Chroncile Article - 4

A heat wave? Surely not in January! Granted I am sitting directly on the equator during the summer season yet my subconscious still half expects the first month of the year to yield sub zero temperatures and be exposed to road gritters (which will ironically damage the car more than the snow and ice). Yesterday, the temperature clocked 36 degrees and I’ve still managed to contract a mild cold. Your guess is as good as mine…

With these sunnier climes comes the inevitable pastime of sunbathing. Personally I was never a big fan of lying prostrate on the ground until my back sizzled, leading to days to applying the latest sun care moisturiser (then again I went to see High School Musical on Ice at aged 20 so who am I to talk)! Nevertheless, since I had a couple of days off work, I felt the time was right to give lying in the sun the respect it deserved, especially as I had come all this way. My main goal was to shake off the well-formed ‘farmer tan’, which had developed during the months of November and December. (The ‘farmer tan’ being the general tanning of the arms and face only – I would know as I grew up on a farm!)

My shirt came off, much to the disgust of the locals around me who were forced to wear sunglasses in order to deflect any unwanted rays from my white chest. I should note at this point (and not to name names) but my mother suggested I buy sun cream when I arrived in Kenya, not considering there isn’t much of a market for the product out here. Hence I eventually applied copious amounts of extortionately priced Factor 40, which in reality allows one to return to their native country a shade lighter than they arrived. After one day I felt it was for the best that I retire from sunbathing and return to promoting legal aid and good governance in Africa. That is, with the farmer tan still intact!