Reflections from a London staycation

We have just had a great "staycation"in London with many thanks to the friends who lent us their home for nearly all our trip, reducing the need to live on the move and out of bags in order to see friends and family. Despite a few concerns about how a major fire in Nairobi would impact on our plans, we got back to Kenya without a hitch a fortnight ago, including getting through immigration in record time. Its great to be home and sleeping in our own beds but returning to a country with wedding tents for its airport and getting home to no power and some flakey internet has caused me to reflect on some of the differences we noted during our time away.

First of course is the traffic. Its not just sitting in jams - that happens in both London and Nairobi. But, as the kids observed, the roads are more ordered in London with fewer bumps and almost no-one hurtling at you down the wrong side of the road. The smooth journey experience is not to everyone's liking and Katie was quickly missing the Kenyan bumps that stop her from feeling car sick. We have already put that right with a bumpy journey to Naivasha and a 700km round trip to amboseli complete with lorry dodgems on the Single track congested road from Nairobi to the coast.

Then there is security. We are very used to our compound life here, living behind high walls, electric and barbed wire fences, with alarms and guards and lockable reinforced steel internal doors. But it does have an impact and Matthew was shocked to discover we had driven all the way from Hastings to South West London without locking the car doors. It was also a bit odd to be able to see into front rooms rather than high walls as we walked through our London neighbourhood. And the kids also a bit tense about making sure I'd set our friends' house alarm and also about being out late at night in London.

The mix of traffic and security here has also really reduced the amount of casual walking we do and, as every time i'm back in the UK, I really enjoyed walking around London. This was not viewed universally as an improvement - the kids see real advantage in being driven everywhere. As drivers in Kenya, Tim and I feel rather differently!

Tattoos were another thing we were all struck by. They just aren't a feature of life here for obvious reasons. But in the scantily clad heat of a London summer we spotted them everywhere we went. I fear I may be getting old......

The laundry fairy is another major difference. Having managed perfectly well for 3 weeks with a handful of machine washes (at least in part because the boys lived in cricket whites that they wanted to stay muddy so they could enter a "dirtiest trousers" contest on the course they did), our washing machine has been running almost constantly since we got back. And piles of newly laundered and ironed clothes keep appearing in cupboards. We do have friends staying but I'm still not sure quite how to account for this particular difference. Not that I'm complaining.

There are plenty of things to occupy a family in London and Nairobi and whilst we spent lots of our time in London doing things we do here - playing loads of cricket, outdoor swimming with a trip to London Fields Lido with my cousin, seeing friends, reading, lego and messing about in the garden - it was great to have a bit of a change. I saw lots of films with the kids, we went to museums, enjoyed the Beano exhibition on Southbank, braved Chesington, ate out at different places and climbed trees and picked blackberries on wimbledon common. Now we are back home the kids are just enjoying being with their things, seeing wild animals, going swimming, more cricket and messing around in the garden. But they have talked lots about the things they did in London and clearly enjoyed the variety.

And as with our trip back last summer, the highlight for me was long summer evenings (mainly warm), reading in the garden, having drinks with friends, walking back from our outings in the light. I know its balanced by short winter days but we will be here then, enjoying the sun and the standard 630-630 day. Best of both worlds.

Anne

London city break

With 8 weeks of school holidays the kids have been very keen to spend a bit of time in the UK with friends and family. So on Sunday night we headed to the airport, crossed the sea and arrived at our friends' house in SW London in time for breakfast, a bit of early morning screen and to walk their boys to school.

This is the same school our kids were at before we headed off to Kenya and its where the younger 2 will almost certainly return (council allocation processes allowing) when we get back. So as well as stretching our legs after the flight and helping out our host so she could get to work on time, the walk to school was a lovely way to start the process of catching up with friends. Matthew hung around the school gates, not wanting to be overwhelmed I think but the others were straight into the playground to hear all the news.

They have since all been into school and spent time with former classes watching movies and winding up for the end of term, giving me the treat of a couple of uninterrupted coffees with my mum friends getting the latest on school politics. It's been a bit odd for Jamie as his former class mates are all moving on to new schools, whilst he is still a year away from being one of the top dogs at his school in Kenya. He is the clearest of the three children that his school in Kenya is great and he has far more opportunities than he did at his London school. And yet he's realised on this trip more than before how much his friends matter and how tricky he finds it when they are dispersed. We've had a good chat comparing notes, bemoaning the inadequacy of Skype and planning some great trips for the future.

