Friday, September 21, 2012

Office Guys- No Loo've Lost


I get surprised by the calibre of guys who use the office loo early in the morning. Don’t get it wrong,  I am not keeping tabs on my workmates loo timetables, but I happen to use the small rooms for changing and freshening up every morning from my walking gear to my office gear. So I make a mandatory visit every day just before 8.00 am.

Here, I keep bumping into these senior colleagues with very serious faces full of concentration and with only one thing on their minds. Their greetings are superficial and hurried as they enter the cubicles! These are guys you would expect to be more comfortable using their home and personal loos, but no, they want to jostle for space with their drivers, cleaners and visitors.

I find it strange, because there is nothing I hate like using public loos, be they in a 5-star hotel, at work or another person’s home. I feel like that business needs to be accomplished in the comfort of your home where any discomfort thereof can only be for your family members and not your workmates or total strangers. Which reminds me of a pal who in the old days when public toilets were all nasty and best avoided; he was a walking almanac of the best public loos in the city. He knew which cafĂ©, cyber, supermarket, and office you could sweet-talk or bribe your way into.  

Back to my office pals. It doesn’t help when the guy with the current record for the smelliest activities also happens to be a guy you like. Somehow, the pong will always get in the way of reinforcing your friendship. I just wish he would keep it at home.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Letter To My Son-The Story Of My Handwriting



I am told that your personality can be deduced from your handwriting; that there is a branch of criminology that can investigate the personality of a criminal through forensics including literally reading between the lines of their writings!

While I will not differ or hold a contrary or counter view, however, from my own experience I always find that it is the quality of paper and pen I am using that determines what my handwriting will eventually be. If I encounter very some high grade smooth paper and a softer blotter underneath, my handwriting flourishes and borders on sexy calligraphy!, if on the other hand I end up with one of those extra thin points or tips on a thin paper, then my handwriting ends up being unimpressive.

By the way, I am a collector of pens for I seem to be on a never-ending search for the perfect tip and nib. Over the years, I have retained handwritten diaries not because I had anything important to say, but because I had just the right paper to write on. You can imagine my joy of 365 blank leafs to come back to every day. Talk of a daily fix!

And so it was the other day when we went to buy back-to-school stationery for the kids and I stumbled upon some disposable pens with the finest nib, I have ever encountered anywhere. I quickly picked up some black, blue, green and red pieces and headed to the counter. Each would cost Kshs. 350/= and here I was about to spend Kshs.1000/= on disposable ink pens. My children’s stationery for a whole term including boxes of pencils, colour pencils, erasers, sharpeners and other such stuff was only costing me about Kshs.1500 only.

The clerk at the till was obviously brighter than I was and was quick to offer unsolicited advice against buying disposable pens at that outrageous price. He thought it was more sensible to buy a fountain pen and lots of ink which is what I did. Unfortunately they only had school type plain but functional pens costing Kshs. 85. I grabbed one and later in the day tested it and loved it. It was taking me back to my fine handwriting! Don’t know what that had to do with my personality, but the pen was fine and the paper too.

So to test drive the pen, I wrote a letter to my son and earned myself a big bear hug and some mumbling of “ I love you too Dad”. The fruits of a good handwriting I guess……