Dreams Coming True

Part of my dreams have come true. First I got to hear the Captain’s words even though it was not as dramatic as I used to think it would be. You know those things of saying ‘Fasten your seat belts…’

Secondly, I finally met Carsozy and Ernest Wasake on Wednesday.

Still flabberwhelmed about it.

Nice weekend.

Nev, get well soon.

Lulu, I missed seeing you and hoping you are fine.

Malooo...Kyalooo - Part Two

Apart from taking me to her children's school and Buckingham Palace where I saw two foot guards from the Household Division marching around (the ones that wear scarlet tunics and tall black fur caps known as bearskins), the Victoria Memorial sculpture in front of the palace, my former boss’ wife walked me through the Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street (where I saw many famous shops and restaurants), Regent Street, St. James park and then we entered St James' Palace to visit her friend whose husband is a chef at Buckingham Palace. Her friend also used to work there as one of Princess Diana’s maids or something.

We had met her friend at their children’s school then she invited us to her place for tea. She had to inform the guards at the gate about our coming or else they would not have let us in.

St. James is still a working palace though the monarchy has not lived there in quite some time. I got to see where Prince Charles and his sons live. I hear the palace is also home to Princess Alexandra and housed the Queen Mother until her death just a few years ago. I also saw two guards from the Household Division in front of one of the gates at St. James Palace. Then just as we were getting out of her friend's house, my former boss’ wife said, “Samali, look behind you.” What I saw was quite a sight. There was a large group of foot guards standing outside. They were all clad in their scarlet tunics but without their bearskins and they were staring at us. They are responsible for the safety and protection of the Sovereign at the Buckingham and St James' Palaces.

From there we visited the church where her husband works. It is next to BBC World Service. She bought me an Oyster card and explained how it works but I wonder if I will have the courage to do so on my own. I am supposed to have visited some art gallery this afternoon but instead I ended up at an internet cafe where I put up this post yet I could have done this free of charge at their house.

Malooooo...Kyalo!

Just arrived today at 4p.m.

It's 9 p.m now.

I am flabberwhelmed. It's beautiful this place.

Meeting Army Men, Bloggers, Etc

Guess who I met at Quality Supermarket on Saturday and who chatted with my Mom, sis, her kids and I as we wrapped wedding gifts for our friends. He had to chat with us after Mom told him we were whispering about him and how we had seen him on TV. Former army spokesman, Major Felix Kulaigye.

He said, "I hate being recognised by people when I have no idea who they are."
"As a public figure, expect that to happen to you all the time," said my Mom.
"As soon as I saw the number plate, I knew there was an unusual person around," I said to him.
"And what is special about my number plate?" he asked me.
"Well, it's different," I said. (It had SSE and some other funny letters or numbers)
"If that is what it takes..."

We then let him wrap his gift first since he was there before us. He thanked us. Played a little with my nephew and niece and said 'bye ladies' as he was leaving.

After Quality Supermarket, guess who we saw at my friend's wedding as we were lining up for food. I whisphered to my sister. 'That's him' He was standing a few metres away from us. He looked as if he was inspecting something. Not wanting to flaberwhelm him like the Major, we restrained ourselves from going to him and saying hi. Nadala my sis who is the more daring one.

And guess who I think I sat next to on my way from Vision Voice yesterday. I think I sat next to him

I had just won an air ticket to London from British Airways and was busy sending my family and friends text messages about it.

Naye, I don't know where I will go once I'm there because my brother is now in Denmark. One of my British friends wouldn't mind hosting me for a few days though. Then there is my boss. Will he let me go and come back?

Is Africa Blessed or Cursed?

Is it really true that the U.S.A, India, China, Europe, Argentina, New Zealand can fit into Africa? And that Zambia, Zimbabwe and the DRC have the potential to feed the world?

Someone saw the River Congo for the first time and took long to realize it was a river because of its massive width. I want to see it. And the Niger. And Zambezi. At least I’ve seen the Nile.

Is it true that the DRC has 90% of the world’s cobalt? Is there any country in Africa which has no mineral?

Is it true that Asia and Africa were the first homelands of Judeo-Christianity?

My Favourite Radio Ad Voices

I love these Radio Ad Voices:

1. Hakeem the Dream, Capital FM
Hakeem has a melodious and lively voice that is pleasant to the ears.

2. Dr. Mitch Egwang (Uncle Mitch)
Uncle Mitch has a fast talking and humorous voice. (By the way, even when he is speaking French, Luo and Luganda. Not that he has done adverts in these languages.)

3. DJ Ronnie, Capital FM
DJ Ronnie’s mellow, smooth, deep and powerful baritone voice makes you feel safe.

4. Ernest Wasake, Vision Voice
Ernest (Dennis and Esquire’s brother) has a clear, cultured and silver-tongued voice that grabs your attention and makes you picture a man whose looks would turn heads. If you asked me, he sounds more like Dennis than Esquire because the latter’s voice has some tranquillity in it similar to that of a modest man.

5. Hussein Lumumba
Hussein’s voice is slightly nasal. Like someone with a cold and yet at the same time, it’s with clear pronunciation. He still sounds smooth when he speaks French, Swahili and Lingala in normal conversation.

6. Roger Mugisha, KFM
Roger has a bright and breezy voice that lifts up your spirits on a gloomy day.

7. "Are you ready?" voice behind the Wyclef Jean concert advert if it is not no.4's

8. The voice behind the MTN kwata cash advert is like no.1’s

The 'Obama Times'

Imagine me as a radio news reader, a news tale before me on paper, complex words in teensy-weensy print for the Obama Times.

Create mentally a picture of my face book friend whom I have never met and who owns the Obama Times, turning over pages where I should read since I seem to use so much effort in reading the long sentences. Then I stumble on the word Tsvangirai and pronounce it like I have heard it on the news chang-girr-IGH (-ch as in church; -ng-g as in finger; -irr as in mirror; -igh as in high). The pronunciation of this word has stirred up public and media interest, inside and outside the BBC because of different opinions of how the Shona -tsv cluster should be pronounced in English.

Then I awake.

I send a text message to my friends about the dream and one of them responds, 'Maybe there is something to the dream. Email your face book friend about it and see.'

However, after flipping my mind through the dream, I realised that dreams can be a sham.

There should have been a teleprompter so that I would not need to look down at the print. At least a teleprompter would have helped me appear to have memorized the speech and so speak spontaneously, smoothly, without any hesitation or mistakes.

It should have been a simple, brief and easy to read news report with short sentences that could easily be read with a single breath.

The font should have been average sized and the words written in the present tense since it was broadcast news. This would give the report more of an "action" feel and add more drama.

Names should have been in phonetic spelling so that they are pronounced correctly. For example pronunciation would be pruh-nun-si-AY-shuhn.

There was nothing to this dream. Besides, I am sure there is no newspaper called the Obama times.