The total inventory of this planet-island right now is: a miniature passenger plane which has a technical malfunction, a four-seater helicopter, two security people, seven cats, a couple of trees, one bus-shelter-like “terminal building”, one bored helicopter pilot and I.
I have learnt a few tricks here in Kenya, as I am about to head off on my two-week holiday back in Europe. Before coming here, I would have felt at least a mild panic on learning my flight to Nairobi was cancelled. I would have worried about how I would make my evening connection to Europe, and what the knock-on consequences would be in terms of money and time. Worry, anxiety, stress.
Instead, I stayed completely calm, and continued tanning my feet in the sunshine… and waited for something to change. And change it did.
Everyone else was shipped (literally, on a boat) back to Lamu town and told to try again tomorrow. They did not have connections to make. I, on the other hand, was given a new flight with another airline bound for Nairobi in the mid-afternoon, in good time for my later connection tonight. Just like that!
The only sweat I broke into was on my feet when the midday sun became too much for even their Equator-like tan…
It all reminds me that “this will also change”, whatever “this” is. Maybe there is a good reason for me not to be in Nairobi any earlier. Maybe there is a good reason for me staying a little longer on the tiny planet of Lamu. The villagers were certainly trying to squeeze every last second out of my presence these last few days, with 35 of them piling into my waiting room yesterday, and then the boat captain on the way to the airport asking me for advice about his swollen knee as we were about to dock. “I’ll be back soon” I told him. Don’t worry, Shela village. This will also change.
Here at the airport, the cats and I are letting the hours go by like our sole occupation in this life is to ponder whether the few lonely clouds are actually moving or sitting completely still in the sunny skies.
Now waiting for the change that will happen next, and seeing where that takes me… Fingers crossed, it’ll be via a big meal and a good sleep in Europe!
