family desire to get out and about and see the fantastic sights the region has to offer. And its easy to get wrapped up in all of that and fail to do anything meaningful for those around us who are so much less privileged. Read some very moving examples on a friend's great blog On the threshold of Africa

I have good intentions to get properly involved with something and really admire the dedication and commitment to others of our many friends here with various humanitarian causes. But until I get my act together to do that we are just trying to live our life in a way that recognises the world we live in and helps others, if only in very small ways.

Last month our lovely eskari's wife lost the much wanted baby she was carrying and we all wanted to find a way to help them. I sought advise from Kenyans and an experienced expat, recognising that infant mortality and miscarriages are so much more a part of life here that society's reaction might be different. But the consolidated view was that sweet tea (tea bags, a large bag of sugar and loaves of bread to help the family cater for the numerous callers they could expect after church on Sunday) and sympathy (in the form of kind words and hard cash) would be the right support. So not that different really.

We also support some more formal charities. Tim has a small sum taken from his wages each month and donated to local good causes, the kids' school has fundraising events mainly for charities supporting children in the nearby slum, holiday football training has been provided by a coach who was trained by and now works with one such charity and we always find homes for clothes, toys and shoes that we have outgrown. Its not much in the grand scheme of things but it does keep the reality of others' situations in our minds. And Matthew is busy learning his scouts' promise to help others - it's not entirely clear to me that siblings really are exempt from this commitment!

As for the helping feet, Tim is doing a fair bit of running here and took part in the Nairobi half marathon at the weekend. This annual event was this year raising money for Seeing is believing. It's been much hyped on the local radio stations that provide the soundtrack for the school run and so the kids were able to explain to Tim just how his feet were helping reduce preventable blindness. I'm not sure how much he heard as he jumped into a pool to cool off and let his muscles relax.

Anne

Pretty in pink

I've said before that much of the family side of life here is much like our life in London. One thing that is notably different is the time and effort that a number of people put into making events look just right. Ive been to some beautiful lunches and most recently a very pink babyshower where any fancy interiors magazine could have done a photo shoot (with me obviously airbrushed out of the scene due to dishevelled hair and a failure to have matched my wardrobe to the decor).

There is masses of creative ability amongst my friends in the UK and dinners, parties and school cake sale offerings always looked great but here that is taken to another level. I'm not sure if its because of a Martha Stewart type US influence here (balancing out the British tendency to think its uncool to try too hard). Or because of the help everyone has which means cakes can be decorated, flowers sourced to match, tables laid exquisitely and printed menus produced without laundry and dishes and other domestic chores piling up. Or because there are some very high achieving women here who are not currently working - its a bit of a nightmare to get a work permit, a very competitive employment market and lots of my friends are prioritising settling kids into lives in a different part of the world and using this time to expand their own families - and just approach anything they do with an equally committed search for perfection. Or because amidst the noise and hassle on the streets there is a real appetite for serenity inside. Or because its a relatively small overlapping community here so its important to mark the difference between an informal quick catch up with a group of mums over coffee and a special event with the same mums and coffee. Or just because it is a fun challenge to see what can be done in Nairobi.

But whatever the reasons and its probably all of the above, I long ago learnt my level and do not try to keep up with the standards set by this group of my friends. Doesn't stop me appreciating their abilities though or tucking into the yummy food that goes along with the decor but I don't think I'm yet ready to invest in a butterfly paper hole punch.

Sand, sea, surf, snorkelling and sun

We have just spent a really relaxing week on the coast for half term. Bliss. Animals, safaris and the landscape here are all pretty amazing but the ease with which we jumped on a cheap flight to the Indian Ocean was something else. Matthew has long wished for a beach holiday with palm trees and he wasn't disappointed, although he was a bit surprised when we landed in the middle of a tropical storm with the afore mentioned palms bending dramatically and we were completely drenched running from the plane. But that was short lived, the sun came out and we spent most of the rest of the week drenched from the sea and swimming pool.





We all love being by, in and under the sea and so have been thinking about this trip for a while. Tim and I had first thought we would rent a house on the beach - there are plenty to choose from all long the coast - but we were lobbied by the kids to stay in a very child friendly hotel and we decided that there would be much more for them to do (and so less or us to have to do) if we were somewhere with other kids. It was definitely a good call even if it does make it unlikely that we will ever be able to go anywhere else on the coast as my observations that there are lots of lovely places to stay are met with incredulity that I could think of anywhere else. The kids all made loads of friends and were so happy and occupied that Tim and I managed to read lots and do a couple of very gentle, lovely reef dives together.





And when we weren't hanging out on the beach or by the pool, we all went sea kayaking and snorkelling and looking for crabs and moray eels (grown fat on sausages taken from the breakfast buffet by every boy and most of the girls under 12) in the rock pools at low tide. High tide bought some great surf and we made the most of boogie boards, emerging one day where the waves had been particularly big covered in sea weed and looking like one of the characters in pirates of the Caribbean.

