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Wedded bliss? posted on November 10, 2009 - 3:52pm
Recently I attended a local wedding. It was an exciting day for everyone. The booze was flowing freely and personally I started making rather silly remarks way before we all sat down to eat. I realised that as I was getting drunk, my nerves were going to get the best of me at the table and sitting with my family, I would have made a right fool of myself if I were to continue drinking as I was. So I decided to take a brisk walk through the grounds of the wedding venue to sober up.I have always been fascinated by the wedding reception. I have been lucky to have attended quite a number of weddings over the last few years. My friends are getting married. I think it's the time for my generation. There seems to be a mad rush of everyone getting married. Soon we will have babies and christenings and the lot! It fills me with dread that life seems so enjoyable yet at the same time when one goes through these milestones, one can't fail to recognise one's mortality.
Image is everything posted on November 3, 2009 - 2:54am
November is here. Christmas is only a few weeks away and its getting cold. This is the time of the year that I hate most. The days are getting shorter and any hot day is seized on by me as probably the last hot day of the year. In fact there aren't any days that are warm now. Its down hill all the way to next year. However, I love the colour of the leaves and one of my favourite pastimes is having that long lazy walk through a wood. But this is often tempered by the cold air and many times than not the endless rain. However, I am not alone here. I know that we the great British public like complaining about our weather. This was one of the art of conversation that I learnt pretty much as soon as I arrived on these shores. It was not taught. It was more like instinct.
Love of animals here and abroad posted on October 27, 2009 - 5:12pm
Earlier on this year, I wrote about the love of animals here in the United Kingdom. Indeed we have just bought a cat at my house. The other night she graced us with a dead field mouse she had killed from the farm behind our home. I must say that I had to persuade my neighbour to come and help me remove the dead rodent. Dogs are the most loved animals to my observation.  I, on many occasions have to be out of my house ridiculously early to go to work and the number of people out taking their dogs for that early walk is amazing although personally I would rather be in my bed than take a dog for a walk.
Speaking the Queen's English posted on October 21, 2009 - 12:46am
This afternoon I went for a bus ride with my youngest who just loves them. He is at the age where his vocabulary is coming on rather well and he is always chattering away saying whatever comes to his mind. The questions keep coming fast. “Daddy what is that?” and “ Daddy what is this?” It must be a fascinating time for him. At long last he can attempt to express himself. It's always good like that until he warns you with seconds to spare that he needs to go! The panic! Kids do not appreciate the usual “wait a minute” or “We are nearly there. Just hold on”. If they want to go, they want to go. However, amidst all the fun of being on this huge bus, I found myself correcting his pronunciation of certain words. It was rather embarrassing but I just kept on doing it despite the fact that I do have a heavy African accent.
All change posted on October 12, 2009 - 4:59pm
It's been a while since I last wrote on this website. A lot has been happening.I have just joined The University of Staffordshire to study for a Masters in Journalism. It is an exciting time for me although at the same time worrying. Having a young family and working full time at the same time, one wonders whether there will be any spare time. As I was writing the last time, in response to many questions about my first experiences in the UK when I first arrived on these shores, a lot of things were new to me. Looking back now and seeing how I have adjusted is amazing. In some cases I would say that my attitude life compared to 1995 is almost unrecognisable. Of course that goes with one getting older and having a family. Summer 1995 was the time when the last Tory Government was facing difficulties and all the indications were that at the next elections they were going out.
Adjusting to a new time zone posted on August 24, 2009 - 11:33pm
Flying in to Heathrow from the East, I failed to appreciate that I was going to gain time. This was something that I was not yet understanding even though I had been told about it many times. I think it became light over Austria and of course having hardly left time zone GMT +3, my body clock was not used to time zone changes. So when the sun came up and we were given our breakfast, I started thinking that as we flew and got nearer to Heathrow, so did the time move on. Well, of course the clock does not click as fast as it should if one is flying east to west. When we landed at Heathrow, I thought that it was sometime in the afternoon. Of course it was not. It was still in the morning and I think I should have taken that on board. But with the problems that I encountered with immigration I took my eye off the clock. The excitement being let through and seeing the UK for the first time, I completely lost track of time.
Welcome to Great Britain posted on August 18, 2009 - 1:53am
My first proper step on to British soil was just after 13.00 hours on April 23, 1995. After that gruelling questioning by immigration officials and the anxiety that it had all caused I felt a little scared of what I had let myself in for. To look back now and think of all the negative thoughts about this great country that had been sowed in my mind just because of one immigration man! Harold and my sister took me to the car park where Diane had been waiting all that time. We again seemed to walk for ever through halls filled to capacity by people from all nationalities. I was anxious. I wanted to get out of this huge building and yet it seemed to go on for ever. Even getting to the car we had to through a tunnel.
Rumours of swine flu posted on August 9, 2009 - 6:16pm
I flew into Uganda on July 16th 2009 on a pretty rickety Kenyan Airways Boeing 737. It was one of those nights that the tropical heat hits you in the face like a wall. Tired, with my family in tow, we made a dash for the immigration desks. This, for those who fly into Entebbe airport, is one of the most annoying times in ones travel to Uganda. Immigration staff just take forever to process anyone. The problem is further made worse by the fact that the airport is small enough for one to be able to see loved ones waiting the other side. The end to one's journey, in many cases long haul flights, is near. Yet these servants of the state just slow down to a near halt!On this balmy evening, I had failed to appreciate the effects of swine flu and the coverage that it was getting in my adopted country, The United Kingdom.
African time posted on July 19, 2009 - 4:32pm
Since December 2007, I have been working for First PMT in Stoke- On-Trent. It is probably the largest bus operating company in the region. Like all other transport companies in the country, safety the number one priority.
Journey's beginning posted on July 11, 2009 - 2:13am
I have on so many occasions been asked questions about my country of origin, Uganda, what it is like and how the political situation is at the moment. Having lived in the United Kingdom for over a decade now, one finds that clear concise answers become more difficult. Unless one is actively engaged, the danger is that slowly these topics start getting hard to articulate. There are however stories that we who have made The United Kingdom and England especially our home by choice that never fade. Those stories that we the immigrant population hope that we will be able to tell to our grandchildren with clarity as if the events being described only happened in the recent past.