Category — London life

…are not like other birds, sensible and sane
One I met the other day had an especially small brain
It did not fly away when I moved towards it
And looked at me head-on like I was quite the dimwit
I demand my piece of ground, get out of the way
Get lost before I do some damage, it seemed to say…

Pigeons fly in packs and bicker over bits of trash and food
Squawking, scrabbling and sounding quite rude
Pigeons will perch on roofs and shit on your head
Mess up your day, might as well have stayed in bed

I heard a man in Trafalgar Square catches them for his supper
He hunts them down and fries them with a floury batter
Seeing that pigeons seem to enjoy eating dog poo
Good luck to him as he surely is eating that stuff too

 Retweet This Post

In the beginning, there were a whole lot of words, a fundraising campaign and this was paid for.

Then there were a whole lot of other words, another campaign and now ads for the Christian Party stating this:

The man on the first image is Prof. Richard Dawkins; part genius, part irritant and the UK’s most famous and most vocal atheist. I once saw this documentary where he was confronting people who believed in God and came away with a niggling feeling that in his heart of hearts, Richard Dawkins would rather you deified him rather than believe in other deities. He was so completely up his own arse there was little difference between him and that Jehovah’s Witness person who comes knocking on your door asking whether you want to know the TRUTH and pleading with you to buy copies of the Watchtower.

I wish they would just get over themselves. The money raised for the adverts (£140,000 and counting by the atheists) should go/should have gone to charity. The people who have faith will more or less continue to have faith while atheists will not be convinced that there is a God.

This has now become like that Bugs Bunny cartoon with Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck:

Bugs Bunny: “Duck season!”
Daffy Duck: “Wabbit season!”
Bugs Bunny: “Duck season!”
Daffy Duck: “Wabbit season!”
Bugs Bunny: “Duck season!!”
Daffy Duck: “Wabbit season!!”

Although come to think of it, Bugs Bunny reverses the flow somewhere along that conversation, Daffy Duck ends up shouting “Duck season” and then Elmer Fudd goes after him with his gun.

My sister Mama C also once told me a story about two people on a train having an argument and nearly coming to blows about whether the window should be open or shut until they realised that due to the fact they were in a 3rd class cabin on the Nairobi to Mombasa train, the window did not in fact have a pane.

p.s. I love the word ‘probably’ in the atheists’ ad as it rather works to cover all bases. Just in case, you see.

 Retweet This Post

Stand aside Patrick ‘Jon-Luc’ Stewart and Sir Ian ‘Gandalf’ McKellen and bow to the new king of theatre, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who last night won the Laurence Olivier award for best actor.

Chiwetel has been excellent in everything I have seen him in and especially in Children of Men – my favourite film of 2007.

Truth be told, my admiration is also helped by the fact that Chiwetel is, ahem, a bit of alright.

 Retweet This Post

The UK government is planning to re-introduce the ‘sus’ law which allows police to stop and search people at random. The move, apparently, is an attempt to bring down the knife and gun crime numbers on London’s streets.

Along the years, the overwhelming majority of people stopped have been from black and ethnic minorities while the numbers of youth from these communities killed by guns and knives have also risen.

There is no empirical evidence that proves that ‘sus’ laws deter crime and in fact, they exacerbate the tension already existing between the police and ethnic communities, in my opinion. Most people I know who have been stopped have been filled with rage at the humiliation of being stopped and searched when they have done nothing wrong. I am also very worried about my teenaged nephews – what would happen if they are stopped.

Since the news was announced, I have been thinking about and have re-read Sonny’s Letta (Anti-Sus Poem) by the world’s premier reggae poet and the legend that is Linton Kwesi Johnson. Of course, this poem is best listened to, in the poet’s own magnificent and emotive voice, rather than read

Sonny’s Letta (Anti Sus Poem)
Brixtan Prison
Jebb Avenue
Landan south-west two
Inglan

Dear Mama,
Good Day.
I hope dat wen
teze few lines reach yu,
They may find yu in di bes af helt.

Mama,
I really don’t know how fi tell yu dis,
cause I did mek a salim pramis
fi tek care a likkle Jim
an try mi bes fi look out fi him.

Mama,
I really did try mi bes,
but nondiless
mi sarry fi tell yu seh
poor likkle Jim get arres.

It woz di miggle a di rush howah
wen evrybady jus a hosel an a bosel
fi goh home fidem evening showah;
mi an Jim stan-up
waitin pan a bus,
nat causin no fus,
wen all af a sudden
a police van pull-up.

