Settling into 2018

Brought a little bit of India back with me. Not just in the spiritual sense, but in the culinary. Stocked up my spice rack from Sharma's in town and attempted to recreate some favourites. Managed a stunning aubergine curry and had a crack at pakora, but really need gram flour for that.

It would be so easy to be vegetarian in India, but Rwanda's a really tough place for quality fresh vegetables. The contrast was brought home both there and in Nairobi. Those countries have so much flat farmland and can grow a lot of produce, whereas much of our stuff is imported or grows small and rots quickly. Decent frying pans are also very hard to come by and extremely expensive. I am making a concerted effort to cook more, though.

Stayed in for New Year. I was going to head to CasaKeza, but they cancelled their event as 90% of their clientele is out of the country at the moment. It also rained heavily the entire night, so my couch and a movie looked like a much more appealing option. Skyped mum and dad at midnight, which I hit two hours ahead of them.

We're only five days in, but I'm not entirely convinced by this year.

Had my first moto accident ever today. Motos are public motorbikes, the main form of public transport around the city. You hail them like cabs and climb aboard pillion. I've had a couple of near misses in the past but the majority of my journeys are uneventful.

Rwandan Motos

Luck ran out today. My driver pulled out of a busy junction and misjudged the turning space he needed to get around another moto which was waiting to turn towards us. He didn't leave enough room for my leg to pass the back of the other, stationary, bike. I was texting and thankfully looked up in time to put my hand out and shout 'stop', at which point my driver did a weird little wobble and the next thing I know, we've both dismounted, but the bike has fallen over and is trapping my lower leg. It was more undignified than anything, lots of busy traffic speeding past.

When my driver finally pulled the bike off me, we went to the side of the road. There was a policeman there, but as nothing was damaged he just shrugged and we all went on our way. I think years of falling off horses has taught me to get straight back on. I also think the fact I was texting means I was so relaxed when it happened that I more sort of stepped off the bike than fell. No bruises.

Got home with my shopping thinking, ooh, nice cup of tea and a sit down. But 2018 had other ideas.

 

Yup, this is Sen vomiting blood all over the patio.

She's had some problems for a couple of months - severe breathing difficulty and coughing a lot. Our lovely vet put her on medication, which worked wonders. We finished the course and I went off to India. When I came back, the cough had returned, so we started another round of the medication, only she started throwing up her food a lot. Today was the first time there was blood, so I bundled her into a taxi and took her back to the vet, who's keeping her in for observation. Also returned from India to discover she's dislocated her front paw, but there's not much that can be done about that here, and she seems to be walking without pain. She's a remarkably purry, happy cat considering everything she's been through. It's only one year since her brother was killed and she almost died of poisoning. I wonder how much that affected her health, as the other two are fine. They all had their rabies jabs yesterday, and the vet laughingly says we should get a frequent shopper discount as we're there so often. Fingers crossed for Sen's speedy recovery.

Put some fairy lights in the garden to cheer myself up.

Sooo, yeah. Hmm. Other than mental moto drivers and vomity cats, it's good to be home. Glad I took out a subscription to Netflix, though it's a pain in the ass that in 2018 you still can't buy internet online in Rwanda. My bank's online banking system is also kaput at the moment, so you can't buy electricity online either, and, although Rwanda is (according to the newspapers) striving to become a 'cashless economy', I still had to queue at the one open Post Office counter (next to the three closed ones) for half an hour to renew my PO box for the year. The day PayPal makes it to Rwanda I may just fall to the floor weeping.

Happy New Year
We'll be with you in an hour.

Right. I'm off to make that cup of tea, have that sit down and cuddle my two remaining cats.