End of the road

Today has been another exciting day for my daughter Ellie. When she was about eleven she had her first taste of driving in our Landrover. She could barely reach the pedals and, as she reminded me today, wasn’t really sure how to stop once she got going. Both Ellie and my son Tom learnt to drive the Landrover on a big field just off the main ‘road’ to our place where the only obstacles were a few oncoming cows, small potholes and the odd pedestrian. Now aged eighteen Ellie has passed her driving test in the UK and was Judi’s odd job driver for a couple of weeks before coming out to Kenya.

I promised Ellie that she could have a proper go at driving this time round. Unfortunately the old green heap has been off the road ever since Ellie and her boyfriend Andy arrived, suffering from a number of ailments mostly associated with the Landrover equivalent of old age. At lunch time today Ellie jumped up out of her seat at the first sound of a familiar engine note heralding the return of our trusty vehicle. Wasting no time Ellie, Andy and I jumped in and set off for Kosele. After establishing that there were no major problems with our newly repaired transport, (except for a bit of a sticky accelerator pedal), I pulled over and Ellie got into the driver’s seat for her first real drive in Kenya. Her recent driving experience back home has obviously helped her and we made it to Kosele with no mishaps. Ellie was very pleased and will now, no doubt, want to try a more adventurous journey. Andy drove us some of the way back and we pulled in to our place optimistic that the repairs that have been carried out this time might keep us on the road for a bit longer.

On a less happy note we learnt that Bernard, our elderly neighbour, died today after a fairly short illness. Ellie was the first to suspect that something was wrong when she heard wailing, (a tradition when somebody dies), coming from the direction of Bernard’s house. Mary, our manager, confirmed that Bernard had died. As I wrote earlier this month Bernard was very old and was, I’m sure, ready to meet his maker. I hope he passed away peacefully. His death is a sad moment. Bernard has been a part of our lives in Kosele since we first arrived. We will miss him.