Differences between living in Kenya and the UK

* I see a traffic accident almost everyday.

* Sometimes I see dead bodies lying by the side of the road.

* At major road junctions (actually at all road junctions) there is no system except ‘everybody go at once’. Some junctions have roundabouts and traffic lights which you would think helps. It doesn’t. The same rule still applies: every man for himself. The whole ‘stopping at red lights’ and ‘giving way to others’ hasn’t really reached here yet!

* In the UK, the filter on the kettle was used for filtering out scale; here it filters out ants. (Likewise, it is always wise to give the tap on our water filter a few 'taps'. You then get to watch the little army of ants run away round the outside of the filter!)

* Termites are eating our house from the inside out. We have little termite mounds inside the cupboards; this cannot be good.

* There are cockroaches inside most houses whether they are clean or not.

* Geckos live in every room of the house; some of these are quite large. Still, I find them quite friendly and they eat mosquitoes.

* Seeing a giraffe is about as exciting for us as seeing a squirrel in England.

* Equally, seeing a Maasai warrior is now as about as exciting as seeing a foreign exchange student.

* I never park my car on the side of the road. Whether at home, visiting a friend, at school, church or shopping my car is always parked in a secure compound with a guard and I still always lock it.

* I drive around with my car doors locked and my windows up nearly all the time, especially if I am in traffic.

* The weather is much nicer. Sorry people, but you do need some compensation for some of the above.

* All my immediate neighbours are Christians.

* I can buy two large pizzas from the take away on ‘Terrific Tuesdays’ for much less than I can make them and they are much nicer!!

* I have friends from all over the world and very few of them are English. I do like the English but that is just the way it has worked out. (Although I am a bit annoyed that England doesn’t really have a National Dress that I can use to dress my children in for International day tomorrow. Instead they will have to go as Maasai warriors and an American cowgirl).