Tuesday 6 July 2010

Power ... or the Lack of

It is difficult to blog when the power keeps cutting off, or the Internet connection fails ... or both.

This visit seems to have been blighted with more than the usual number of power cuts and in the last two days, we have had no power at all during  the day.

On both days, the power came on at about 6pm, but yesterday, it went off again within 30 minutes and it took an age for the standby generator to kick in.

This evening, we have been lucky. The power came on and, apart from a slight glitch, has stayed on, meaning that I have been able to receive the 100 or so junk emails that have been waiting to fill my in box.

We at Twiga have been told that one of our children has to attend court in Kajiado tomorrow. This town is about 450 km from Kisii and there is no direct bus route, so we have been forced to hire a car, which means that both Vincent and I have to go as Vincent does not drive. Vincent has spent most of the afternoon haggling for the best price for a car and I think he has got a good deal, especially as I have had to send an email to the UK for funds to be sent out and with the lack of power (and therefore emails), this has been difficult. We should receive the funds tomorrow while we are en route.

Surprisingly, my Garmin satnav found Kajiado with no problem and even plotted a route although I know it is not the quickest or shortest. Still, it is quite something for a bottom-of-the-range satnav with no added maps to be able to plot anything in Kenya. I am impressed. We shall see just how good it is tomorrow!

It will be an early start tomorrow - 6am - and of course, the younger kids here are playing up and refusing to go to sleep tonight, which is keeping yours truly up.

Oh well, that's life.