Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Monday

It was just another day at the office yesterday. I am stuck in routine. This is how it goes: Get in just before 9, say good morning to reception, good morning, good morning accounts then down the corridor to my office. Norma, the tea-lady is usually two minutes behind with the brew.

Turn on monitor, log on. Browse the free Daily Nation while waiting for systems to load up. IT don’t seem to want to create a quick launch for all the applications I use. Perhaps they don’t know how to. So it takes 15 minutes to get everything up and running. Start on sudoku.

Check and deal with overnight email. Review diary - the work one, not this one! There’s an important client review for 11 am, thankfully within Upperhill area. I avoid driving into town during the business day whenever possible. The traffic-jams are legendary. Before this appointment, we have our daily departmental meeting. Norma makes her second appearance with the teas and coffees, this time with freshly minted mandazis and samosas.

Left the office with Sheila at 10.30 for the client’s office. They want to evaluate agreements and recap Q1. Sheila does the presentation while I look around to gauge the audience’s reaction. We are in their boardroom, 9 men including myself watching this young woman whizz through razor-sharp powerpoint. The men look like Gentoo penguins in their dark suits, I distractedly think to myself. I do the faq thingy with great enthusiasm like my life depends on it, but I know it doesn’t because I long became aware that it’s all just a game. Round the table they say they are impressed so we shake hands and the head penguin tells me thanks, it’s gonna be bau. It’s always the same, business as usual.

Sheila and I go for lunch. We share a bottle of white wine to reward our earlier team efforts. When she’s off to the ladies, I snatch a quick call to George. ‘Yes honey, I’ll get the nivea for men on my way home’, which is what men want (that’s what nivea says). Then we finish off the wine and head back to the office. It’s just gone 2 pm.

Back in my office, I check mail, return calls and adjust the venetian blinds. Then I do the report from the morning’s visit and now because of the wine I’m feeling drowsy. I catch myself doodling Martha Karua for President 2012. I was not even thinking about politics, so I start looking on the web and discover a blogspot that is for hotmalebutts so I don’t do any more work.

Norma brought me another cuppa, I finished off the sudoku, logged off and left the office. I wish I was doing something more meaningful with my life, like being a farmer or sailing a dhow off Funzi Island taking tourists to watch dolphins. Of course I know I shouldn't really complain, I know many would wish to trade places.

20 comments:

  1. Tamaku, I would trade places only if I can write like you do! I like...this post.Say hi to George :).

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  2. Hi Anne,

    You are wonderfully gracious. Thanks for your compliments. I'll say Anne said hi when I see George. Have a lovely rest of the day..x x

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  3. I want Norma in our office. With all those Mandazis and samos.

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  5. Hi Tamaku, I will trade places only if George comes with the package..:)

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  6. Hey Shiko-Msa,

    Lol! Today I gave the samos a miss. Last night I couldn't sleep after seeing this picture of nyam chom and ugali. So I starved myself this morning. Come lunch time nilienda straight hapo vibandani, I struggled to stay awake after lunch! x x

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  7. Mr Anengiyefa,(said in a stern voice)

    "Thou shall not covert thy fellow blogger's husband nor his package!" Proceed to the place of eternal bonfires...lol. x x

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  8. Sleep well over there...I´m having a dinner party featuring Mexican Food tonight and ten guests...Violetta is already down in the kitchen making crashing sounds (she´s not exactly a delicate type)...I´ve got to go pick up Juan Carlos and a few things at the mercado...it´s a going away party for a friend who will be returning in three weeks...we party for almost any reason over this way...what are those drinks you mentioned that she wheels in?

    Felicidades!

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  9. Hi Leonardo,

    I'm sure Violetta is amongst caring people who'll appreciate her efforts. Norma wheels in Kenyan tea (which I love) and Kenyan arabica coffee (which I don't drink very much). The snacks are mandazi (African doughnuts) and samosa (a pastry stuffed with spiced minced-meat or vegetables). Enjoy the party, we concur you don't need a reason to enjoy life! Love to JC and all. x x

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  10. Hey Tamaku,

    I would trade with you any day!!! At least you get to go for celebratory lunches after you feel you have bagged a deal. I have to sit and stare at the roof all day in my office as our departmental budget has been cut in the name of recession. Apparently it isn't wise for financial companies to go full out and advertise at this time. But all in all at least i get the tea boy bringing tea on demand......lol!and he's quite a site to look at too.......

