Brr………it’s freezing:

It’s the cold season in Nyeri but longtime residents are telling me ‘ngoja July’!

But if this is a ‘kionjo’ of July, then do I really want to be around when July comes calling? It’s just round the corner so it won’t be long now. In anticipation, and based on the fact that it is just me and my lonesome self, freezing my butt and every other appendage off………no wife, no housemate, no one but me (reminds me of a Mexican soap on TV some years back), I decided to find a companion to give me some warmth in the cold of the night.

So I went out and bought a room heater at the second of the local supermarkets (the first one having exhausted its stocks already) that I visited and not a moment too soon as I was told by the very friendly attendant serving me because once July and her arctic conditions kick in, the heaters literally fly off the shelves and become scarcer than a politician visiting their rural villages after an election. I think I shall call her Malina goddess of the sun in Inuit mythology. Even the locals are grumbling that this is the coldest it has got this early in the year so are we about to experience a snow fall in Nyeri??

As they say, this is the kind of cold that comes to claim old men and as I am now rapidly approaching the shorter side of life………shorter as in the journey of life that I have travelled so far is longer than the one I am expected to travel from here on biblically speaking………….I do not wish to be claimed prematurely so Malina was a necessity. She will see to my needs to keep warm without a grumble!

This is the kind of cold that permeates every nook and cranny of the house and the office and causes ones toes to feel as if they are frost bitten and the tiled floor to feel like a skating rink. This is the season when mugs of steaming tea are quaffed in huge quantities to try and maintain a stable metabolism and you can be sure that hotels, cafes and restaurants are doing a roaring business in this regard.

Even when outdoors and the sun is shining, it feels as if it is titillating you with its promise of warmth because despite its shine, little warmth passes through to warm the air so it feels like a sun unable to penetrate a bubble wrap of cold frigid air. Grey skies are the order of the day with short intervals of sunshine without warmth and therefore clothes take forever to dry despite the sun shining and Mount Kenya’s peaks have not been seen for more than a month now. I feel sorry for those with many kids and therefore heavy loads of washing. Maybe the mountain has moved a few miles closer to town hence the unrelenting cold.

The guys who sell used woolen ‘kabutis’ the type that you see people in Europe & North America wearing at the peak of winter are doing a roaring business. These items are flying off the hangers and come to think of it, I must also get myself one before they become expensive since my new found companion Malina cannot possibly accompany me wherever I go to keep me warm. Hers is strictly to do so in the house.

I see gloves have also begun showing up on roadside displays and shops as have balaclavas a.k.a ‘bochori’ and these will soon be acceptable dressing accessories. Anything to keep the cold at bay! I’ll have to ask Malina if the gloves are necessary though before committing to them.

So there you have it, my first winter experience on the slopes of the great mountain “na mambo bado” so I am told! I am not sure I am looking forward to it but again beggars can't be choosers.