There was an awesome thunder and lightning storm today after work. I’m sure I would have appreciated it more except that I got caught in the middle of it walking home. After work I looked at the clouds that had been rolling in, took an official office poll, and decided it wasn’t likely to rain in the time it would take to walk to Owimbi and back.
When I was just arriving to Owimbi, there was a big cloud, flat on the bottom with a rounded top like a flying saucer, cruising in. I had seen it before but determined that it wasn’t a threat. Either it picked up speed or I had misjudged it initially… it was moving as fast as any cloud I have ever seen. Under the big cloud were many others (fluffier, almost like they were created from the hot earth being cooled from the storm and the steam the rose got trapped) appearing right off the ground which were moving incredibly fast. I immediately got caught in a dust storm at the first icy blasts of the storm system hit me. Torn between going home and finishing my errand, I figured I should just check out the duke while I was there since I had come just to see it and probably a few minutes wouldn’t make a difference anyway, right?
Well, I was probably right about the few minutes, but the duka was a bit disappointing. I had the basics like milk, salt, sugar, flour, margarine and Royco (a seasoning all Kenyans love which I’m sure is made of 100% MSG)… that was about it. No mosquito coils, which was what I had come looking for specifically. They are coils that you can burn like incense which keep the mosquitoes away. Shortly after leaving the duka, it began to rain. Sprinkles at first, but it quickly turned to pouring rain. The rain was coming sideways while the wind pushed the lightning closer. It never let up, but occasionally it would get worse with a gust of wind making the drops of rain feel like hailstones against my skin. I had on a skirt which was becoming fast stuck to my legs and my hair which had been flying around in all the wind was getting plastered to my face. I’m sure I looked like the craziest of all crazy people, walking along at the fast rate my dirt-collecting sandals and the slippery, muddy road would let me. I only saw a few other people around, heading for cover as fast as possible, but by the end I was alone.
Mostly, I was worried about my computer and a little bit about my phone which were being carried in my wetter-ever-second bag. I did my best to shield it, but the sideways rain made that basically impossible. My body is only so big. Towards the end, when I had made it to the home stretch, I became worried about the lightning. By this time, it was basically right on top of me. Me, the soaking wet, 6ft tall, bean pole standing in the middle of a flat road… FML.
At that point, I tried running but thought I would be too likely to fall. I eventually made it back safely though soaked to the bone. Monica saw me arrive from her kitchen area and gave me a look that is, what can only be described as, the Kenyan equivalent of “WTF?!” I shrugged with a half smile and trudged the last few feet to my house. I stripped off the wet clothes inside the door and went about closing all my windows (left open earlier to air the room out, back when there were no clouds in the sky), though I admit the absolute first thing I did was get my computer out of my sopping wet bag and its case. I’m happy to report its working fine. I’m lucky that Solomon closed my windows as best he could from outside though because barely anything got wet, and nothing important.
After that craziness, and when I was dressed again in warm, dry clothes, I set about putting away some of my things and getting a bit more comfortable in my new home. By then, it was time for dinner. It was delicious and of course the conversation with Monica and Solomon was so welcome.
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