Our week flew by and all my plans to get out and about a bit and visit a snake farm and some ancient ruins and go for a tree top walk came to nothing. But at least we now have lots of reasons to go back to the sea - the kids are already planning a trip during the Christmas holidays. And I've tried hard this week not to be too post holiday smug - the shock of 615 starts, a gently peeling tan, 3 parents evenings in a row and Tim being away in Addis for a few days has helped but the post holiday glow is still lingering.

Anne

Money matters

In a month which has seen news of more financial doom and gloom in Europe and MPs in Kenya voting themselves a wacking $100k each as an end of term present I thought I would reflect on money. The MPs decision (which may not be delivered) comes at a time when teachers and doctors here are striking over low pay with major disruption for many kenyans. It has been widely condemned in the press here and will do nothing to improve Kenya's Shocking showing on the ratio of political leaders' pay to GDP per capita

Living here, the gap between rich and very poor is always very present. And whilst we all want to do our bit to help fill it, it can be a bit daunting working out how best to do that in a way that contributes to a longer lasting improvement. There are so many needs to meet.

So we are starting closest to home, making sure the small army of people we employ to help us look after our kids, house and garden are properly looked after and paid a decent wage. The Minimum wage for urban domestic workers here is currently around 8500 kenyan shillings a month which is less than £85, on an assumption of a 45 hour week. And the latest figures show 65% of under 25s as unemployed so one set of wages usually supports an extended family. Whilst some things cost less than in the UK, there has been significant food inflation and transport costs can eat up a major chunk of income. So money, and the lack of it, is pretty much a constant issue for the majority of Kenyans here. Puts some more colour on the MPs decision to further reward themselves.

I have quickly come to understand that its not just about the amount we pay in salary but also about how we pay that makes a difference and helps people make the most of their earnings. Paying weekly or monthly, paying some money in advance and balancing that out over time, whether or not to give loans, whether tea, sugar, flip flops for wearing whilst working, an apron to protect precious clothes, water, use of the washing machine, food, soap etc are included or not are all major issues for people living in real poverty.

And once found, there is a real fear of losing a job which can have an odd effect on the people dynamics. We saw this recently when our usually very cheery ayah Judith had to summon up courage, and seek advice from others, to raise an issue that had clearly been worrying her for some time about how quickly we were getting through washing powder. To be fair to her its about £10 a box here so half a week's wages for some and therefore to be used sparingly. Judith was obviously anxious that i would be cross with her for wasting powder (which she doesn't and i wouldn't have been anyway) but equally she didn't want to get into trouble with the various other people who work for us if she pointed the finger at them. We had the longest chat I've ever managed to sustain on the use of washing powder until she was reassured that I would handle this issue without ruffling any feathers in our domestic set up. Years of management courses and team building events haven't really prepared me for this!

The kids are clearly taking lots of this in. They can now, and do (unprompted) give uneaten food to "hungry poor people in Africa" just by opening the kitchen door after our meals or the car window when approached by street kids. They got very agitated and made protest posters when one of the Masai guards on the compound next door lost his job apparently after using his employer's electricity to heat food. And they participated fully in a dinner conversation with a visiting friend on micro financing and how you encourage saving and investment amongst people with so little. They no longer expect regular pocket money themselves and they seem less focused on consumerism as a hobby. I suspect that's more a feature of the limited opportunities for them to get things they want at affordable prices - electronic stuff is much more expensive here - rather than a significant change in their values. But it's very nice whilst it lasts.


Anne

We came, we saw, we conquered....and picked flowers

It's half term for us now so this last week has been filled with school activities and fun rather than any obvious academic drive. Matthew had Roman day today where his whole year dressed up in an impressive range of roman and semi roman gear (and one boy turned up in green camo gear suggesting that ancient European history doesn't necessarily reach across the multi cultural community here). His cardboard cutting for his costume was with scissors and supervision on this occasion! He spent the day in the pool (aka Roman baths), doing mosaics and having a roman feast and declared himself completely exhausted as he flopped into bed.


Its also been a week of sports and sports days for the boys - katie's is after half term presumably in the hope that the extra 2 weeks of training will help the younger children work out where the finishing line actually is. Both boys were victorious in their cricket matches if a bit sketchy on actual runs scored (usually a sign that there weren't many). Jamie spent most of a day getting to and from the match returning home tired and pretty dehydrated just after 7pm - 12 hours away from the house for 40 overs of cricket wasn't an obvious equation for me or our very nice neighbour/cricket mum who waited for 2 hours at school for their delayed return. Matthew had to drop out of the tug of war when the coach noticed that letting a small boy with a hand still bandaged from having stitches removed the day before pull on a thick rope was probably unwise. The tug was restarted with the great kine "now we have a team where everyone has 2 hands"....but his team won and he did fine in his running race so he was happy. Jamie also stood his own in the 800m race - although he's got a long way to go before he threaten's Kenya's record setting David Rudesia.




