Row, row, row your boat...

Row, row, row your boat...

So boats have been on my mind this week. You can guess why. Well, perhaps you don’t live in this world of ours called Kenya so I’ll be kind enough to elaborate.

It BROKE my heart to see the picture of a school bus stuck in the middle of a sea of water at 4am. My heart was further shattered to smaller pieces when I learned that the children had been standing atop seats in the bus for hours before they were rescued. I kept thinking...didn’t someone out in the middle of Nairobi own a canoe or boat that could have been sent out to rescue the children?

And then there it was. A picture of a Nairobi resident, said to be the headmaster of Braeburn School, Gitanga Road, sitting in a kayak and rowing his way out of a basement parking. Brilliant. Nairobians have found a new form of transportation that is more affordable than the boda boda.

So instead of sitting miserably in traffic and listening to the morning show presenters, we will soon be singing, “row row your boat, gently down the stream...” We will be merrily singing it, I assure you, because we will have done away with the trouble of lining up for fuel and enduring the smell of the matatu passenger next to you. Kenyans will finally be in a good mood on their way to work.

But there will be many perils on the way, I assure you. You could capsize, you could be kayak-jacked at gunpoint and your canoe stolen from you...and you’ll find yourself soaking wet with no choice but to wade your way into a police station to fill that P3 form.

Then there’s the danger of wild animals (read crocodiles) lurking in the water. Really, if there are strange beasts mauling sheep in Kajiado County and the KWS are yet to catch up with them, I assure you that crocodiles will make their début in the filthy, undrained waters of Nairobi County. I’m sure there are a few hatchlings stealthily nosing their way down a city river bed as we speak.

So I’ll leave you with a line made famous by Mr. Bean. “Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream...if you see a crocodile, don’t forget to scream!”