Out jump tree policeman,
di hole a dem carryin batan.
Dem waak straight up to mi an Jim.

One a dem hol awn to Jim
seh him tekin him in;
Jim tell him fi let goh a him
far him noh dhu notn
an him naw teef,
nat even a butn.
Jim start to wriggle
di police start to giggle.

Mama,
mek I tell yu whe dem dhu to Jim
Mama,
mek I tell yu whe dem dhu to him:

dem tump him in him belly
an it turn to jelly
dem lick him pan him back
an him rib get pap
dem lick him pan him hed
but it tuff like led
dem kick him in him seed
an it started to bleed

Mama,
I jus coudn stan-up deh
an noh dhu notn:
soh mi jook one in him eye
an him started to cry
mi tump one in him mout
an him started to shout
mi kick one pan him shin
an him started to spin
mi tump him pan him chin
an him drap pan a bin

an crash
an ded.

Mama,
more policeman com dung
an beat mi to di grung;
dem charge Jim fi sus,
dem charge mi fi murdah.

Mama,
don’t fret,
don’t get depress
an doun-hearted.
be af good courage
till I hear fram you.

I remain
your son,
Sonny.

 Retweet This Post

in the morning
at kings cross
he pretends not to see you
proud peacock
puffs out his chest
look at me look at me
eager for the office girls in their smart suits
freshly-washed hair
you totter
impossibly high heels
the other day
at euston
it was julia roberts pretty woman shiny thigh-length boots
leather skirt barely covering your behind
flimsy top
belly bare
you are cold
goose pimples on deathly-pale skin
over-bleached blond hair
blown every way by the wind
squarely
you look at him
place his among last night’s fleeting faces
remember him
he staggered from the pub with shrill companions
what shall we do tonight
look for whores
he threw up over your fake jimmy choos
in that stinky-piss alley
half-digested kebab
foreign beer hastily drank from the bottle
as he struggled to reach for his wallet
throw pound notes at you
you stumble and almost fall
that instant
your gaze catches mine
in your eyes i see dignity
depth
you are young
the look in your eyes seems to say
not like this
i don’t want to live
or die
like this
i want to say baby i understand
but you hurry past me
quickly disappear from my vision
you want to catch some sleep
tonight is another night

 Retweet This Post

Reggae legend Desmond Dekker dies

Our home was in a most wretched part of town while growing up in Eldoret. I loved living in Sakati – off Kisumu Road and only realised much later how poor we were.

Our home adjoined a shop selling radios, record players and vinyl records (among other things such as blankets, pots and pans, etc) and it seems like the manager would play Desmond Dekker’s Israelites at high volume every time I passed by the shop. Even now, I cannot listen to this song without bopping along and remembering the good times down Sixty-Four way…

I have loved that song as well as ‘007 (Shanty Town), ‘It Mek’ and Desmond Dekker since then.

Many of his songs were also favourites in blues parties in 80s London. Blues parties. All dark. All reggae. Oh the memories!

~Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir,
so that every mouth can be fed.
Poor me, the Israelite. Aah~

RIP Desmond Dekker. Legend.

Image from bbc.co.uk

 Retweet This Post

Congratulations!

Councillor Marianne Alapini in the Colville Ward of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Councillor Regina Williams, Stratford and New Town Ward, London Borough of Newham.

These two Kenyan women were re-elected in the Local Government elections held last Thursday. The women, both Labour Party members, have overcome many obstacles and in elections where the party lost dismally and where extreme nationalist politics are on the increase, they admirably held on to their seats.

 Retweet This Post

I was in great company as the interview also featured excellent interviews from Sokari and Wesley Kasamale. Sokari highly praised the Kenyan Blogs Webring.

Many thanks to Bola and crew at Network Africa. Thank you for making the process great fun and putting me at ease (even though I am still suffering from sleep deprivation seeing that I didn’t get any sleep on Saturday and Sunday!). Watching how the programme was made was edifying. You guys do a fantastic job.

The Chad mango juice was delicious, Ofeibea– thanks!

Thank you to the people who gave me encouragement and listened to the programme – Sokari, Mentalacrobatics, Mama Junkyard, Nakeel, Bankelele, Omani, Gish, akiey, mlauzi and all other unknown people who listened.

To the person who sent a text message saying that blogging was un-African, well, you might as well tell yourself that using a mobile phone to send texts is un-African.

The interview will soon be up as a podcast as soon as The Engineer has finished working on it

 Retweet This Post