Nidifugous

It was an early start back from Naivasha to Nairobi because some of the contingent had a flight to catch and traffic problems in and around Nairobi are notorious. The bus journey was notable for the soundtrack of More Than A Woman by the Bee Gees and the fact I noticed rhubarb for sale by the side of the road, which I don’t think I’ve seen before in Africa. One of my colleagues Eric confirmed that it’s boiled down and served with meat such as chicken or turkey. A Kenyan version of cranberry sauce perhaps.

I have a day and night in Nairobi and am then heading to the coast whilst I wait for my Tanzania visa to be processed. I was in an Uber with a driver called Patrick who informed me he’d been in Watford studying ‘during the reign of Mrs Thatcher.’ He said he had to leave and missed his graduation because the authorities were trying to get him to pay poll tax and he’d only just finished his studies and wasn’t earning.

I could launch into a diatribe about Conservatives, utterly assured of the morality of their approach, making life harder than it needs to be for Brits and foreigners alike through the generations. But I won’t get into it today.

I’m reading a book which is an entertaining romp through African bird families. I learnt a new word, nidifugous. Ornithologically speaking this describes early-leaving chicks (from a nest) and I realised the word also suits today’s sunrise start and Patrick’s premature departure from Watford thanks to Maggie’s policies.