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  11. Tamaku,

    Now that you have done this post, I hope people realize that we do have ordinary lives and face the same challenges that they do.

    Keep writing

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  12. Hi Mystic,

    See, you get the tea-boy and I get mama Norma! Where's the justice?!Lol!
    Thanks, things will get better soon, there's an optimism in the air that wasn't there as late as last month. Can I imagine that the spicy food over there is to die for? x x

    Hey GNM,

    You're absolutely spot on. We are woven into the same fabric as everyone else. Cheers. x x

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  13. Tamaku,

    Well the spicy food is somewhat of an incentive. Though at times spices are too much as they goes in and also as they come out.....lol!

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  14. Hi Mystic,

    I heard a solution for this is to put the toilet paper roll in the fridge the night before! Lol! x x

    Hi Pater Nostra,

    Thanks! It's the result of an idle mind..mmmm. The holiday pics are coming, I think. Asante sana. x x

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  15. hey tamaku...

    Mandazis and samosas ar minted.... Yours must come with a side order of diamond dust :-)
    sorry for the boredom, i know the feelng... i'm studying to be in the arts but i would rather be somewhere on a farm trying to figure out how to get food enough to have and sell, but i know that won't exactly pay the rent as well as i would hope for it to...
    try have as much fun as you can, advice, start making up stories of eveeryone who walks into your office or everyone who you meet during the day, eg. the head penguin could be a night fisherman off of migingo island, so eery evening he gets into his jet, gets to the airport, goes through a secret passageway somewhere, changes his clothes, grabs a stashed bodaboda and is off to fish for the night...:) clearly i have either a lot of free time or an opveractive imagination ...take care...tell George nivea milk for normal skin still does wonders for the skin :D

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  16. Hi Longlost2008,

    You've never tasted freshly minted mandaos? You've not lived. Norma gets ours from a kiosk near the office, they glisten from the oil and so soft and fluffy! Wacha tu, not sure about the cholesterol though:(
    I love the idea of observing people, I'm so bored during the working day. I think you should blog (are you?) because I can see you have a fertile ticking imagination. I like that alot because the head penguin after fishing could stop to sample some special reserve chang'aa aboard the MV Magoti then he can't remember where he parked his bodaboda, then he'll see some nice Mungiki and go to ask them for directions..?!!! So many possibilities.. x x

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  17. Our dinner party, Viva Mejico, was a spicy hit too! We had a hot dish of fried (in light olive oil) plantains and mangos with a simple brown sugar/lemon twisted glaze and cinamon sauce..heaven! We ate tostadas (meat) piled high on fried flat corn tortillas with a kind of unsweetened tangy coleslaw (with carrot) and then tomato, celantro, onion mix layered on and finally dashed with goat cheese accross the top...also, Mole (a spicy chocolatetype sauce cut with peach juice) over white cheese filled enchildas with ripe olives and little chopped green onions inside (chicken broth base)...really good. Strawberry and Vanilla combo layer cake with Strawberry Yogurt ice cream on top, desert...tea, coffee, Kalua afterward...it was a fun evening and Juan Carlos, yesterday brought home another lop (read ¨flop¨) eared rabbit for his collection, a little girl (he already has a big boy of the same breed)...Juancarlitos keeps rabbits and tropical birds and of course we have four dogs of various sizes...it´s lively around here.

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  18. Enjoyed your post. Always dreamed of living on a farm as a child. Something about the earth and connecting with it.

    Baadayes,

    Mama S.

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  19. Hey Leonardo,

    Wow, seems like you had a stupendous time! I have to watch my figure (round), lol! Love to you and JC. x x


    Hi Mama Shujaa,

    Thank you. It certainly beats being a rat chasing cheese. Although I guess farmers in Mwingi will tell a different story when the rains fail. :(
    Siku njema. x x

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  20. Hey tamaku,
    alas, i don't blog, i can write on occasion but when trying to come up with something new to say online at least every week, it sorta gets a bit tedious... that's why i truly admire what you do... its not even to do with the amount of talent, its the regularity with which you manage to produce story after story of your life ... it's truly amazing how you make a hum drum day seem like the next best thing since James Bond snuck penny a flirtatious glance :-)

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