Legless

 

I'm home! 

No cats to greet me at the gate, but within moments Howl and Sophie came to find me and many cuddles were had. In my absence, Akantu (Little Thing - top right) had doubled in size. For ages we thought he was some sort of dwarf cat, but turns out he's just a late starter. Unfortunately, first day back and had to take him to the vet because he had a nasty open wound. He's been perfect about it, though. Had to treat with iodine twice a day, and even though he knew it would really sting, he still sat still for me. It's pretty much healed now.

Next up was Sen (AKA Harold). She's the one with asthma. She managed to pop a giant hernia a week after I left. My housemate took her to the vet and she underwent surgery. Got back to find her very fit and healthy - with a large chunk of fur missing where she'd been shaved. Relieved she's okay, though.

Took in some housemates to help cover rent over the past few months, but decided to stop now and move back into the main house. It was interesting, and they were all nice people, but I miss the space and privacy. 

Shed apartment I was living in.

Reclaimed old room.

Spent the first couple of days moving everything out of the shed apartment back into the house. Then called Claudine, my cleaner, and Emmanuel, my gardener, as the place had fallen into a little disrepair.

Had a fun night out with Chris and Harris the other week. Popped to the German Butchery for their hog roast. Befriended a German guy there, bumped into friends Claudia and Antonio, and convinced them all to come with us to Metallica, which is now called Pacha Club.

At the German Butchery, the decorations are made from weiss beer cans.

Harris took some more great photos of Viva Band and we danced the night away until the very early hours. They truly are the best live band in the whole of Kigali. This time the saxophonist changed his saxophone for a clarinet and delivered Camila Cabello's Havana (ooh na na).

 

Finally crawled home via the bottle shop at the end of Claudia & Antonio's road, where we sat outside supping a last beer and scoffing samosas.

One nice thing about having housemates is that they leave a whole heap of stuff behind when they go - mostly food. Had a bag of cashew nuts, a bit of chocolate and a bowl of pineapple jelly.

Headed over to the workshop to see how the piano was getting on. Désiré and his team have managed to put in all the tuning pins, so the next day they lifted it onto the back of a truck and brought it to my house, where I'm going to work on stringing it up.

L-R: Paulin, Samuel and Désiré

 

There's a few things I need to do before I start, but it's been fun playing with real string to figure out the string direction.

It's been all go, and then it stopped. Was dancing with Chris and Harris when I put my foot down and - ouch! Seriously pulled my tendon. 

Been up on ice, in wraps, lying in bed watching Star Trek for the past three days.

Luckily Maia's back for a visit and was staying with me Thursday night, so took care of me, and Harris dropped by with a huge tub of very delicious ice-cream. Feeling extremely spoilt, but totally gutted. Harris, Chris and Maia are all leaving in a week and I wanted to party until that point. Now looks like I'll have to chair dance from the sidelines.

 

One of the upsides to living here is that just about anything is available over the counter. Been on a diet of tramadol, whisky and codine. Hit a particular low yesterday, the pain was just getting to me, so I went over to submerge myself in Harris's bathtub. Sat in the hottest water I could stand - which apparently, I shouldn't have done. Ice for a tendon, not heat. But it felt good. Then fell asleep for an hour. Was not in a happy place, and when Harris arrived he noticed the hot water had caused my ankle to swell up. One of the benefits of being friends with a doctor is you get spacial treatment. He had some strong anti-inflammatory medication. After handing me some tablets, he explained it would start working much quicker with an injection. 'Sure,' I said, rolling up my jeans to expose my ankle. 'Err... no,' he replied. 

It doesn't matter how close you are to your friends, getting jabbed in the butt is never a happy occasion. Still - it worked. Feeling so much better this morning and can just about walk again.

Sunrise