Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 4 May 1977 –

The rains have been, and still are, very heavy this year so coming back from our holiday at the coast was a bit of a let down for all of us, especially getting used to flooded roads and oceans of mud everywhere which makes the simplest journey quite a problem. The other day the children and I got absolutely soaked – Graham had dropped us off at one of the big bookshops and we planned to meet him a few hours later at the museum. Between the two we got caught in a torrential downpour that suddenly appeared out of a quite dry looking sky. The trees we sheltered under soon were wetter than we were so we got very wet. So we staggered into the museum like drowned rats and had to walk around rapidly for the next couple of hours to prevent getting chilled – not the best way to appreciate the museum.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 20 May 1977 –

The heavy rain continues though now we usually get several hours of sun during each day which makes it more bearable. Still, we never quite know whether the roads will be passable from one hour to the next so outings are always an adventure. We went down to Lukenya to climb the other weekend and had a glorious sunny day. But when we left about 6pm we’d only travelled a few miles when we came over the shoulder of a hill to see the Nairobi plain covered by a murky black cloud with the most spectacular lightning. By the time we were a few miles out of Nairobi the roads had become raging rivers and it was necessary to crawl along at 5 mph doing one’s best to keep on the road and avoid all the cars that had succumbed to the damp. We managed to keep the engine going thanks to Graham’s expert driving and we kept in convoy with our friends but nevertheless it was an unpleasant hour or so especially as it was pitch dark by then before we reached Faith and Jack’s house in Nairobi. Jack had cut his knee while climbing and Graham had very nearly driven his car home for him leaving me to drive ours. I’m very thankful that Jack decided he could manage. It was still pouring after we had a cup of tea with them so we decided we couldn’t risk the drive out to Kikuyu – there was no route that didn’t mean going through an area we knew was likely to flood ! In the end we left the children to have supper with what food Faith had in the house and ventured down into town in Jack’s car to get a meal. It seemed virtually amphibious and we had great fun driving through the shopping area which was all under water with 6-12″ of water! We spent the night at Faith and Jack’s and drove out to Kikuyu at 6:30am the next morning in order that Graham could do the morning school run on which other children were dependent. We later discovered that Nairobi had 6″ of rain in 4 hours so it’s no wonder the drainage system couldn’t cope. Unfortunately the ground is so saturated now that even a normal heavy shower causes flooding everywhere and the roads are covered with mud which becomes very slippery if its wet.

Letter from Juliet to Grandma & Grandad 26 May 1977 –

Because of the rain there have been quite a lot of mosquitos around and we even get them here at Kikuyu now. Another pest which has arrived with the damp is Safari ants, which move across the land in their hundreds in columns, killing all insects on their way. Today we found they were surrounding the house, and at the front beginning to climb the walls. I asked Mary, our housegirl, what to do about them and she said that they burn rubber because the smell causes the ants to go away and also makes them seem quite ‘drunk’, so we got some strips of inner-tube tyre and set them alight. I must say it was very efficient because they started to go away and they are still on the move now. I have not done much gardening – the beds are in great need of weeding but the ground is so sodden that it is terribly messy. I have been strengthening my arms with mowing and ‘slashing’. This is done with a tool which we call a slasher which is a long blade with a bent, rounded end. This is used on the long, tough, Kikuyu grass which grows abundantly. Our dahlias have flowered again but are very tatty and floppy except for the yellow ones. We have some lovely gladioli outside our kitchen window and Myrtle Stevenson says if no-one comes to live here for a while after we have gone she will claim them.

Letter from Judy to Tony & Barbara 9 June.

Since our return from the coast it’s been raining most of the time so weekend outings are fraught with danger. John Wilson got stuck on the Naivasha road near Longonot for 7 hours in thigh deep water and we had to spend the night in Nairobi coming back from Lukenya one night. Our drive is now like a ploughed field. Still, it’s been a bit better recently.

Letter from Juliet to Grandma & Grandad 30 June 1977 –

We have had a lot of rain, but always in the night recently but the ground stays sodden all day and the grass has run riot and made the back garden look like one large lawn (an uncut one too !) so we have given up weeding and cutting, telling ourselves that it soon won’t be our house ! Our flame tree has a disease of some sort and a large branch came off a few days ago so I hope the disease doesn’t make it weak enough to fall over.