Tea and Pepper

The past three weeks I’ve re-adjusted my diet from Octopus meat to maize and bitter herbs, the change came in slow but gradual and as I write this I’ve just had a cup of black tea topped with black pepper and ginger. I have no hopes for lunch, supper maybe.

When schools were indefinitely closed I never left to home, Meru, but rather stuck around fixing my bike which was in disarray. The fixing costed me some few thousands shillings and thus throwing my savings account in turmoil.

After fixing my bike I had hoped to step back Into the boda boda hustle to stabilize my balance sheet but after the fixing came the curfews and ban on the trade, therefore I was left in a state of suspense not knowing what the following day would bring. I couldn’t go home either since the lockdown was extended to buses alike.

These days I have completely locked in my bike since riding it while running errands costs me money which I’m not sure of how to replace. Thinking about it i’m not the only one in this situation but that doesn’t make it less strangling. The number of people moving up and down have greatly reduced (and there expenses too) and thus making bikes a luxury to ride on.

I mostly stay indoors reading novels sent via a WhatsApp group I created called writers café, the occasional romance novels sent there fastens up time thus making My days and nights bearable. I sometimes read biographies of people like Cary Grant, Warren buffet and Donald trump.

On occasions where I can afford I browse the web for new novels and documentaries, and posting a WhatsApp status once in a while. Of late I’ve been accustomed to posting sunset pictures (most sunrises find me in bed) and the clouds. It’s been a while since I took a selfie, my face is no that much appealing now with it’s acres of facial hair.

A typical day for me these past weeks has been like this: I wake up at 10am on rainy days and 6am on sunny days. I have no need to set my alarm, so my usual 5am alarm is permanently disabled. I visit the loo or rather piss outside the gate on the wet ground. There is something liberating with pissing on the ground, you feel one with nature and you also get to save water that you would have used to flush the toilet. You don’t even have to worry about sprinkle peeing on the floor either. You need to have a penis to understand.

After this morning ritual I may or might not remember to brush my teeth which is okay to me, unless my girlfr…I mean my business partner has to pay me visit. I cook breakfast which consists of black tea with a mixture of black pepper, ginger and a pinch of sugar. I use my Jiko since my gas is as empty as my schedule.

Cooking with a Jiko is no fun, especially the days when the Jiko is in no mood to be turned on. The effort used to light it is not equal to the food used to replace the energy. So I usually drink my black tea seething with rage that has no footing, which is better than feeling nothing.

As I drink my tea, I go through my phone and scroll aimlessly along Apps seeking something to focus my attention to. I first dabble at a crossword app and after failing to answer most of the questions which precede quiet unfamiliar answers, I give up. I add more tea and click to YouTube and watch videos I downloaded weeks ago, mostly cartoons like The Simpson, Fugget about it and the like. I also watch videos about Forex trading, Habits of the rich, A documentary about a long dead celebrity etc.

I finish my tea, stand up, stretch abit and go through my dwindling shopping and have a moment of panic which I immediately recover from. I walk out wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt, pee outside on the ground, watch the clouds and then walk back in my cave to think of things to do.

I go through my phone once more, scroll through the hundreds of Novels and biographies I have and settle on one, especially one with a philosophical theme like following one’s destiny and the power of the mind.

After an hour or so of intense reading I rise up again plug my phone into the charger and play some music while washing the dishes. I wash the dishes whilst thinking of the book I had just read, for example after I read the biography by Victor E Frankl Mans search for meaning I couldn’t help but try imagining myself in his place in the Concentration camp at Auschwitz, I couldn’t get myself to imagine that one could survive without food for that long, let alone the winters of Auschwitz.

After an half hour of dishwashing and introspection It’s almost 3pm and to curb the encroaching hunger I drink my cold tea and sit back wondering where I might get a coin or so to update my shopping, or maybe just airtime to interact with the outside world, maybe post a few status and get some dopamine when someone views.

I open my M-pesa, looks at the balance (even though I know it’s in decimals) hoping for some miracle, I check my M-shwari, M-banking accounts and there’s zilch. I get into panic mode and recover almost immediately when I recall Dr. Joseph Murphy’s words “You attract what you think about” and something do with “What you feed your subconscious mind is reflected into your reality” so I choose to think abundantly and clear myself of worries (a very hard task, brethren’s)

On a good day, I might fall asleep and this hastens the time, at the same time numbing my already numb mind, sleep is like a shelter in time of storm, you wake up feeling better than you slept and with a refreshed mood which last for just thirty seconds before reality hits back (wearing a face mask). I walk out once more, go behind the house and take some pictures of the setting sun, come back In the house, drink some tea and think of a better way to end the night.

I make a catalogue of the remaining shopping which now includes 2½kg of maize flour, 1½kg wheat flour,½kg rice, 26 peppers, ½onion, 3kg maize, 1kg sugar, 100grams tea leaves, 2kg salt, and some Beans. I shuffle the ingredients and make a meal that contains more pepper than the food itself, I get filled with bitterness (from the pepper obviously) and I down it with hot tea with black pepper.

At around 7:30pm, i’m done with the eating, showering and tidying up the room which now feels like a cell. I sit down on the bed contemplating on how to pass the time, I try my crossword once more, get a few answers right, check a few words like Baumkuchen up the dictionary App and wonder how the creator of the app came up with such a clue for a crossword puzzle.

I re-watch a few of the old movies in my phone which is a series named Ghost wars that is too unrealistic for my taste, proceed to watch cartoons, documentaries and as you are aware I end up cuddling myself up with a novel that takes me up to midnight, which in a way is a relief to me, since by then I can sleep tired and wait for the cycle to repeat itself the following day.