Katie celebrated the end of school for a week by getting on her bike and cycling along our road picking flowers. I think she was as interested by the jumping spider that rode in on one of the pointsetia (that grow wild here to over 3m high- not like the ones that bloom in houses across the UK at Christmas) as the flowers.


And now we are off to the beach for a week. Bags are packed, the kindle loaded, malaria tablets distributed, dive gear retrieved from the depths of our garage, the weather checked - sunny! Not sure who is more excited, the kids or me.

Anne

NHS Direct - East Africa style

Boards like this, nailed to roadside trees, are used to advertise all manner of services across Nairobi be it renting a property, getting your fridge fixed, sorting marital disharmony, finding love. You name it, someone with a mobile phone number will be able to help. This guy has a few boards on my route to work with long lists of how he can help - this is his summary - and claims to be able to sort out pretty much any problem, although not fridges as far as I'm aware.

I used these boards in my house hunting efforts earlier in the year but I have yet to seek medical advice via this route - we get a pretty good health package through work and thus far have avoided any major illness in the family although a couple of Tim's colleagues have been pretty unwell. But we had our first direct brush with Kenyan healthcare last sunday when Matthew's attempt to create a kitten house with his friends using only cardboard boxes and a bread knife ended in four stitches and 3 hours hanging round in a clinic. At least it happened whilst with friends from medicins sans frontier who took the blood in their stride, phoned a friend for local clinic details and generally kept me and matthew calm, even if the bandaid they produced wasn't quite up to the job!

To be fair to the kenyan private healthcare system, we only had to wait so long because, having been completely calm immediately after cutting his hand, panic kicked in when the doctor moved towards him with a needle and he kicked out, with a very well aimed boot to the poor doctor's groin. The doctor understandably retreated and gave Matthew plenty of time to calm down. But all was well after that, the hand is healing rapidly and Matthew is looking forward to resuming his cricket season next week. And our friends were relieved they only had bandaid available!

Prior to that our only near miss with a hospital was a couple of weekends ago when katie shoved a very large plastic disc up her nose for reasons that remain entirely unclear and then couldn't get it out again. Tim's patience and DIY skills came to the fore - it was however slightly more than our lunch guest had bargained for.

But whilst I haven't felt the need to resort to astrologers for healthcare I have picked up some local views on the best prophylactics and remedies for various ills that prevail In the region. I'm not qualified to recommend any and readers who choose to follow this advice do so entirely at heir own risk. But I thought I would share them with you anyway.

A diet rich in Camel meat and milk keeps malaria away according to some Somalis I was talking to recently;

Putting the kids' school sun hats in the freezer over the weekend will kill any lurking nits;

An Ethiopian friend told us all Ethiopians hate drafts and wrap up against them even in equatorial heat as drafts bring all sorts of disease;

A pretty standard Kenyan approach to treating fertility problems is to get an extra wife;

Sugar is a good and healthy thing and you can't have too much of it - 2 to 3 large spoonfuls is the minimum required for any hot drink. 7 heaped spoons is the most I've seen go into a single mug of coffee.



Anne

Friday night, party night

We are in the midst of school discos again here and so last Friday evening I spent a very happy hour and a half with friends in the school bar whilst Matthew and his friends had a great time inside the hall. In fact we chose to sit on the terrace outside both to enjoy the warm evening and also to keep out of the smoke - weird how quickly smokey bars have become a dim and distant memory for me. And then I bundled 8 kids into the car and dropped them at their various houses, sitting quietly to enjoy their post disco analysis en route. Apparently the screaming was a reaction of horror to Justin biber being played.
This Friday was Katie's disco and she has been so excited all week, not least because its the first outing for the party dress granny gave her as a belated birthday present when we were in the UK.




Tim and I also had a party to go to too so I'd thought we might have a rare bit of mum and daughter time between school and putting on our dancing shoes for brushing hair, choosing frocks and other girls things. But Katie had different plans and wanted to be independent and sort out her stuff on her own. Which was lucky really as Jamie came home from school announcing that we needed to bake biscuits. Apparently he'd been voted cricket captain on a mandate of providing cookies for the team each week - he's clearly learning about voter incentives from the Kenyan pre election debate. Inevitably, he announced this 90 minutes before we had to leave with Katie and as the first match is an early saturday morning start my princing and titivating was replaced by mixing and baking.




So cookies cooked, daughter delivered to disco, pasta prepared to feed hungry boys, it was finally time to put on my own party frock and shoes. And relax.....




Anne