My blog - February 2003
Four Months Left
February 28th 2003, 9:23am
Yesterday I walked into town to change the date on my plane ticket to June 30th. It was very hot, but it was quite nice walking across Uhuru park towards town. There are always random people sleeping in the park during the day, and around the lake there are several portrait photographers hanging around. Some day I'll have to take my camera there, as the picture of the city centre reflected in the lake could look quite good.
I eventually found the building I was looking for and took the lift to the twentieth floor, where I was given a numbered ticket and took a seat. The office was new and clean and air conditioned and could have been anywhere - it didn't feel like Nairobi. What did feel like Nairobi was that although I was given a numbered ticket, no-one was calling out numbers, so there was no way to know when it was my turn!
While I was waiting there was a young man buying a plane ticket in front of me. When it came to paying for the ticket he reached down and pulled two bundle of notes from his socks, each an inch thick!
That's all for now.
4 comments - show comments
Building A House
February 20th 2003, 10:20am
Next door to the office they're building a new house. Click on the image to get a bigger picture.
I've also updated the panorama on the photos page, so that it is now a complete 360 degree view from the office.
0 comments - show comments
Add your comment
This blog is moderated. That means that your comment won't appear immediately - someone (probably James) will check it first before approving it to appear.
Your email address won't appear anywhere on this website - it's only there so I can reply to you.
I Can See For Miles And Miles
February 19th 2003, 9:33am
See that dark bit on the horizon? That's Mount Kilimanjaro, that is. It's about 200km away, but on a clear day like today you can just about see it out of the office window. As you can see. Just.
1 comment - show comments
Comment posted by Michael Ots at 9:33am on February 19th 2003
Pretty cool - it looks like you could walk to it, but then again at 200km it might take you a while.
Add your comment
This blog is moderated. That means that your comment won't appear immediately - someone (probably James) will check it first before approving it to appear.
Your email address won't appear anywhere on this website - it's only there so I can reply to you.
Make A Valentine's Card
February 13th 2003, 4:49am
Forgot to send me a valentine's card? Well, it's not too late (unless you're reading this after the 14th). Just go to my valentine page, and you can design your own card to send to me electronically.
Now I'd better go and upgrade my email account so it can cope with the deluge of electronic cards I'm about to get...
3 comments - show comments
Comment posted by Michael Ots at 4:49am on February 13th 2003
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ha!
Comment posted by Peter Hall at 4:49am on February 13th 2003
I'm guessing that is NOT a tally of how many cards you think James got...
Comment posted by Michael Ots at 4:49am on February 13th 2003
No I'm sure he got a lot more... hmmm!
Add your comment
This blog is moderated. That means that your comment won't appear immediately - someone (probably James) will check it first before approving it to appear.
Your email address won't appear anywhere on this website - it's only there so I can reply to you.
A Roof With A View
February 10th 2003, 12:13pm
I have a new photo on the kenya photos page. Well, it's actually 29 photos spliced together into one panoramic view from the roof of my office.
In the background of the second and third frames you can see the Ngong Hills. In the middle of the nineth there is a pointy blue thing, which is a block of offices near where I live. In the distance of frame twenty-one you can't really see Jomo Kenyatta airport. Frame twenty-five is where you would be able to see Mount Kilimanjaro on a clear day. The land behind the houses in frames twenty-one onwards is Nairobi National Park.
0 comments - show comments
Add your comment
This blog is moderated. That means that your comment won't appear immediately - someone (probably James) will check it first before approving it to appear.
Your email address won't appear anywhere on this website - it's only there so I can reply to you.
Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam
February 6th 2003, 10:00am
Received in my mailbox today:
I have recently founded your website. Design is bad. We are promoting new great resource of website template. Use my templates to build good website.
To thank him for his kind words, I thought I'd put a link to his website on here. Then I changed my mind and put a link to Peter Hall's Flash website instead, as he was kind enough to link to mine yesterday.