For now our plan is just to hang out with friends and cousins for the next 3 weeks and enjoy all London and Sussex has to offer in the summer. And we've made a pretty good start at that.

Ashes to ashes in Nairobi

Kenya has a bit of a mixed cricket scene. At times in the past the national side has played to a pretty high standard but rugby has taken over the and seems to get the press and donor attention. There are still a fair few clubs around Nairobi for folk interested in playing. All are slightly faded and there's a sense that clubs are formed around ethnic groupings rather than a true mix of local talent which, to be fair, is a bit like the cricket club scene in SW London. But Tim has hooked up with a few people in different clubs and gets the occasional game when diaries allow. We are looking forward to being part of a charity match against the Maasai cricket warriors some time in September. The kids' school raised money for this group last year and I'm being challenged by the boys to set up a juniors match at the same time. That really will make me a cricket mum!

Finding good youth cricket opportunities outside school hasn't been that easy. The best, a really friendly club run by former Kenyan International cricketers and very local to us, was a bit shambolic when we pitched up 18 months ago. But its grown since then and our kids have also got to know some cricket lovers locally so know far more people there and enjoy it more. They have also seen that you don't need all the gear to be able to whack a ball around effectively or to bowl at pace. So whilst they are keen for a bout of cricket in England's green fields this summer, they are equally happy playing with friends on a dusty football pitch with their own ball and shared bats. And with the school holidays underway there has been plenty of that.

Both boys have been doing cricket training to help keep them occupied and exercised and to get ready for next term's sporting endeavours. We have sorted through cricket kit bags that have been living under the stairs for a few months - my lingering doubts about the origins of some unpleasant smells from said kit bags were answered when it turned out the cat really did wee in them when she got locked in the house one weekend. Probably did everyone a favour putting all the trainers through the wash too though!

The boys take their sport seriously and play endless ball games in the garden, roping in our guard when they can particularly if a ladder is needed to fish balls off roofs and out of hedges.

But they are very clear that each sport has its season (even if seasons other than rainy and dry aren't really a feature of the Kenyan year). Last term was rugby and football so that dominated early evenings and weekends outside. And its only now, helped by the excitement of the ashes and an excuse to watch lots of telly with dad, that cricket has come to the fore again. Tim spent last weekend hanging up the netting we've got to save our windows, one of which still has a taped hole from a previous errant cricket ball. And Matthew, who shares, if in a less compliant manner, Stuart Broad's approach in waiting to be told he's out, is covered in bruises from Jamie's body line bowling. Katie is keen not to miss out and has decided that bowling is the safest option if she is going to play with her brothers. She was so pleased to get Matthew out in her first over the other day - even Matthew smiled, whilst of course explaining that her run up brought her too close.......


Anne

School's out

I read today that teachers in the UK are going to strike over pay and workload. Here we are also in the midst of a strike by Kenyan teachers over pay and conditions. State state schools have been closed for weeks and thoughts that there might be a deal last week have quietly disappeared from the news. Here, the strike and associated debate has highlighted the challenges of delivering on a Presidential acceptance speech pledge to give every school child a laptop. Having seen inside a few primary schools when I was election monitoring in March, I have always found the laptop pledge hard to grasp. Most schools I saw were struggling to keep light bulbs in the ceiling lights, had one plug socket (at most) in a classroom and no obvious sources of backup power. Nor were there any lockers to keep books, let alone laptops safe. And there was certainly no internet connection. Plus The schools I saw were all in urban Nairobi which makes me wonder even more about how this initiative could work for children in rural schools. So I'm inclined to think the teachers have a point asking the Government to focus on the basics first.

But enough politics particularly as I'm only following that debate from the sidelines as the international school our kids are at is not affected. And anyway no one is there just now as we are already a week into the school holidays. As I'm sure happens for every child and every school, we have had our moments but on the whole it has been a good year for each of our three kids and they have all finished on a high, excited about their next teachers and classmates and looking forward to being back in September almost as much as they are looking forward to not being there for 2 months.

On the last morning of the school year I skived off early from a work team building work session to get to the kids' speech day. Having been last year I knew I could safely turn up a while into the proceedings and still get to see the important bits but I did start to get a bit anxious when stuck in traffic for much longer than even I had anticipated. I shouldn't have worried. An hour after the start, when I'd been safely seated for a while the speeches were just coming to an end- I have no idea why they have to take soooo long and I'm not even a bored child. Nor had I missed the musical delights of a Maroon 5 song played by 12 year olds with trumpet and sax or the rendition of Dolly Parton's Jolene by a couple of 13 year olds with an acoustic guitar. But at least I got to clap as both Katie and Matthew walked on to stage for their prizes - proud mum!

