Books, Carnival, Rugby and Websites

I really had a nice bank holiday weekend.

Saturday was spent indoors catching up on my reading and kidogo soul searching. It felt really good just taking time out from the usual stuff and read a few books. Managed to complete three books in one day. Now that to me is a major achievement. I might as well make use of my library card and amazon.co.uk. I bought a book by Omar Tyree – Flyy Girl because I had read one of his books that I borrowed from the library some time back called Just Say No! and his way of writting really impressed me. So, when it comes to African-American writers, Omar Tyree and Terry Mcmillan are my favourites, for now.

On Sunday, I just did the usual…….laundry, tidying my room and bumming. In the evening, my pal Dj Shaheim invited me to a TZ gig being held in one of the restaurants near where I live. Lets just say, I was bored shitless……but I was glad to be out of the house. The gig was a success in terms of attendance, but TZs are one crowd that is difficult to entertain in terms of being their DJ. I lost count of how many times I saw the dancefloor empty when a song they didn’t like or respond well to was played. If they were standing or sitting down, girls were on one side of the room and guys on the other. Mingling only occured between people who knew each other. To sum it up, when it comes to dressing up for a night out, compared to Kenyans, TZs get full marks, esp. the chics. When it comes to rocking the night and partying, compared to Kenyans, TZs fail miserably in this area.

On that note, I can’t wait for the EA African bash on the 9th of September, just to experience how these three nations party.  This gig has been postponed. Now I am looking for a place to party on this weekend. Groove, si we fika Pacha ama Liquid??? Something different for a change…ama?

The night ended well though……coz I got a text at 4a.m. asking me out for the carnival. I had a date and I wasn’t going to miss if for the world. So, I made the ‘necessary arrangements’ before I went to sleep.

I was up by 9a.m. getting ready to attend the largest carnival in Europe. I got ready, put together my camera and camcorder and set out to London. I took this opportunity to wear my designer pal’s Tshirt and promote his work.

My KIBOKO 084 Afro-Lady T-Shirt (other colours available)

Once in London, the weather was perfect. They forecast a dull day with rain and all, but a few drizzles here and there didn’t dampen anyone’s spirit. I turned out to be a sunny day, but got a bit chilly towards the end. Everybody at the carnival was out to have a good time. As I waited for my date for the day to arrive, I was busy soaking up the atmosphere, taking pictures and getting irritable that my date was running late, as we were missing the carnival and most of the action. My date ended up getting off at the wrong tube station, so we had to arrange a meeting point in the carnival area……..if you have been to the notting hill carnival, you know how annoying this can be………Anyway, after several phone calls later (THANK GOD for mobiles 🙂 ), we found each other and proceed to enjoy the day.

We went round the carnival route, looking for the sound systems that are usually in the side streets. Found a couple, had some jerk chicken whilst we enjoyed the music and set out to look for a good spot to enjoy the carnival procession. I could bore you with the details, but I am not going to. So, I took plenty of pictures for y’all to enjoy.

 

Click on the image for access – Carnival Slideshow in the New Uploads Set. ENJOY!;)

Ended the day well, with a spot of shopping for carnival souveniers. I saw a few things Kenyan and I also saw a chic carrying a huge Kenyan flag drapped on her. So you see, I wasn’t the only one repping the Motherland….;)

On my way home, I met a two peeps I know from my hood. I was glad I had company on the train ride back, but this excitement was…..how should I put this…….dashed!!! 😦 One of the guys started coming on to me. Talk about the worse chat-ups I have ever had. Dude was inviting me back to his at 11 p.m. I acted a fool and was busy asking him what for at that time of the night. With a sly smile on his face, he was insisting just to visit him. In my head, I was like come on dude, do I look that stupid? I even went on to ask him, “What about your girlfriend?” Dude insisted that he didn’t have one since 2004. HHHMMMM…yah, right! Then he went ahead and told me how pretty I was, how kissable my lips were, yada yada yada. The clincher was when he had this look on his face like he wanted to pounce on me and give me a kiss that I would never forget, but I guess the look I gave him made him ask first. “Manzee, natamani kukupaka mate.” I was like, WTF, is this how it is done these days. EEEWWW EEWWWW EEEWWWW 😦 At this point, I had to be harsh. I basically said if he was inviting me to his place for a shag he just comes out with it. He was shocked and at the same time had this smile on his face like he had won. Still insisting I go to his then shifting that he should come back to mine, I went on to add that I am past that age of WHAM BHAM, THANK YOU M’AM situations. I have reached a point in my life where I am looking for a jamaa to marry me and have kids and settle down. One night stands on a whim and alcohol induced are a no-no for me, I went on to add. To cut the long story short, jamaa was disappointed that he was getting none that night, from me anyway. He even had the nerve to leave me some advice, that I should change my way of thinking. I was like for whose benefit. “His!”, he said. “Well in that case, I won’t change.” and I went on home. With the carnival atmosphere still in his system and loads of booze, I kinda let his behaviour slide with a gentle reminder to myself to ask him all this when he was sober. All this time, his pal had blacked out / in a daze from all the booze.

Well, that was my weekend. Just when I thought it was going to another dull one, it turned out to be pretty eventful. TIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!!! 😀

On to other news, this coming weekend (3rd Sept. 2006) there is a Rugby Sevens event happening in the Harpenden area. It is a similar type of event that happened in Slough earlier in August. Please check the Harpenden RFC website for details on how to get there and come and support our Kenya Exiles UK team. We want to make it, as Kenyans in the UK, to this type of events as frequent as possible. So please, if you know someone who plays rugby or merely enjoys the sport……….pass these details to them. Also, visit KEUK.org for more info.

Flyer courtesy of Harpenden RFC

Jambo Magazine has been around for a while now. I haven’t had the priviledge to check out a copy of this publication, but its good to see Kenyans doing something to better themselves. Whilst I was browsing the site, I came across this link for a site that sells Kikois. I have always wanted one since the last one I had was turned into a duster mop. Since they are based in the UK, I will make a point of investing in one. I saw bikinis being made out of this fabric…..shame the site doesn’t have any in stock. I hope after reading this, they will stock some for next summer.

The Kamusi Project is back on. This site is our very own Swahili Dictionary online and can be viewed in both English and Swahili.

If you ever in London and want a 24 pack of Tusker……look no further than here. Rugby supporters shirts are also on sale.

Damn……today is Bloggers Day. I have to admit thought, I can’t pick 5 blogs that I like, coz I like so many. So, I will just wish y’all a Happy Bloggers Day.

On a sad note, Groove lost one of his best mates in Nairobi. So, please if you haven’t done so, visit his blog and do the needful.