"Whenever one needed some quiet environment outside the noise of town, we would then go to Karumaindo in Lurambi. As it were, we shuffled between the two bars on a good day".
Across the road from Wayside bar, the few taxis that operated at the time used to park there.
"Those days, taxis were mainly ramshackles. A car had to have seen better days to qualify as a taxi. The ramshackles rattled so loudly,that it was hard to converse normally. Many did not have ignition keys and were either kicked into life using exposed wires or pushed. The brakes required constant pumping to work," Songoi Mathew recalls with a chuckle.
Then, as opposed to now, bicycles were a rarity. Most of the people who owned bicycles were teachers, and they only came out on pay days. It was therefore easy to tell when teachers had earned. Today, however, bicycles are no longer a status symbol. They have become ubiquitous and a means through which many earn a living ferrying people from one point to another.
"Any day many bicycles were seen in town, it was a signal that teachers had earned and many were out watering their throats after days of shouting and inhaling chalk dust. The other sign was seeing people walk around town carrying kerosene in five-litre jerricans. Many of them were teachers who had just earned," Songoi recalls.
Most schools were rural-based, but services were domiciled in towns. It was not possible to find a bar or filling station anywhere close to the villages, which was why teachers took advantage of the day they went to town to get their pay to party, buy kerosene and do some shopping.
Unfortunately, most of the teachers also lost their money and bicycles on payday. Criminals easily tracked them. The inebriated never stood a chance once thugs attacked them in secluded places on their way home after taking one too many.