Luckily Jamie was only pleased for his siblings as he is still basking in his goalkeeping prowess which saw his team win the local football tournament the week before in a gripping (and not very comfortable mum viewing) final which ended in penalties. How does Andy Murray's mum do it?

But the end of term also brought more farewells to friends. One of Jamie's great friends is heading back to Paris and another is moving to Burundi so shirts have been scrawled on and email addresses exchanged. Our family chats about these departures and about what we will do when it's our turn to leave show me that whilst our kids, like most of us, like the known in life they are confident that they will make and keep friends wherever we go. I'm sure they would have felt that without this African adventure but I can't help thinking it will have boosted them a little along the way.

You know you live in Africa when.......

Its an odd time of year in Nairobi just now. This is partly because its turned a bit grey and chilly as it does between mid June and August. Socks and fleeces have appeared from drawers, extra quilts are on beds and porridge is the breakfast food of choice. But its also that the wind down/up towards the end of term heralds lots of departures - some just for the "summer" but many for good as people coincide changing jobs with the school year and so we have all started saying goodbyes and going to farewell parties and farewell sleepovers and exchanging email and Skype addresses. It's an aspect of our lives here that's unlike life in London, where departures were really rare and although there was lots of chat about moving out at some point, people usually meant moving within a hundred miles, not crossing continents.

In a fortnight that has mainly been filled with the normality of life - work, end of season matches, parents evenings and school shows, going out with friends, having kids to stay, having friends for dinner, and weather more like London than living on the equator, I've been wondering what else about our life here reminds me I am in Africa.

There are the obvious things. The real focus on Mandela's condition in all the news and the interest in exactly where Obama is and isnt visiting. We have also had a couple of big power cuts which meant bedtime stories by head torch (and a rude awakening at 1am when the power and lights came back). Then there has been the water rationing which saw our storage tank empty out and a friend run out of water totally just as 10 people turned up for coffee. And the roadworks, which are almost entirely done by hand rather than heavy machinery and which meant it took me an hour and forty minutes to drive 3 miles the other day. Grrrrr.

And of course there are the perks - the laundry that is done almost as soon as the clothes hit the wash basket, the shopping that is bought and put away whilst I'm at work, the washing up that we rarely touch but is always done, the never empty cake tin, the very willing people who pack and carry heavy shopping to the car, the work trips that take us to all sorts of places - Tanzania for me this week, London for Tim last week and jo'burg next.

Then there are the African twists on things - the passion juice and samosa to keep parents going through chaotic parents evenings, the dog food and prawns given equal billing with chicken, mince and goat at the local butcher, the traditional African story of a hare who wanted to be king of animals turned into a musical (of sorts) performance by year 3 and 4 kids, the drive through coffee plants to reach a small fishing lake for a quiet Sunday trip with friends, the kites divebombing our picnic and the camel in the background (not quite near enough to be identifiable in this)

And this appearing as I washed my homegrown salad!

S is for Sevens, Socialising and School fairs

anne has files to share with you on SkyDrive. To view them, click the links below.

We are in the midst of rugby season here and both boys had major sevens tournaments in the last couple of weeks. I still cant quite get used to watching rugby in shorts and suncream but they don't really know anything else and seem not to mind the hard ground which they regularly crash down on. I try and watch when i can and am torn between shouting at them to get stuck in and worrying that it looks painful when they do. But so far they have got away with only mild knocks to the head and big grazes on elbows. Matthew is now the proud owner of a winner's medal for his tournament and Jamie's team put in a valiant effort and were runners up in their's - Matthew is clearly (not so) secretly pleased to have a better medal than his big brother. Jamie is consoling himself with making the squad for the biggest local (2hours away) sevens event of the year and so far domestic tackling practice is being kept to a minimum.

