In the News - local to global

Its been a busy few days in Nairobi. We have been preoccupied signing the lease on our house, moving out of our apartment and generally getting sorted for this next phase of our time in Kenya. We have been tracking progress on the house for the last few months - it features in April's through the keyhole blog - and it's still not quite there. But it's ready enough for us to move into and we are all up for roughing it a bit and finding all the snagging issues at first hand. Or that's what we say this week! I suspect the boys will feel differently if i fail to hook up the Internet and tv in time for Euro 2012. But they and Katie are already planning the house warming party - we all agree that we definitely want to do something to thank all those who have helped us get here, mainly through propping me up with coffees and moral support.

We have also had world environment day this week and Matthew and I made the most of a school plant sale to stock up on herbs for our new garden.



We bought an acacia too, in the spirit of the great Kenyan environmentalist and tree planter Wangari Maathai. I'm hoping that planting it might go some way to offsetting the carbon footprint of the 4x4 I carted it home in!

On a more sombre note, this week has seen a bomb attack in central Nairobi which prompted far more international and local news coverage than previous grenade throwing incidents. Fortunately, and unlike the grenade attacks, no one was killed this time. But the timing and location of the blast - Monday lunchtime in the central business district - coupled with the fact that it was almost certainly a homemade bomb have really had an impact here. Visible policing has significantly increased and lots of people we know are adjusting plans and staying away from central Nairobi for a bit. Whilst it might not seem the ideal backdrop for signing our lease, it will be great to have our own home to seek refuge in for what I fear will be the inevitable further incidents over the months to come.


Anne