Hello,
.
I hope your Cinco de Mayo was all you hoped it would be. Ours was, guacamole and all. Lots has happened in your hemisphere. The Chief and Karen got married, Tom turned sixty, and some other very important stuff that is still classified. Here we have marked our progress in dug and filled trenches, workshop walls and armored cable.
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Here’s part one, looking over its shoulder at part two.
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Morning in Nairobi. Mr S making sure the perimeter is secure.
We're burying armored electrical cables in the trenches we dug. They are very expensive. In order to secure them people put concrete pavers over them in the ditch, or, there are hard plastic protectors you can buy at 255 shillings per meter. We have 450 meters of buried cable. So I came up with the idea to buy relatively inexpensive PVC pipe, cut it in half and and lay it six inches or so above the cable as a protector/warning system to anyone who might be digging where the cable is in the future. Costs about 40 shillings a meter. So I went to Eslon Plastics in the industrial area and got 40 pieces of six meter 2" class B pipe. I'll let you know how it works out.
Down the road, a guy pulling a cart full of cases of soda got whacked by a car. These are human powered metal frame carts that haul all sorts of goods around Nairobi, usually in heavy traffic areas. They are in the metal frame pulling and so get badly injured when when they get hit.
This guy was on the ground surrounded by the people you see in the right of this photo.
I went to Ian and Jane's lumber and furniture making shop in Kitengela and had the pipes cut in half lengthwise on their band saw. These two delicate smoke stacks caught my eye behind their place.
This is mahogany saw dust. My, my.
These luminous particles in the air made me think of wood sprites. Like the British kids who faked everybody out with their fairy photos in more innocent times
Sometimes they were everywhere.
George improvised a fence and began the long bifurcation.
Lots of people had a hand in it.
it took about a minute and forty five second for each pipe.
The lumber library, complete with at least one adult title, evidently.
Patterns.
A very short man from Mombasa who carves by hand.
Doors and bed posts and other things.
We bundled up the eighty pieces and tied them on the roof of the truck.
They kept slipping and nearly falling all the way back home.
I was cheered by these familiar faces near our place. Ani, Josephine, Nduko.
And, of course, Joyce,
who had gathered a certain kind of eucalyptus leaves to treat a skin eruption on Ani's scalp.
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So long for now,
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David
Comments(2)-
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Paula Machado says
May 10, 2010 at 2:24 amHi David,
Woo whee! What progress!
Such a vivid web site.
Quite often the highlight of my day.
Your illustrated stories are true gems.
“A day in the life of” with all the colors:
…A cart overturned, …..Mr S, …. hauling pipes,….. the door carver, precious children, et al.
May the detailed stories of your “works of love in progress” reach me again soon, while finding you in good spirits and health.
Kind Regards, David!
Paula
david says
May 12, 2010 at 11:17 pmHi Paula,
I’m glad the updates give you such a sense of connectedness to the project. It’s easy enough for me to let the distance create distance, and life here has its own “to do” list that can seem a little full at times.
Our spirits and health are good, and we’re thankful for that, and for your interest and kind care.
Good to be in touch,
David