4 comments - show comments
Comment posted by Peter Hall at 10:00am on February 6th 2003
hehe :)
Comment posted by Peter Hall at 10:00am on February 6th 2003
BTW James, you've been amongst the contenders for random selection ever since I started my random links panel. :)
Comment posted by James Ots at 10:00am on February 6th 2003
I was referring to the link in the "What are you looking at?" story, not the one in "random links". I hadn't noticed the link in random links until you mentioned it. Thanks for that one too!
Comment posted by Anonymous at 10:00am on February 6th 2003
You are lucky, as of Feb 9 I have received 11 copies of that particular piece of spam. If you visit the web site advertised, they claim that they aren't the ones doing the spamming and that the FBI is looking into it. Damn hackers always advertising other people's web sites with non-grammatical spam... Think of the children!
Add your comment
This blog is moderated. That means that your comment won't appear immediately - someone (probably James) will check it first before approving it to appear.
Your email address won't appear anywhere on this website - it's only there so I can reply to you.
Always Take The Weather With You
February 5th 2003, 3:44pm
As I was leaving The Office today I was thinking how it's probably been the hottest day I've experienced in Nairobi so far. (Lamu was far hotter though).
Now I'm in The Other Office messing on the internet while I wait for my clothes to finish in the tumble dryer, and there's a crack of thunder and it starts to pour with rain. This is supposed to be the dry season?
Maybe I'll be able to take some of the hot weather back with me at the end of June. Or perhaps the rain will just keep following me.
0 comments - show comments
Add your comment
This blog is moderated. That means that your comment won't appear immediately - someone (probably James) will check it first before approving it to appear.
Your email address won't appear anywhere on this website - it's only there so I can reply to you.
My Dad's Bigger Than Your Dad
February 4th 2003, 3:04pm
Today I had to go to The School to fix some network cabling, and since my driving licence expires tomorrow and was being renewed (hopefully I'll get a real licence this time instead of a temporary paper one) I had to go in on the school bus.
It was interesting listening to the conversations of the kids on the bus. The conversation started off discussing each other's heights and who was short and who was tall, moved on to them talking about whether they were taller or shorter than other members of their families, and ended up with them arguing over who's dad was tallest.
0 comments - show comments
Add your comment
This blog is moderated. That means that your comment won't appear immediately - someone (probably James) will check it first before approving it to appear.
Your email address won't appear anywhere on this website - it's only there so I can reply to you.
Reach For The Stars
February 3rd 2003, 6:51am
Even in the middle of Nairobi, with its dirty orange glow at night, it's still possible to see far more stars than can been see from home. But I can't name many of the constellations as most of them are different from those back in the northern hemisphere - or else are upside down. Then again, I couldn't name many of them at home either!
Orion is easy to spot, directly overhead instead of lurking just behind some houses or trees on the horizon, while Cassiopeia, the big W, is a big M here and there are too many other stars which could be it instead.
Even with a programme on my computer which shows an exact picture of the sky at a certain time and location, it's still difficult to differentiate between the millions of visible stars.
0 comments - show comments
Comment posted by Maret at 9:23am on February 28th 2003
That sounds very familiar to me.(Putting money in socks).When I got my first salaries in Estonia I too did similarly as it was not safe to carry money around.
Comment posted by Michael Ots at 9:23am on February 28th 2003
Suprising anyone would one to take the money after it been sitting in a sweaty pair of socks!
Comment posted by James Ots at 9:23am on February 28th 2003
So you wouldn't take £500 of sweaty notes?
Comment posted by Michael Ots at 9:23am on February 28th 2003
Well if they were for me personally I might be ablt to put up with it!
Skip comment form
Add your comment
This blog is moderated. That means that your comment won't appear immediately - someone (probably James) will check it first before approving it to appear.
Your email address won't appear anywhere on this website - it's only there so I can reply to you.