Waiting with Bated Breath

Thank you SG for reminding me how to spell "bated"! Cheers.


The day before the election was fun, and hectic, and frustrating all at the same time. The day was spent running around.

I went up to Prestige Plaza at Nakumatt, and ran into my sister in law and my nephew in the parking lot. It was a welcome surprise, because I had not seen them for nearly a year. We had a nice talk over coffee about their work on the TNA campaign.

I had a pleasant lunch with fellow IT activists of various ethnic backgrounds. Over two hours at Mukutan at the Fairview, most lately of Jeff Koinange fame, we thought about, talked about and puzzled about Kenya's future, all while remaining completely civil and detached.

The afternoon was spent with more coffee with researchers over even more coffee at The Mug. At Nakumatt, there were numerous, very tall, police carrying machine guns. Helicopters flew overhead, at one point coming so close you could hear the sound of the propellers.

In between, various small disasters occurred. A car broke an axle in front of our car as we dashed from one appointment to another. It seemed no ATM was working, and no forex bureau in town was open, and finally we had to change money at an iffy rate at City Market. Then our car broke down, and we had to try to rent one at late notice.

The day seemed very quiet. Downtown was nearly empty, and the mood in town was mellow.

 We finally reclined for food at Natural Heritage near Kenyatta Market. We had some kuku choma, over tusker, snapp and malt. No campaigning is allowed the day before the election, and even shirts were banned. Nonetheless, we saw one woman with a Raila Odinga hat, and another gentleman with an Uhuru shirt. My friend Peter said the bar we were in was a bar of no given ethnicities, rather a bar for Nairobians. American music was blasting, and guys were dancing enthusiastically around the bar. The only hint that the election was coming, was that no other bar on the street was open.

Praying for peace tonight.

~WMB