A run at Arboretum Forest

Went running at Arboretum this evening. Had been housebound all day and rather lethargic from a late night of cigars and brandy. It was nice for clearing my head. I took an unhurried run listening to my body and responding to what it said steadily building up speed. I did a circuit round the edge of the forest and then walked back into the middle and sat on a covered bench just as a slight drizzle began. It was nice to sit and look at the rain while reading Christopher Alexander and watching people. Lots of young guys in couples and small groups. Some were taking photos, some in circles doing group activity and other walking. On the one hand, youth is naively innocent. On the other, there is an appeal in their ability to be fully in the moment, totally carefree and self unconscious. I want to be like that. As Christopher Alexander says in "The Way" about letting go of the image in my mind and allowing myself to experience life. Young people are aspirational and they have fears and hurts and pains and unmet needs but they are also accepting of their constraints and take what life is giving them at that moment. So there's a kid there with worn out clothes who'd like nicer clothes and shoes but because they where the shoes they have, they don't overthink it. They walk from the town centre to arboretum and back and get into a matatu and go home somewhere in Eastlands or Uthiru or Roysambu. But they went to Arboretum to fully enjoy themselves. I think I will be happier if I just take what each day gives and make the most of it rather than constantly trying to bend life to an image in my head.

A History Moment - the Origin of Chiromo

Chiromo Road in Nairobi runs from the Museum Hill overpass coming from Uhuru Highway to the Delta Towers/ Rhapta Road intersection in Westlands. The University of Nairobi's College of Biological and Physical Sciences is more commonly known as Chiromo Campus.
Turns out that the name "Chiromo" is a Chichewa word which means "the joining of the streams".  In this case, the village of Chiromo in Southern Malawi is at the confluence of the Shire River and the Ruo River.
When Ewert Grogan was walking from Beira to Cairo, he stopped in Chiromo where a bunch of Frenchmen were making whisky from sugarcane,  and was impressed by the wild beauty of Chiromo.  Years later, when he built a house in Nairobi, he called it "Chiromo" after the village in southern Malawi. Chiromo house is supposed to be at the confluence of the Nairobi River and the Kirichwa River though it is not apparent from the map that they even connect. According to writer Douglas Kiereini, the house now hosts the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nairobi.