You win some, you lose some

Today was very busy and very hot. I had to go to Kisumu, (our nearest ‘big’ town about ninety minutes drive away). I had a number things to do including picking up some anti-malarial drugs I had ordered, (I think I’ve been taking the ‘old school’ drug, Lariam, for long enough now – the dreams are getting more bizarre!). The trip also gave me an opportunity to test drive a Landrover that we have been considering buying. It made a pleasant change maintaining a constant speed, whatever the road conditions, and having a comfortable ride. Our own vehicle slows down to a crawl at the slightest gradient and, despite fitting new shock absorbers recently, the ride is a bit ‘hard’ to say the least. I asked our friend Hamir at Silverline Motors, (Great garage, Great Service), to give the ‘candidate’ Landrover the once over and he told me that it was a "clean car" but overpriced. The vendor wouldn’t drop the price so we are still in the market for a new vehicle.

Having failed at bartering on the ‘new car’ front I did have a minor haggling success on the high street in Kisumu today. I have managed to break the prescription glasses that I brought out to Kenya with me and spotted some reading glasses for sale on a street vendors pitch, outside one of the shops on the high street.  As I can’t read a thing without glasses anymore I thought it would be a good idea to buy a spare pair so tried a few on. I discovered, (to my horror), that I now need 1.75 magnification lenses to be able to read. (Does this mean I could accurately calculate when my eyes will actually wear out given that I needed 1.25 magnification glasses as little as three years ago?).

“How much are these?” I asked.

“Twelve hundred shillings”.

“You must be joking; I’ll give you two hundred”.

“What about four fifty?”

“Two fifty”

“Three hundred”

“Ok”

It’s amazing how quickly prices come down. You couldn’t imagine bargaining the same way in Tesco, or Wal-Mart or any of the other big stores. (It would be fun though – I’d love to see the look on people’s faces if you tried haggling at a busy checkout).

A little further down the street I noticed another guy selling the same glasses. I picked up a pair of 1.75s.

“How much are these?”.

“Three hundred and twenty shillings”

“Asante Sana – (thank you very much) – I’ll take them”.

The heat has been quite ferocious today. Driving with the windows open usually creates a pleasant breeze and takes a bit of the sweat out of the weather. Not today. Despite a strong cross wind on the main road from our place to Kisumu travelling in the passenger seat was like sitting under a blow dryer on full heat. To add insult to injury a mini ‘twister’ tracked across the road over our vehicle on the way home and blew my cap off. Quick reactions from Duncan saved it from being ‘lost’. It would be churlish to complain though. The wind is still pointing to a change in the weather and the imminent arrival of rain, and I’d rather be hot than cold any day.