As well as a major sporting week, we have had a busy social time since getting back from our half term break. Some good friends lefty Nairobi this week and there has been a stream of farewell parties for them which has been both lots of fun, whilst at the same time knowing that there will be a big hole in my mums net from next week. They are the first of the end of summer term exodus and a reminder of the constantly moving parts of expat life, with friendships sustained through Facebook and emails. I'm not very reliable with either form of electronic communication but I'm hoping we have enough shared experiences for that not to matter. Add to that a major work function, dinner with friends and our turn to host our bi-monthly neighbourhood lunch last Sunday and its been one big social whirl. One great thing about our life here is that the lovely people who help us run the house, keep the kids in cakes and cuddles and in the right place at the right time with kit, are almost always available to babysit and stay over if we will be late in or out early. So I never have that scramble to sort childcare at the last minute. And the kids know who is looking after them, even if that doesn't always stop the debate at bed time about whether it really is bedtime or just time for one more story.

And of course its also that time of year for school fairs and end of year shows and general winding down/up for long school holidays - not quite summer holidays here as its the coolest, greyest time of year but still long! Having played my part in many school fairs I took a back seat at he kids' one last week, baking meringues with Matthew and otherwise just providing a source of cash. The set up was pretty much like all school fairs I've been too - lots of sugar to eat and drink, buns to ice, wet sponges to throw, tattoos to apply and kids generally running round noisily. Jamie's class's addition of a car wash appeared to leave kids wetter than cars and the fact that the usual parking chaos (which school is far from immune to) limited his customers didn't seem to matter.

Each class had chosen a local good cause - elephants for Katie, a local slum school for Matthew and an orphanage for Jamie - and designed a stall to try and make the most money for their charity. They raised nearly half a million shillings (about £4000) which wasnt bad for an afternoon in the sun. Some of the charities came along to join in - one of our friends is a sports teacher and physio by training and now works with disabled children for an NGO in Nairobi and Dadaab, a huge IDP camp in NE kenya. His daughter's class had chosen this as their cause and the wheelchair bound kids with so little opportunity in life and lots of smiles as their wheelchairs were raced round a specially designed track were a very real reminder for us all of the range of lives here.


Anne

Self catering, Kenyan style

Like friends and family in other parts of the world, we headed to the beach this week to make the most of the kids' two day half term. I thought it was time to try something different from our favourite (and so far the kids only) beach place and booked a small self catering house on Diani beach, south of Mombasa. There was some suspicion of this decision as we definitely have three kids who know what they like and like what they know. But we all agreed that with access to the sea, a pool and our own mini plunge pool it wouldn't be too bad and there were no complaints as we boarded the small 18 seater plane for our flight here - and even the 6am start that is so much part of our routine now didn't cause the usual school day complaints of being too tired to get up, get dressed and get out.

I knew that the house came with people to look after it - pool guy, gardener, cleaner, night guard. But I had assumed they looked after all 8 houses on the compound. Turns out I was wrong. We have a cleaner all day, a chef and another man who generally helps the first 2, sorts taxis when we want to go off adventuring and makes coffee at just the right moment. Then there is the head chef for the compound who pops in to see what we would like the local fishermen to catch for dinner and to collect the cash for any other shopping we need. Plus of course the communal pool guy and gardener, who has been picking fresh coconuts for the kids to drink and then turn into toys for pool games.

On occasion it does feel a bit like Piccadilly Circus and I'm glad a packed lots of sarongs to wear over my swimwear - which is definitely in need of a major overhaul after a mix of high use, extreme laundry and strong chemicals have tested it to its limits. But it does mean we are all very relaxed and have plenty of time to go rockpooling, looking for crabs, snorkelling, swimming, reading and generally hanging out in the water.

And if that's not relaxing enough, the house comes with a massage bed in the garden and a lady called Rose who comes over to do nails, massage and a range of other beauty treatments. Tough life!

Katie has rarely been out of her new bikini, which she bought at H&M in london in the Easter snow and which Jamie and I deemed far too bling to be seen carrying round the shop until it was safely hidden in a plastic bag. Walking to the beach yesterday she wondered out loud why such things were sold in a country that is soooooo cold that she could never wear it there. I fear a lengthy process of rehab will be needed to ease her back to picnics and fish and chips on windy pebbly beaches in Sussex and Cornwall. She may not be the only one who needs it.



Jamie has had fun learning how to prepare crabs, reading and just relaxing.





Matthew has been torn between his Harry Potter book and the pool and has immersed himself in both in equal measure

And Tim and I have read lots, done a bit of running (Tim) and swimming (me) and just generally unwound. We are all agreed we love the beach. I'm already being asked when we will be back at the seaside, and fun as the "self catering" has been the consensus is that next time we will return to our usual haunt.

Anne