This has been such a typical morning. From the very beginning, all the elements were there.

Tuisku woke me up at six thirty by meowing loudly behind the front door. I left him to enjoy his delicious liver breakfast and returned to the bedroom for a precious additional half an hour of sleep. He soon joined us there, curling himself comfortably by our feet.

The ride downtown via the Namuwongo route (the other one is unusable after the schools began) took about 25 minutes. Traffic is pretty bad at that hour anywhere; the distance is little more than six kilometres. Newspaper salesmen waving on the side, matatus jumping the queue, death-defying cyclists zigzagging in the roundabout, accelerating, breaking for potholes, accelerating again...

I walked ten minutes from Kaija's office to Kimathi Avenue, past the Parliament and Police Station and the Foreign Ministry; past street vendors and a few odd beggars and groups of children in bright-colored uniforms. They have built a fancy parking lot on the previously vacant lot by the internet cafe. I've never seen any cars there. Progress, I suppose.

I know how it will feel after I get up and go out, for I've done it dozens of times, at almost exactly this time of the day. Behind the corner, hot dust from the red earth will have added its familiar tinge to the atmosphere. The sun will have risen close to its zenith, the boda bodas will be around to offer rides, the odd latecomes will desperately seek parking by the Ministry and end up improvising to the extent of blocking a few other cars from moving. That's how it works.

Normally, I would do some shopping at Garden City and take a boda home, the warm wind blowing through my goatee. But this time I have some business in the travel office. So, perhaps, not such a typical morning after all. 10:37